Mike Macdonald’s defensive evolution: The tweaks that sparked a Seahawks Super Bowl run

It’s only taken two years for Mike Macdonald to get his Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl since becoming head coach before the 2024 season, and he’s done it by refining what got him the job.

Macdonald got the Seahawks job thanks to his Baltimore Ravens defense, which blended Vic Fangio’s two-high scheme and Wink Martindale’s pressure schemes. The X’s and O’s were top-notch, but the real secret to Macdonald’s scheme was how he weaponized each one of his players and organized and taught fronts, packages, coverages and pressure patterns. His unique way of teaching concepts as a whole, making players interchangeable pieces on the chessboard, made it hell for offenses to identify and block pressures.

In Baltimore, he was able to scheme up pressures despite not having an elite pass rusher. The Ravens ranked fourth in 2023 in sack rate and eighth in pressure rate, while only blitzing 13.2 percent of the time. They did this by manipulating protection schemes and using simulated pressures (four-man rush with one of the rushers being a second- or third-level player). On early downs, the Ravens used two-deep shells to prevent explosive plays, but on passing downs, they manufactured a pass rush through scheme.

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“What the (2023) Ravens have done so well is they pressure in so many ways that you can’t get a bead on them,” former NFL center A.Q. Shipley told The Athletic. “The other thing that’s great about them is you might watch them one week against Pittsburgh, and it looks completely different against Cleveland, so it’s tough, too, because you’ve got to make so many in-game adjustments.”

Macdonald has transitioned his Seattle scheme into a less aggressive and simpler one.