Dave Boling: In replacing Pete Carroll with dynamic Mike Macdonald, Seahawks look to regain the ‘edge to be great’

At this point, the uncertainty contributes to the excitement.

The 2024 Seahawks are new. Different. And there is the possibility they could improve.

Give Pete Carroll every kudo his historic career in Seattle deserves. There was nobody like him, and almost surely won’t be another.

Super Bowl title. Ten playoffs in 14 seasons. Energy. Personality. So much to appreciate.

But his Seahawks hadn’t captured a division title in seven seasons, and won just one playoff game in the past six years.

Granted, to replace the oldest coach in the NFL with the youngest – without any head coaching experience – invites risk.

But unpredictability across a broader range of potential outcomes includes high-end possibilities.

Consecutive 9-8 seasons, chronic uncorrected shortcomings, and falling to third place in the division led to Carroll’s dismissal. GM John Schneider noted that “if you’re stagnant, you’re (falling) behind.”

Fair enough.

When Carroll was fired, many fans expressed sadness over the loss of someone who had been so productive over the years. But I don’t imagine there were many who argued: Hey wait, you can’t fire Pete, he’s about to take us back to another Super Bowl.

With Mike Macdonald, considered a defensive whizkid across the league at age 37, visions of long-term divisional contention aren’t unfounded.

In his farewell address, Carroll came up with an insightful – and surely gut-wrenching – admission: “(we) lost our edge to be great.”

Carroll preached competitiveness every waking hour, yet it was an inconsistent commodity for the Seahawks in recent seasons. His confession seemed like the most accurate assessment of the team’s flattened trajectory.

The NFL is a complex game with simple core elements. The last couple of years, Carroll’s Hawks forgot how to tackle. Or they weren’t put in position to make the plays. His great teams over the years featured players swarming to the ball on both sides, sometimes even battling each other to get to it.

Last season, in contrast, the Seahawks missed 129 tackles, third most in the league. And their offense featured some great individual efforts diluted by an absence of creativity.

Hello, Mike Macdonald. You have the keys. Show us what you have.

You can expect that his team won’t be lacking in “edge.”

Macdonald coordinated the Baltimore Ravens defense that last season was historically one of the league’s finest.

It didn’t hurt his chances of getting the Seattle job when his Ravens crushed the Seahawks 37-3, while also defeating the three other NFC West teams.

The Ravens’ scheme was not only creative but readily adaptive to opponent strengths on a weekly basis.

His Ravens attacked the football. And they played with notable aggressiveness.

What has Macdonald shown since his January hiring?

“(I’m) really impressed with the teaching that’s going on here,” Schneider said recently. “The one thing that stands out with Mike, I would say, clarity, and there’s an intent to everything that we’re doing.”

A couple of comments Macdonald has made regarding his team are illustrative.

Asked about his highly regarded strategies, Macdonald downplayed the tactical aspects of defense.

“I think the X’s and O’s are overrated,” he said. “It’s about how you play. It’s about how the 11 people on the field can work as one. … We didn’t reinvent defense, it’s just a style of play that hopefully we can recreate here.”

The style is aggressive and adaptable.

He will call the defenses during the games, in addition to his head-coaching responsibilities, he said at his news conference Wednesday.

As he’s discovered by now, being head coach is far more demanding than coordinating half the team.

One example of his messaging to the team became clear after observers began raving about the potential of first-round draft pick Byron Murphy II, a defensive tackle from Texas.

Macdonald noted that it had been “a good start,” but added that Murphy had a lot of work to do and probably needed to be in better condition. It surely served as a reminder to everybody on the team.

The league will start making judgments of the new Seahawks and their young coach on Sunday when they play host to the Denver Broncos.

The sideline may seem less entertaining without the exuberant, gum-munching, arm-waving, player-hugging Carroll.

Macdonald may need to be more focused on his multiple duties on Sunday. He promised Wednesday that the “constant evolution” of his plans will continue up until kickoff.

“It’s an on-going process,” he said. “From here to eternity …”

The newness brings excitement, but Pete Carroll might inform him that eternity isn’t nearly as long as it used to be.