ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky shares insights on new Lions OC Drew Petzing
ESPN analyst and ex-Lions QB Dan Orlovsky joined Dave Birkett to talk new Lions OC Drew Petzing, his interest in coaching and Super Bowl 60.
SAN JOSE, CA — Jay Harbaugh can’t pinpoint the moment he knew Mike Macdonald was ready to be a head coach.
There wasn’t a memorable speech or a genius idea or a late-night burn-the-candle-till-all-hours session that Harbaugh, the Seattle Seahawks special-teams coordinator, spent with his current boss that convinced him Macdonald could take a team to a Super Bowl.
But when they got together as young coaches with the Baltimore Ravens in 2014 − Macdonald as a coaching intern and Harbaugh on his uncle John’s staff as an offensive quality control coach − and again seven years later at Michigan − when Macdonald coordinated the defense and Harbaugh coached special teams and tight ends under his dad, Jim − Harbaugh had this overwhelming sense Macdonald would be a success at whatever he did.
“Cause it’s the day in and day out, and it’s not performative,” Harbaugh told the Free Press this week at Super Bowl 60. “It’s not like, ‘I’m going to flip the table over and make this impassioned speech.’ It’s just this like numbing repetition of doing a really good job and making good, calculated decisions and treating people well and focusing on the right stuff. And it’s just, you just know.”
Macdonald, a Coach of the Year finalist, can become the first coach who serves as his team’s primary defensive play-caller to win the Super Bowl, according to The Athletic, if his Seahawks beat the New England Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
That fact he has led his team here already is historic in some ways.
Just five coaches have won a Super Bowl with two or fewer seasons of prior head-coaching experience at any level on their resume – Mike Tomlin, Joe Gibbs, Tom Flores, Brian Billick and Don McCafferty.
And at 38 years old, Macdonald is a young, defensive-minded leader in an offensive-minded game.
The Seahawks allowed the fewest points in the NFL this season (17.2 ppg) and were one of just two teams along with the Denver Broncos to rank top 10 in scoring, rushing, passing, third-down, red-zone and total defense.
“I think what makes our group special, and this is just independent to us, but we talk about 12 as one,” Macdonald said. “It’s the synergy of our group, when you play together and you really try to create it like you’re playing against more than 11 guys. But to me that’s what we want our fingerprint to be and our identity, and the guys have bought in on that.”
The Seahawks won 14 games and had the best record in the NFC this season because of a physical, make-you-work-for-every-inch defense and a balanced offense. They run the ball authoritatively with former Michigan State star Kenneth Walker in the backfield. They have the NFL’s leading receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba. They’ve gotten excellent play from quarterback Sam Darnold throughout the playoffs.
And they have a rising star of a coach in Macdonald, who said his one season at Michigan confirmed everything he believed to be true about the best way to win football games.
“I think going into that opportunity, had a vision for what you wanted to be able to create on defense,” Macdonald said. “It was aligned with how Jim wanted his team to roll and then showing that you can go do it, that you can go align people and go chase a common goal and have it come together like that. That was a really special, connected, tough football team and it was like, ‘OK, this is what works. This is a formula that you can apply to another group.’ And I felt like we did that in Baltimore back when we returned and then ultimately what we’re trying to do here.”
Macdonald, who talked his way into a graduate assistant position at Georgia as a young high school coach in 2010, spent seven seasons with the Ravens before going to Michigan in 2021 essentially on loan.
The Wolverines won their first of three straight Big Ten titles that year under Jim Harbaugh, with Macdonald coordinating a menacing defense led by Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo.
And when John Harbaugh needed a new defensive coordinator in 2022, Macdonald returned for the first of two years before leaving to become Seahawks coach.
Macdonald said at Super Bowl media night this week he was aware of the history he could make by becoming the first defensive play-caller to win the Super Bowl as head coach, but insisted there’s only one part of that accomplishment he cares about.
“Someone close to me has brought that up in the past,” Macdonald said. “It would mean that we’re champions. I wouldn’t really care.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
