Following a 3-0 start, the Seahawks suffered their first loss of the 2024 season, falling to the Lions on Monday night.

After a day off, players were back to work on Wednesday, and while they are coming off a loss for the first time this season, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald wants to see the approach remain the same this week as his team prepares to host the Giants.

"Every day's approach is going to be the same expectation," Macdonald said. "We're trying to improve; we're trying to take the next step. Let's look at what happened through an impartial eye so we can attack the problems and let's move forward. Let's keep it positive. Man, there's a lot of good stuff on tape, a lot of stuff we obviously need to fix and make right, but that's the case anytime we step foot out there and toe the line, so that'll be the same mentality."

After taking the time to go over Monday's game, Macdonald saw plenty that needs to get better, particularly on defense after a unit that had been so good through three weeks allowed 42 points to the Lions, albeit with six key players missing all or some of the game. But Macdonald also saw a silver lining in how his players kept fighting after falling behind 14-0 early.

"Our guys could've easily given up on all three phases and they didn't," he said. "You can see it in their eyes, and I think it's a shout-out to the men we have in our locker room and the resilience they have. I told them (the players) after the game, that's the mentality and the spirit that we want on our football team that we're going to need over the long haul. Again, we're four weeks in here. This is going to be a long season. We're going to face more adversity at some point. If we have that mentality, that gives us a chance to push through in those times. So, definitely something to be proud of, a silver lining coming out of the game."

In addition to some injury updates, here are five things we learned from Wednesday's press conference:

1. The Seahawks are focused only on the task at hand, not a Thursday night NFC West showdown.

While the Seahawks have a short week this week coming off a Monday night game, next week will be even more condensed with the 49ers coming to town for a Thursday night NFC West clash. But while that Thursday Night Football game will be a big one when it gets here, for now, the focus can only be on getting ready for the Giants.

"We're 150,000 percent on the Giants right now, and then when the game ends, we'll be 150,000 percent on the Niners," Macdonald said. "I'm sure a lot of our younger coaches, once this week starts to wind down, they'll be working ahead, but all of our focus is on the Giants until the game's over."

But while players and coaches can't look ahead and future opponents, the team's performance staff, led by VP of health and player performance Sam Ramsden, does have to take into account short weeks when helping lay out a plan to keep players healthy and ready to perform at their best.

"The good news is they don't change the game times throughout the year, so we've been able to factor this into our processes," Macdonald said. "Sam Ramsden has been great bouncing ideas off of, we track all the players and everything. Again, there's no secret recipe on it. A lot of it's a feel for where the guys are at too and what they need and what the team needs any given day. We're just trying to do what's best for the guys. We felt like this is a good cadence, how we operated last week going into this week and then our short week schedule for next week."

2. The Seahawks are still fine-tuning their travel schedule.

Spending most of his career in Baltimore where road games required significantly less travel, Mike Macdonald laughed when he was asked about the travel from Seattle, with the Seahawks already taking long trips to New England and Detroit in the first month of the season, saying, "I'm not used to it yet."

And while Macdonald likes the general cadence of travel the Seahawks used previously, leaving two days early when going east, he's also seeking feedback and willing to adjust as needed.

"I think it's going to be a process over the next X amount of time," he said. "Talking through guys, getting feedback. We will keep making tweaks until we feel like we've come to the right recipe. So that's where we're at right now. I think we're doing a lot of good things. We've gotten a lot of good feedback from the guys. I think as the year goes on, I think the next one's Atlanta, we'll kind of get across that bridge when we come to it, but there's a lot of good things we're doing, and we'll make a couple of tweaks and hopefully feel like we're kind of getting closer to the sweet spot."

3. Some "uncharacteristic mistakes" hurt the defense, and Macdonald said fixing that falls on him.

For three games, the Seahawks had one of the NFL's best defenses by pretty much any measure, but playing without some of their top players, they allowed 42 points in Monday's loss, as well as several explosive plays they had avoided giving up before.

"There's just some uncharacteristic mistakes that we weren't expecting, and then Detroit did a great job with their plan and their execution too, so you don't want to take anything away from them," he said. "It's just an overall, 'Hey, it's a one play at a time mindset. How focused can we be? Can we have the obnoxious communication that we're chasing so we can avoid some of those mistakes and then let's finish plays.' I can call a better game. I mean it's everybody. I think it's kind of this whole-part-whole to it where on the whole just wasn't close to the standard or good enough to win the game."

None of Macdonald's comments about miscommunication or missed tackles or any other issues included naming individual players, and that's by design. The way Macdonald sees it, its up to him and the coaching staff to get players ready, so if mistakes are happening, that's a reflection him, not just the players.

"I just think that's the way to do it," Macdonald said. "Whatever shows up on tape is my responsibility. At the end of the day, I'm responsible for what goes on out there, and our guys are fighting their tails off to go do it. No player is ever going to show up and want to do it the wrong way. Everybody wants to win, everybody wants to be productive, and everybody wants to have success. The secret sauce is when you can get it planned together, they're playing for one another, and they're excited for everybody else's success. I think that's what we're building, and that's what we're trying to create. I think I have to do my part to make that happen."

4. The right guard competition is ongoing.

Anthony Bradford started again on Monday, his fourth straight start, but for the second time this season, rookie Christian Haynes got work at right guard as well, playing a season-high 36 snaps. Macdonald said that spot still isn't settled, adding that you'll likely see both guards again this week.

"I don't think there's any conclusion with it right now," he said. "I think both guys played a good game. The offensive line probably played their best game of the season so far. So, we haven't talked about specific snap counts this week, but I'd anticipate something similar moving forward in the near future."

5. Veteran tackle Jason Peters will do "a little bit of everything" in his second stint with the Seahawks.

After spending last season with the Seahawks, appearing in eight games with two starts, Jason Peters is back in Seattle for his 21^st season in the NFL. The 42-year-old tackle, who has also played some guard later in his career, signed to the practice squad Tuesday to do, as Macdonald put it, "A little bit of everything. I've never worked with him before. Today would be his first day, so (I'm) looking forward to seeing what he brings to the team.

"He's kind of like a leadership role, versatility, scheme versatility, good guy to have around, all the above."

Check out the Seattle Seahawks 2024 Schedule