Mike Macdonald's inexperience laughably evident in question to Seahawks players

For any new NFL head coach, even one who has been a long-time assistant, you don't know what you don't know. Sure, one might feel as if they have a grasp on how practice should work and the timeline needed to implement a new scheme or wrinkle, but issues like what times flights should leave might be a problem. This was the case with new Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.

To be fair, Macdonald is not used to having to travel much in the NFL. When he was with the Baltimore Ravens before coming to Seattle this offseason, Baltimore would sometimes even be able to bus to play teams such as the Washington Commanders. The Seahawks are a two-hour flight from the San Francisco 49ers, and San Fran is the closest team to Seattle.

In Week 2, the team had to travel to play the Patriots in Foxborough, MA, and the flight did not land until close to midnight. This means players certainly did not get as much rest as they normally would for a game. To try to help fix this issue in the future, Macdonald asked his players when they thought flights should leave.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald not afraid to ask his players about flight times

The overwhelming vote was simply to leave earlier in the day on Fridays when the Seahawks have to play an Eastern Time team. This is the case with the Atlanta Falcons on October 20 in Week 7 and the New York Jets on December 1 in Week 13. To be sure, however, Seattle's flight to places like Phoenix, Arizona are long ones too. Getting enough rest is a must so flights arriving on time is too.

When asked about travel plans at a press conference last week, Macdonald said, "I think it’s going to be a process over the next x amount of time, talking to guys, getting their feedback. We’ll keep making tweaks until we feel like we come to the right recipe...I think we’re doing a lot of good things. We’ve got a lot of good feedback from the guys."

A couple of things there. First, Macdonald's inexperience is expected, especially in the grayer areas of how a football team operates. The Seahawks should also have a team that coordinates travel and Macdonald doesn't mind asking players how they think even that aspect of the season is going.

Secondly, how refreshing is it to have a head coach who admits he doesn't know everything about everything because a rookie head coach simply could not. The point is to win football games, which Macdonald has done so far. If he needs a bit of help when it comes to flight times then that is perfectly fine.

More Seahawks news and analysis: