What Mike Macdonald said about Devon Witherspoon's rare off game
The Seattle Seahawks' secondary has already dealt with its fair share of injuries this season, with Devon Witherspoon, Julian Love and rookie Nick Emmanwori already missing time at least one game and the latter still yet to return.
It's not just the fact that those players have missed time, though, it's also that the injuries have continued to affect them even after they return. Well, at least it looked like it for Witherspoon. The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback made his return in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals after missing the previous two games, but it wasn't exactly a triumphant comeback.
Witherspoon was involved in both of the Cardinals' fourth-quarter touchdowns, and not in a good way. First, Arizona wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. went up and snagged a 16-yard touchdown over him on a corner route to bring the game within one score.
Then in the final minute, Witherspoon missed a tackle against Arizona running back Emari Demercado after coming across the field to chase him down, allowing the Cardinals to tie it up.
Witherspoon took accountability for his performance after the game, telling reporters, "I've got to be better." However, head coach Mike Macdonald had a much more optimistic outlook.
“He played a good game,” Macdonald said, per The Athletic. “There’s a couple plays he gave up, a couple catches that Harrison had on him, but Spoon’s going to be fine. The guy competes; he’s on his stuff. He’s a spark plug out there for us.”
It's important to keep in mind that Witherspoon hasn't fully participated in practice since Week 1, so the fact that he's playing at all is worthy of praise.
The "mini bye week" the Seahawks enjoyed after winning on Thursday will hopefully allow Witherspoon, and the rest of the secondary, to heal up. When everyone is back and healthy, Seattle's secondary has the potential to be one of the league's best.
“It’ll be interesting,” Macdonald said. “We haven’t game planned anything yet on defense, but this is a byproduct of guys getting a lot of work, staying ready with the (practice squad). Guys being ready to go gives you added flexibility when you go into game planning, which is cool.
“It’s also something you have to be mindful of so you don’t get too cute and you’re still able to throw fastballs, and guys can execute without having a thousand personnel groups.”
Eli Drinkwitz sarcastically proposes exhibition game vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz has always been a creative thinker, whether it comes to his offensive schemes or interactions with the media.
And during a recent appearance on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show,’ Drinkwitz put that mind to work by coming up with a plan to field an in-state crossover matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and his Tigers.
Yes, you read that correctly.
“The way we can generate more money is if we schedule a preseason game with an NFL team, because that would generate great ratings and make it even tougher on our programs,” Drinkwitz said, tongue-in-cheek. “I mean I’m right here with the Chiefs, maybe we can get a preseason game with them.”
Finebaum proceeded to grill Drinkwitz on the potential individual matchups in the game, prompting another seemingly sarcastic response.
“We can’t cover Travis Kelce or stop Patrick Mahomes,” Drinkwitz said. “But I’ll tell ya this: I don’t know if Mahomes moves as well as LaNorris Sellers does these days. And you got Taylen Green at Arkansas and John Mateer at Oklahoma, and you’re gonna play all 16 of ’em!”
And while it certainly appears that Drinkwitz suggested this in jest at the recent 9-game schedule reveal, it does leave one to ponder what that matchup would look like.
Beau Pribula vs. Patrick Mahomes sounds outlandish, and given the fact that the Tiger secondary struggled mightily against South Carolina and Chris Jones could likely run through any college lineman, the game would be hardly entertaining.
