Tyrel Dodson rushes to defend Mike Macdonald ahead of Seahawks' Week 3 game

Oh, no. Not this again. In the last couple of seasons, Seattle Seahawks fans were forced to get used to watching opposing teams run with ease against their favorite team and control the clock. This issue was supposed to be fixed with the hiring of head coach Mike Macdonald this offseason. In Week 1 against the Denver Broncos that appeared to be true, but not in Week 2.

Last week, the New England Patriots made the 2024 Seahawks look like the 2022 and 2023 squad. Tight end coverage was awful and the run defense was horrific. Seattle allowed 183 rushing yards and more than 100 yards receiving to Hunter Henry.

To make matters possibly worse, when New England played their Week 3 game on Thursday against the New York Jets, the Patriots could get very little going offensively. The team had just 139 total yards, 78 yards rushing, and Henry had two catches for nine yards. The Jets have a good defense, but they made what Seattle did against New England look pitiful.

Tyrel Dodson says Seahawks' Mike Macdonald just being humble about accepting blame for Week 2

After Week 2, Macdonald blamed himself for much of what went wrong. He stated he did not prepare himself to be in the best situations to succeed against the run. One thing was made clear by Macdonald's words: He is not likely to ever publicly throw his players under the bus. Even though he is a young first-time head coach, he is self-aware enough to know that he should accept blame at times as well.

Inside linebacker Tyrel Dodson said in a press conference on Thursday to hold up for a second, however. The 2024 free agent acquisition is also the green dot on Seattle's defense and is tasked with communicating what Macdonald wants to his teammates. The play-calls have to be good, of course, but ultimately the players need to execute the game plan and adjust to what they are seeing as well.

Dodson said that Macdonald was just being "humble" in accepting fault. The players needed to do their jobs better.

Dodson said, "I'm not happy about last week, to be honest with you. The run game, that's how you make your bread and butter in the NFL, making the offense one-dimensional and you got to do that by stopping the run....That's the most disrespectful thing, in my opinion, is an offense running the ball on you. So we got to get that fixed and it starts with me. As much as coach (Macdonald) is being humble, he puts it on himself. I think we got to do our job too."

The key against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3 will be to stop the run on the perimeter. New England likes more power runs up the middle, so edge rushers Boye Mafe and Derick Hall need to be prepared to hold up well against the run. Otherwise, the Dolphins will reel off a bunch of explosive plays and likely outscore the Seahawks.

The scheme has to be great against a fast Dolphins team, even one without star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but the players have to win their one-on-one battles. If Seattle can limit Miami's rushing yards, the Seahawks will win the game.

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