Tested By Mike Macdonald's Defense, Ryan Grubb Excited For Seattle Seahawks Debut

Hoping difficult practices will make the regular season feel like more of a breeze, Ryan Grubb looks forward to coordinating his first game with the Seahawks.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith prepares to throw while offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb looks on during a drill at training camp at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. / Corbin Smith/Seahawks On SI

RENTON, Wash. - Practice makes perfect, and as Ryan Grubb prepares for his first regular season game as an NFL offensive coordinator on Sunday, he hopes that saying rings true for the Seattle Seahawks after testing wits against the new head coach who hired him.

As Mike Macdonald regularly preaches, iron sharpens iron, and from Grubb's perspective, the opportunity to go against the defensive wizard's complicated, well-oiled scheme every day has been a "pain in the ass." And yet, while nothing will ever come easy in the NFL, those rewarding, uber-competitive experiences on the practice field should pay major dividends for the play caller going against other opponents starting with the Broncos on Sunday at Lumen Field.

"It's a lot of fun. I think he's extremely creative on challenging quarterbacks and what they're seeing and what they think is happening," Grubb said of facing Macdonald's defense daily following Thursday's practice. "He gets his guys to play fast, run to the ball, and be technique-sound. So not only are they complex and deep in what they do, but I think they're fundamentally sound, which is great for us. It forces us to be the same. So, it's been a blast."

The architect of the NFL's top-ranked scoring defense in Baltimore last season, Macdonald arrived in the Pacific Northwest as the successor for legendary coach Pete Carroll with a well-earned reputation for his football intelligence and the complexity of his system. Aside from effectively mixing up coverages pre and post-snap, his Ravens defenses created chaos for opposing quarterbacks with exotic blitz packages and sim pressures, sending four with rushers coming from all levels of the defense to manufacture confusion.

This success in Baltimore came on the heels of a remarkable one-year turnaround orchestrated by Macdonald at Michigan, as the Wolverines improved from 95th to 16th in scoring defense in his lone season as defensive coordinator in 2021.

Like Macdonald, Grubb quickly rose up the coaching ladder in recent years as well, albeit entirely at the college level as he awaited his first shot in the NFL. After three successful seasons as Fresno State's offensive coordinator, he accepted the same position at Washington in 2022, immediately transforming the Huskies into one of the nation's most prolific scoring machines, including posting 38.7 points per game in his first season calling the shots.

In two seasons at Montlake, Grubb engineered a dynamic, vertical-oriented passing attack with Michael Penix Jr. at the wheel, garnering NFL attention along the way. Finishing first and second in passing yards per game in 2022 and 2023 respectively, Penix emerged as a Heisman finalist last season and a top-10 draft choice for the Falcons, while three different Husky receivers were picked in the first three rounds, including No. 9 overall pick Rome Odunze to the Bears.

After initially accepting the offensive coordinator gig at Alabama when former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer replaced Nick Saban, Grubb couldn't pass up on the chance to stay in Seattle and finally make the leap to the league when Macdonald and general manager John Schneider courted him for the same position.

Following a whirlwind process that briefly led to a detour in Tuscaloosa and five months of meticulous teaching with his new players, Grubb feels great about where the Seahawks are at offensively heading into Sunday's opener. Though he isn't shying away from his first game as an NFL coordinator being a big deal and the nerves and emotions that come with that, he expects once the game gets started that he, like the players, will be able to get into a rhythm quickly.

"I can remember the first time I was calling a game," Grubb recalled. "It had been a while since I was at Sioux Falls, and I'd coordinated for a while and then moved on to position coach, and then I got back to calling it. My first game back was in the Coliseum when I was at Fresno State, and we were playing USC. Leading up to the game, I was like, okay, 'I'll go through, memorize all my calls, do all this,' and you get there, the ball's kicked, teed up, and the first, third, fourth happens, and you're rolling. It's very similar for players. They get out there. There's a lot building up to it, but then you just got to do your job, and you got to work into it and play within your bounds."

In many ways, Sunday will serve as a culmination of sorts for both Grubb and Macdonald, who have tested each other's mettle all summer long as they adjusted to coaching positions they never had held before previously, at least in the NFL.

Coordinating an offense with a confident veteran starting quarterback in Geno Smith and a bevy of weapons such as Ken Walker III, DK Metcalf, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, among others, Grubb inherited a group that should set him up favorably for immediate success. Of course, an abundance of skill position talent will only go so far without solid offensive line play, which remains the Seahawks biggest question mark on that side of the football and will be challenged out of the gate by a talented Broncos defensive line.

Closing in on his first game as a play caller, Grubb knows there will be adversity on Sunday, as every team has to weather a unique storm in Week 1 with minimal film to game plan off of and mistakes bound to happen after limited preseason snaps in August.

But when trouble does inevitably strike, whether in the form of a turnover, penalties, or a botched play, Grubb remains confident in how his players will respond, especially with the ultimate competitor in Smith under center to provide a calming presence in the huddle. Once the early game jitters have dispersed, he's eager to see what the Seahawks can accomplish lighting up scoreboards after seeing the group come full circle learning his system from April to the present.

"I think any football team in-season, I think that there's a lot of anticipation for that first game. Certainly, there's maybe a little bit extra here just getting excited to see these guys. It's been a long time since April and March. We're working together, and some of the calls you're talking about way back then are showing up now. It's really cool to see the growth where we're at now. I'm excited to see those guys get out there and tear it up."