‘Let ‘Er Rip’: Brian Fleury Inspiring Confidence Entering Seahawks’ - and NFL - Play-Calling Debut

Now in his third season as head coach for the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Macdonald still has the same butterflies going into the season opener as he did when he first received the opportunity to call plays at Michigan five years ago.

Whether it can be chalked up as nerves, anxiety, excitement, or a cocktail of all three, Macdonald sees those emotions all as a natural part of the equation being a football coach and kicking off a new season. From that standpoint, as Brian Fleury prepares to call plays in a regular season game for the first time, he expects the Seahawks new offensive coordinator to experience an array of such feelings when they take on the Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch on Wednesday.

Not seeing that blend of fervor and apprehension as necessarily a negative thing, leaning on his own play calling debut as guidance, Macdonald would advise Fleury to embrace those emotions as they come, be confident in the process and trust the work he has put in leading up to this point, and quickly remind himself that at the end of the day, Wednesday is just another football game.

“Like with the rest of our players, [it’s about] trusting our training, trusting the preparation,” Macdonald said about Fleury’s impending debut as coordinator prior to Saturday’s practice. “I still do that. You’re always going to feel there’s whatever; is it anxiety, is it excitement? Those things are natural, it means you care, it means it matters to you. I hope our players feel that. When you do have those feelings, understand like, ‘Hey, we’re still playing a football game that we’ve prepared for and take a deep breath and go let ‘er rip and let’s rock and roll.’”