'M.O.B. Ties': How Mike Macdonald rebuilt the Seahawks' winning culture

RENTON, Wash. -- In the fourth quarter of the Seattle Seahawks' 26-0 win over the Vikings on Nov. 30, Minnesota guard Blake Brandel delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit on Josh Jobe at the end of a play, briefly sending the cornerback into the concussion protocol. Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Pili jumped to Jobe's defense, leveling Brandel to the turf.

"That's the beauty of this team," defensive lineman Leonard Williams told reporters during his weekly news conference four days later, "we're going to have each other's back ... We're going to fight for each other if we have to."

Retaliating on behalf of a teammate is hardly uncommon in the NFL. What made this different was how Williams volunteered to help Pili pay a potential league fine (he didn't receive one), and what the veteran was wearing when he did so -- a Seahawks-branded T-shirt that read "M.O.B. TIES."

As in, "Mission Over Bulls---."

The sequence offered a glimpse into the environment that Mike Macdonald has built in two seasons as Seattle's head coach.

Inside team headquarters, culture is far from a nebulous concept. It's spelled out in acronyms and mottos that are written on walls and printed on team-issued apparel. It's evident in how the Seahawks play and how they talk about the connectedness of their locker room. And as they see it, it's been no small factor in their jump from a 10-win team that fell short of the playoffs in Macdonald's debut season to one that now looks like a Super Bowl contender.

When the Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field Thursday night (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video) in a battle of 11-3 division foes, they'll be playing for sole possession of first place in the NFC West. The winner will be in the driver's seat for the conference's No. 1 seed.

It'll be a rematch of the Seahawks' 21-19 loss last month at So-Fi Stadium, when they nearly survived the worst game of Sam Darnold's otherwise strong season. Afterward, middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV delivered a passionate defense of Darnold and his comments became almost as big of a story as the quarterback's four-interception performance.

"Sam's had us in every f---ing game," Jones said. "So, for him to sit there and say, 'That's my fault,' no, it's not. It was plays that defensively we could have made ... opportunities where we could have got better stops. It's football, man. He's our quarterback. We've got his back, and if you've got anything to say, quite frankly, f--- you."

When Macdonald talks about his desire to be "tough and connected," this was an example.

"We've got a bunch of tough guys that are out on a mission, pun intended," the coach said. "I think they're together. We have a fun time doing it, and we hold each other accountable."

WHEN SEAHAWKS GENERAL manager John Schneider set out to hire former coach Pete Carroll's replacement following the 2023 season, owner Jody Allen gave him one directive. It was to choose a head coach who would maintain the positive and connected culture that Carroll and Schneider had built over their 14 seasons together in Seattle.

So the shift in vibes inside the Virginia Mason Athletic Center under Macdonald has been more of a reset than a 180, and it has come with an interior redesign.

It started with the removal of blown-up pictures of several of the greatest players and signature moments of early in the Carroll era that had lined one of the main hallways of their headquarters. The move was initially viewed by some outside observers -- including Seahawks legend Richard Sherman -- as erasure from an incoming coach who wasn't treading lightly enough when it came to the most successful stretch in franchise history.

But those photos have since been replaced by rows of smaller, framed shots commemorating all 419 regular-season and playoff wins from the franchise's inception in 1976 through 2024.

This season's victories are hung across the hallway, underneath a heading that reads "STACK W.I.N.S." It's an acronym partially borrowed from legendary college football coach Lou Holtz (whose granddaughter, Hailey, is the Seahawks' football operations coordinator) that stands for "What's Important Now."

Around the corner, on the landing of the stairwell that leads to meeting rooms on the second floor, is a message that signifies one shift from the Carroll era. His principal rule was to "protect the team." But Carroll also empowered his players to be themselves, which invited a sense of individualism that didn't always align with the greater good.

Two words are now repeated on a wall that Macdonald's players pass by every day, something he borrowed from the season he spent as the University of Michigan's defensive coordinator:

THE TEAM

THE TEAM

THE TEAM

"It's a brotherhood," said Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL's leading receiver. "It's something that we've built from the ground up. Seattle is very, if you will, off the map. So the togetherness, when we travel, when we go places, it's protect the team, it's protect the brotherhood, and we really stand on that. We really believe that, and it shows every single day. If you're not really here, maybe it's hard to see, but if you're here every single day, you would understand what I'm talking about."

One of Macdonald's favorite mantras is "12 as One," which symbolizes a cohesive style of play while paying tribute to the team's fanbase, known as the 12s. "Chasing Edges" is Macdonald's philosophy on constantly seeking competitive advantages, his version of Carroll's "Always Compete."

The sayings have made their way onto T-shirts and sweatshirts that players wear regularly around the team facility. So has "Ready Squad," which is what the Seahawks call their practice squad. Those shirts include "70" in giant letters, with the No. 53 crossed to symbolize the importance of every player on the roster being ready to step in.

