Listening to Logan Paulsen he seems to think Seattle might be the best team in the NFL, wow. It's a team I haven't watched.
I haven't "watched" them either, in the sense that I think you mean too (actual games). I have seen highlights, and I know how their HC (who almost definitely wanted to come here, but we didn't move fast enough - it was heavily implied in quotes of his) hired his coordinators and staff; he went heavy into a process that was merit based, it sounded like, eschewing nepotism.
I personally resonate with JD5, and I also personally resonate with what Macdonald (obviously with both, it comes from what I read about both of them, having not met either). Here is a good example:
Eight coaches were hired before the 2024 NFL season, and one of them was Mike Macdonald. The Seahawks coach has posted one of the best records of that group.
www.seattletimes.com
I really like this quote:
“That helps a lot because it’s not about the win, it’s not about the loss, it’s about the process,” defensive end Leonard Williams said last week. “It would be bad for us to come in after a win and be feeling ourselves and not go back to what got us the win, which was the process. It would also be bad on the opposite end if we lost the game and came in hanging our heads and trying to change something to get a win the next week.
“We always talk about process over results, and I think that’s continuing to show up.”
That is pretty much exactly what I like to preach as well. Process over results. If you have the right process, wins/losses, successes/failures... it's all fuel to analyze and *Get better* because that's got to be the key. For sports it's arguably more important because of the variability of an opponent. You need to compete with yourself always, always measure how you do against your standards, not how you did against another team since that changes too much. If that message and concept is delivered in word and action, I think you are getting close to optimizing at least the principle. The devil's in the details of course.
I value that kind of thinking way more than lip service to little mantras (which sometimes are important too for motivation and focus, I know), but you have to have a really good over-arching philosophy that gets you to the pinnacle and lets you stay there. I am not sure what DQ's philosophy is there; I know I have heard about "winning time moments" and some of smaller window aspects, and I have heard of piecemeal film study and analysis, and going over mistakes, but personally I like the idea of a big focus on overall improvement always. It's similar to what Bellichick and other great coaches have consistently preached. I think it's pretty straightforward as a concept and to me you can't beat it. It should be a standard mantra but I have only heard it directly referenced by handfuls, and I have read various articles like the above with players talking about it like they didn't hear it from other coaches, which tells me it is not as common as it probably should be.
I tend to think that KC and Philly are better than Seattle in a direct head-to-head matchup. I just think Seattle has arguably looked better overall this season due to matchups; hopefully we can make enough plays to win this one!