Mike Macdonald seeks Seahawks players’ travel tips; Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy updates

Players rolled into work after noon.

They put on T-shirts, not pads and helmets, for an ultra-light, walk-through practice late in the afternoon.

The coach joked he did not fully grasp what day it was.

“This is a little funky operation here. I’m not sure what press conference this is,” Mike Macdonald said. “Is this the Wednesday press conference? Or is it the (Monday) postgame press conference?”

Four days before the first-place Seahawks play again, Sunday against the New York Giants (1-3) at Lumen Field (1:25 p.m., channel 7), this Wednesday — yes, it was Wednesday — was unlike standard NFL mid-week preparation fare.

It’s part of their rookie head coach’s ongoing learning of just how far Seattle is from the rest of the league.

The team returned home from its first loss this season at Detroit late Monday night around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. The players had the rest of that day off, and Wednesday morning free, as well.

“The guys had (Tuesday) off, and came in late today. Trying to get some more sleep and recovery,” Macdonald said. “We’ll go slower today, then really ramp up and kick it into gear (Thursday).

“So looking forward to the next few days, and taking the next step.”

Macdonald is still learning how playing San Francisco in Santa Clara, California, (two-hour, 10-minute flight into San Jose) is Seattle’s shortest trip. The coach used to take buses to games at Philadelphia and Washington. That was when Macdonald was an assistant coach then defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens for most of the previous 10 years.

The year Macdonald became the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, 2022, Baltimore traveled just 8,244 miles.

By comparison, the Seahawks flew 29,014 miles that season. It was the most in the NFL. Again.

Asked a day after the five-hour flight back from Detroit what he’s learned of the travel distance to and from Seattle, Macdonald smiled and said: “I’m not used to it.”

The NFL’s youngest head coach at age 37 is asking his players how to best streamline and improve how the Seahawks travel, to maximize their performance in road games.

That’s particularly true for games in the Eastern Time Zone.

Macdonald’s led the Seahawks on two of those in this season’s first four weeks. They flew to Providence, Rhode Island (2,496 air miles) then won in overtime at New England in week two, before the 42-29 defeat at Detroit Monday night.

They’ll do it two more times this regular season. Seattle plays at Atlanta (2,182 miles) Oct. 20, and at the New York Jets (2,402 miles to Newark, New Jersey) Dec. 1.

The Seahawks also have a game the day after Christmas at Chicago (1,720 miles), on a Thursday night. That will be four days after a game in Seattle against the currently unbeaten Minnesota Vikings.

“Yeah, I think it’s going to be a process over the next x amount of time, talking to guys, getting their feedback,” Macdonald said.

“We’ll keep making tweaks until we feel like we come to the right recipe. ...I think we’re doing a lot of good things. We’ve got a lot of good feedback from the guys.”

For the flight from Seattle to New England Friday, Sept. 13 for the Sunday game, the team’s charter flight did not get the players into the team hotel in downtown Providence until midnight into early Saturday. The idea was to keep the guys on West Coast body clocks, going to sleep around 10 or 11 p.m. Pacific.

Players suggested to Macdonald following that trip to leave Seattle earlier to arrive earlier on the East Coast.

So that’s what they did Saturday for the Monday night game in Detroit. But there was a problem with the team’s charter jet with all first-class seating they are leasing for the first time this season.

“It was a little tougher for us this week, this time going to Detroit, because something was wrong with the plane,” wide receiver Tyler Lockett said Wednesday. “We had to wait like, two hours, maybe a little bit longer, before we can even get on the plane, which made us get there a lot later.”

Macdonald acknowledged they tried.

“So we might alter our leave time, try to get there a little earlier (to Atlanta this month),” he said

Lockett has played every one of his 10 seasons with Seattle. He’s lived for all those years what Macdonald is learning, and feeling, right now.

“We know we’re going to be the most traveling-miles team. So it’s really tough for anything to be beneficial to us,” Lockett said.

“We kind of know what it is.”

Uchenna Nwosu to practice

Macdonald said the plan is for key outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu to practice this week. The hope is the sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee responds better to practices this week than it did last week.

“Yeah, he’ll be out there,” practicing before the Giants game, Macdonald said.

Nwosu practiced last Wednesday for the first time in a month. But then he missed the next two days, plus the game at Detroit Monday night.

He’s yet to play this season. He sprained his left knee Aug. 24 when Cleveland’s Wyatt Teller cut blocked him in the final preseason game.

Derick Hall has filled in for Nwosu. Hall, the 2023 second-round pick from Auburn, leads the Seahawks with four sacks through four games.

Williams, Murphy, Mafe, Love statuses

Macdonald said he thinks Pro Bowl safety Julian Love “is doing OK.” The former Giants captain injured his thigh in the first half at Detroit, after he played 29 snaps.

K’Von Wallace replaced him for the final 24 defensive plays against the Lions.

Macdonald said he expected defensive tackle Leonard Williams (hip) and outside linebacker Boye Mafe (knee) to participate in the walk-through practice Wednesday.

Defensive tackle and rookie first-round Byron Murphy remains out with his hamstring injury he got in week three against Miami. He joined Williams, Mafe, Nwosu and weakside linebacker Jerome Baker in missing the Lions game.

Macdonald said following the game Monday night Baker was the closest of those injured starters to playing in Detroit. He’s been sidelined for the last two games. He first injured his hamstring early in training camp.

Abe Lucas, not anytime soon

This week is the first one Abe Lucas is eligible to come off the physically-unable-to-perform list.

But Macdonald said Lucas is not going to.

The starting right tackle hasn’t practiced or played since January. He had knee surgery in the offseason.

Cam Young back off PUP

Coaches expect nose tackle Cam Young to begin practicing this week coming off the PUP list.

The Seahawks have been playing the first four games with 32-year-old, 12th-year veteran Johnathan Hankins as their only true nose tackle on the 53-man active roster. Hankins played a season-high 77% of the defensive snaps at Detroit.

Young was Seattle’s other second-round pick last year, out of Mississippi State.

There is a three-week window of practice time before PUP-list players must either then go onto the active roster or on injured reserve.