The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers will play for the second time in three weeks after the Niners defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 11 in the wild-card round. However, the early storyline is that George Kittle won’t be available for this playoff game.
In the win over the Eagles, Kittle went down with a torn Achilles tendon. FOX Sports cameras caught Kittle leaving the field on a cart. ESPN’s play-by-play showed Kittle was injured on a short Brock Purdy completion early in the second quarter, with Philadelphia in front 13-7 at that moment.
Ahead of the divisional round matchup between the 49ers and Seahawks, Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald spoke with the NFL on NBC as he shared his thoughts on the devastating Kittle injury.
“I know they’re a division rival and all that, but that was a heck of a win,” Macdonald told NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor on FaceTime. “I mean, that was a really gutsy performance. Hate to see it happen to George Kittle. He’s such a great player [and a] great competitor. We got a ton of respect for him, and [it] just really makes you sick that that happened to him. But to come back and rally and make those plays late as they did, that was a really impressive win.”
Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald Talks Facing 49ers Again
Moreover, Macdonald spoke about facing the Niners again after beating them two weeks ago, which clinched the NFC West division and the No. 1 seed in the conference, giving them a bye week.
“Well, it’s been a heck of a couple of days because every six hours it feels like we change out who we think we’re going to play,” Macdonald added.
“So it’s just nice to know who we finally have. And it’s a little funky going against a team two games in a row. So we got to do a great job of debriefing and having some answers, knowing that Kyle will have some stuff dialed up for us.”
Moreover, Macdonald noted what his team must do to beat the 49ers a second time this season.
“They’re a heck of a team,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to play great situational football. They’re so good on third down on both sides. The special teams, like the starting field position, were a big part of the last game. So we did a great job taking care of the ball on offense. We attacked it on defense. We got to be able to do that back at Lumen.”
Mike Macdonald Ready for His First Playoff Game as HC
Macdonald also saw in the wild-card round that coaches like Liam Coen and Dave Canales lost their first playoff game as head coaches, while Ben Johnson won his in comeback fashion as the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers. Taylor asked Macdonald about his emotions going into his first playoff game as a head coach.
“It’s exciting watching all these games, and I think I just have to remember to remind myself that we got to this point because of our process every day and that our mindset has really been about taking away all the extra stuff,” Macdonald added.
“Let’s focus on what we do, on playing our style of football, and let the results take care of themselves. So, that’s going to be the same message this week. And shoot, I need to listen to my own coaching points on that one, too.”
Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald Gets Honest About George Kittle Injury