Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald didn't have facing a Philip Rivers-led Indianapolis Colts club on his radar the Sunday before the shocking matchup. In fairness, no one did.
However, life comes at you fast, especially in this league. A once-dominant Colts attack reached a point where they had to lure a quarterback who had been retired since the end of the 2020 campaign. The 2004 first-round pick admittedly wasn't in the same shape he was when we last saw him, to say the least.
On the flip side, Macdonald was prepared to see the high-powered Colts not long ago. Instead, he got the slow-paced, run-heavy, dink-and-dunk version tailored to Rivers' current limitations.
Albeit a stark downgrade in firepower sans injured starter Daniel Jones, adapting to the circumstance is a challenge in itself. Macdonald was asked about scheming for a drastically different look when addressing the media following Seattle's 18-16 win over the Colts, and he spoke openly.
Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald exposed Philip Rivers-led Colts after Seattle's Week 15 win
Seattle got off to a slow start against the Colts, who were led by Rivers -- who hadn't tossed an NFL pass since 2021. This naturally raised questions about whether the Seahawks overlooked an opponent dealing with an unprecedented situation. Macdonald said that was far from the case and gave credit where it was due while exposing Indianapolis' new strategy.
"No. We do our process, and we go attack it and let's go," Macdonald told reporters. "Now, [the Colts] had a really good game plan in terms of how they were operating, and I mean, you've got to take your hat off to [Rivers]. He did a great job managing the game; he didn't put the ball in jeopardy until he had to. We probably could've forced some more of those situations, but they did a good job, so it is what it is. They're a good football team."
The Colts rightfully didn't ask Rivers to do too much. They dialed up more runs (30) than passes (27), and he averaged a measly 4.4 yards per attempt when called upon to sling the rock. Nevertheless, Macdonald recognized that the Colts took a significantly more conservative approach with a signal-caller nearly six years older than him (44) under center.
"[Rivers] threw it effectively when he needed to," Macdonald stated. "But it became clear that the offense that they had been running [before had] taken a pretty dramatic shift, so we had to [change] as well. ... We had a couple of adjustments in terms of some coverage structures that we hadn't repped all week, and the guys did a great job with that."