The premiere of the Seattle Seahawks edition of ‘Hard Knocks’ is Tuesday night, and to entice viewers to watch the Super Bowl champs gear up for their next championship run, there’s a teaser involving head coach Mike Macdonald and star defensive back Nick Emmanwori that is absolutely fascinating.
While this 97-second clip is generally focused on Emmanwori and his ankle surgery recovery, there’s a revealing in the back-end of the video about outside noise. It provides even greater perspective on Macdonald’s
personality.
“It’s like someone talking s—t about you on Twitter,” Macdonald said. “It’s gonna go away in 15 seconds. Everything will pass. See that note card right there? It says, ‘This new hot shot coordinator is terrible.’ Rex Ryan.
“And I deserved it. We were dogsh-t on defense. And he was talking mad sh-t. Back then I used to care so much about image, and now he thinks that we’re the best thing ever. I was like, ‘I remember.’”
“I keep receipts, too,” Emmanwori said. “I like to prove people wrong.”
“Even still, there’s always this thing of like, people’s versions of me and what they think of me is not me. So it’s like, I’m okay with that,” Macdonald said.
By the way, that Rex Ryan take? That came in 2022 after the Ravens blew a seemingly insurmountable 35-14 lead in the fourth quarter to the Miami Dolphins, who prevailed 42-38 in Baltimore. This was Macdonald’s second game as an NFL defensive coordinator and before the Ravens traded for Roquan Smith, who helped transform that defense into the best in the business in 2023.
You can catch the first of five ‘Hard Knocks’ episodes on Tuesday night at 9 PM ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