"M.O.B. TIES" was the brainchild of Macdonald's leadership council, a mix of roughly 10 veterans and younger players that serve as a conduit between the locker room and coaching staff.

"It was really a team thing, something that bonds us," Smith-Njigba said. "'Mission Over Bulls---.' That's what we're about, just going forward and winning, and all the other stuff, we'll leave that alone. We're focused on the mission, and it's awesome to do it with these guys in this building."

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WHEN THE SEAHAWKS chose Macdonald to replace Carroll, they were hiring one of the NFL's brightest defensive minds. He had led the Ravens to a No. 1 ranking in points allowed, sacks and takeaways in 2023, his second season as Baltimore's coordinator.

But Macdonald was a first-time head coach and the youngest in the NFL at the time at 36, which meant he was going to have to grow into the leadership aspect of the job.

To that end, Schneider helped Macdonald chase an edge this past offseason.

The GM set him up with a pair of consultants who had strong ties to the organization -- Dr. Michael Gervais, a performance psychologist who worked with the Seahawks under Carroll, and former Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka. The two reviewed clips of Macdonald's team meetings, helping him hone his message to players.

The son of a West Point grad, Macdonald will lay down the law when he needs to. But he's also the first to admit his own mistakes, like when he makes an ill-fated defensive play-call that puts his players in a bad spot. That accountability goes a long way.

"I honestly started feeling it throughout OTAs," Williams said of the Seahawks' connectedness. "Coach Macdonald, his leadership, I think, has gained a lot of respect from the team. You can see people respect him and listen to him. I think a part of it is he points out when he has flaws, which allows players to feel comfortable when they have flaws pointed out as well. So I think it just starts with him. It kind of just bled into the rest of the team."

AT ANY ONE moment when players are in the Seahawks' locker room, there's a good chance that at least two of them will be engaged in a battle of "shadowboxing," a quick-timing and reaction game that has gained popularity on social media. The idea is to avoid moving your hand in the same direction -- up, down, left or right -- as your opponent.

"I don't know how it started this year, but everybody just does it," outside linebacker Derick Hall said. "It's something fun, man. It brings the guys together. You walk in the locker room all you hear is 'ssss, ssss, ssss.'"

He was imitating the sound effects players make to accompany their sudden movements. They're typically followed by an eruption of laughter and/or celebratory trash talking, and the games often pit players from different position groups or sides of the ball against one another.

Defensive tackle Byron Murphy II and running back Kenneth Walker III are the best shadowboxers, in Hall's view. He cited Jones as the worst.

"Tell him I said it,'" Hall quipped. "E.J., you trash!"

Indeed, the vibes were strong in the Seahawks' locker room long before they started winning games.

"This is probably the most time in the locker room that I have seen offensive line interacting with defensive backs, defensive line interacting with receivers, quarterbacks," said defensive tackle Jarran Reed, a Carroll-era holdover. "... Everybody is really building a bond with each other."

When the Seahawks returned for the offseason program this past spring, Macdonald set aside time from their schedule of meetings for "walk and talks." The idea was for players to get to know teammates they may not normally be inclined to interact with.

Reed, a North Carolina native, got to know Australian punter Michael Dickson on a deeper level than he had over their previous five seasons together in Seattle.

"When he was talking, he explained some things. I knew he was competitive, but I didn't know he took it to heart like he does," Reed said. "Sometimes you can't take those things for granted because he's our punter, right? But he's one of our most important players on the team. How much pride he takes in doing his job, it made me look at him in a different type of way."

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SEAHAWKS PLAYERS SAY the tightness of their locker room and the on-field results are no coincidence. At 11-3, they're tied for the second-best record in the NFL through 15 weeks, and their plus-163 point differential leads the league.

Veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp said the Seahawks take pride in doing the unselfish things that don't show up in the stat sheet but help you win games, like running a route precisely to draw coverage away from a teammate, or a running back picking up a blitz.

"The good teams in this league do that stuff," said Kupp, who won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams. "The bad teams don't."

While the Seahawks' offense has been up-and-down for the last month, the defense hasn't wavered. It's allowing the second-fewest points in the NFL (16.4), and it held the Rams to 249 yards of offense in Week 11, Los Angeles' second-lowest output of the season.

"The connection and love and passion that we share for one another, that speaks on the field," Hall said. "You can go out and play your best or play harder for the guy next to you because you know what he's like, you know what he brings to work every day, you know what he's been through in life."

The Seahawks are a virtual lock to make the playoffs, with ESPN Analytics giving them a 99.4% chance to do so. They can clinch their spot this week with a win or tie versus the Rams, or with a Detroit Lions loss or tie.

They'll play for first place in the NFC West Thursday night -- and for each other.

"For me, I play at my best when I'm playing for others," Smith-Njigba said, "when I'm playing for Sam and the O-line and [OC Klint] Kubiak and Coop and guys like that. When I center it on myself, it becomes a lot. Not that I can't do it, it's just for me, and the way I see my results, it's about me putting my energy into the team and the team effort. That's what we've built here."