RENTON — Mike Macdonald wants intensity. He wants physicality. He wants a toughness in his new team.
Wednesday, the Seattle Seahawks learned the limit to how much of all that their new coach will tolerate in practices against each other.
It is a lot.
By midway through the 13th practice of training camp Wednesday, a rare practice team chair Jody Allen and vice chair Bert Kolde attended, it looked like a scene from “The Longest Yard.”
There was more, uh, spirit (read: fighting) in this practice than in a Seahawks training camp day since the early “Legion of Boom” days of the early 2010s. Yes, that was just before the franchise’s back-to-back Super Bowls and only Super Bowl title.
Wednesday’s uprisings began with two fights involving teammates ripping helmets off during 11-on-11 scrimmaging.
Wide receiver Jake Bobo needed a trainer to treat a bloody nose after cornerback Tre Brown ripped off Bobo’s helmet then hit Bobo with an uppercut to the face. That was away from the ball on a running play. The blow cut the bridge of Bobo’s nose. A trainer eventually stopped the bleeding as Bobo missed the rest of that series.
Tight end Pharaoh Brown and linebacker Tyrel Dodson then went at each other in the middle of the field following a play.
Then Brown charged at receiver DK Metcalf in the end zone at the end of another running play away from the ball. That was after Metcalf had been blocking Brown near his chin. Metcalf ripped off Brown’s helmet, then swung it. He was trying to hit Brown. He hit arriving safety K’Von Wallace instead.
That was on national television.
At that point, Macdonald did what he’d yet to do in about a half-dozen chippy practices before Wednesday’s: The NFL’s youngest coach at age 37 stopped practice and called all the players into a circle around him in the middle of the field. General manager John Schneider was on the edge of the circle, listening like everyone else to his coach do all the talking.
Running back Zach Charbonnet later said Macdonald’s message was about “being able to control yourself, especially when we are in a game.”
They weren’t in a game. So the fighting continued.
Macdonald was on an adjacent field watching a receivers-on-defenders drill while the offensive and defensive linemen were in one-on-one pass-rush drills. Always the most physical, intense drill of any camp, this one became extra heated.
Rookie guard Christian Haynes, the team’s third-round draft choice, rode linebacker Derick Hall well outside and past the quarterback. Then he kept pushing Hall after the rep. Hall walked back to the line of scrimmage for round two, while yelling and pointing at Haynes. Haynes pushed Hall. Hall lunged at Haynes. Offensive and defensive players jumped in.
Macdonald jogged over from the other field and interrupted the fray. He threw Hall then Haynes out of the practice, ordering them into the team building.
When 11-on-11 scrimmaging resumed, safety Marquise Blair blew unaware wide receiver Laviska Shenault off his feet with a forearm to his chest as Blair chased a running play down the field.
Linebacker Patrick O’Connell belted running back Kenny McIntosh with a shoulder to his chest after an incomplete screen pass off McIntosh’s hands.
Wide receiver Dee Eskridge and cornerback Carlton Johnson pushed, shoved and had to be separated well after rookie running back George Holani had run into and out of the end zone for a touchdown.
At the end of one scrimmage session, defensive players in blue jerseys ran off the sideline into the middle of the field roaring, jumping up and down and taunting the offensive players in white.
“We’re right on the line right now. I think the guys release that,” Macdonald said after practice to NFL Network — which had Metcalf swinging the helmet in his fight live on its air.
“I’m proud of how we responded today. I think we’re tired of going against one another.”
The Seahawks finally get to hit someone else than themselves Saturday. They play the first game of the preseason at the Los Angeles Chargers.
Next week, the Seahawks have two joint practices in Nashville against Tennessee. The Titans recently signed former Seattle Pro Bowl safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs. Those two teams play a preseason game in Nashville Aug. 17.
After Wednesday’s practice ended, Metcalf, often penalized in games in recent seasons for extra-curricular activities after plays, addressed his teammates.
Macdonald said Metcalf’s message was the right one. The coach said the sixth-year receiver put everything in perspective in talking to his teammates and set the right tone exiting the practice.
Bobo had blood stains on the front of his No. 19 jersey as he smiled and signed autographs for fans.
That was after Macdonald called his team back together in the middle of the field, as he does to conclude each practice.
The first-time head coach and former defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, trying to rebuild a defense that got run over while ranked 30th in the 32-team NFL last season, reiterated his call to players to be smart. To take care of one another.
“But,” Charbonnet said later, “this is training camp.
“You definitely love to see that competitive aspect.”
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