Seahawks have ‘MOB ties’: Mike Macdonald explains team’s 2025 rallying cry

The Seattle Seahawks locker-room slogan just went public.

After the Seahawks’ 27–19 Monday Night Football win over the Texans on October 20, head coach Mike Macdonald talked about the team’s identity and teased a rallying cry he and players have been echoing: “MOB.” 

“This game was about death zone football, okay? Our style of ball. Having each other’s backs from the first down to the last down,” Macdonald told his group post game, posted by the team’s official social account. Imagine when it’s all three phases clicking. Frickin’ MOB ties all the way.”

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Seattle Seahawks Buying into MOB: Mission Over Bull****

So what are “MOB ties” Macdonald alluded to post-game? Macdonald clarified on his weekly radio appearance on Seattle Sports that it’s not a reference to anything nefarious. Rather, players coined “MOB” as an acronym that stands for “mission over other stuff,” with Macdonald subbing in “other stuff” to keep it PG. 

“It’s organic to our guys,” was the gist of Macdonald’s explanation, describing a 12-is-1 ethos and the importance of “stick-togetherness” across phases (offense, defense, special teams). That messaging tracks with his broader push for complementary football that he’s discussed repeatedly on the show this season.

The phrase, he said, captures how the roster wants to operate: one group lifting another when needed, and committing to a single mission above everything else.

Context matters: Seattle’s win over Houston pushed the Seahawks to 5-2 and kept pace in a tight NFC West race, a backdrop that gives the “mission” framing extra weight. In that game, Zach Charbonnet punched in two short TDs, NFL receiving yards leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba posted his third straight 100-yard outing, and the defense and special teams closed the door late,  exactly the “three phases clicking” version Macdonald keeps pointing toward.

The slogan’s rollout also fits how the Seahawks communicate under Macdonald: use the Monday podium for big-picture identity, then unpack details with Brock & Salk during the week. That cadence let the phrase surface organically around a prime-time win rather than as a forced motto.

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What it means going forward

Expect to hear “MOB” and having “MOB ties” used internally as a standard for how Seattle evaluates itself week to week, especially around situational football (“death zone” downs, red zone, and closing sequences). The team’s recent radio segments have stressed complementary play and tackling standards in these moments.

For fans: it’s a unifying shorthand, not coded language. Macdonald’s on-air clarification, “mission over other stuff,” was deliberate.

For opponents: it signals Seattle’s emphasis on resilience and a unified focus. The Texans game offered a template, offense setting the tone early, defense and special teams sealing late.

Quick look ahead: Seattle hits the bye, then gets a prime-time trip to Washington on Sunday, November 2, followed by a home divisional tilt with the Cardinals (November 9) and road tests at the Rams (November 16) and Titans (November 23). That stretch should stress-test the “three phases clicking” idea, especially the resurgent defense that just pressured C.J. Stroud on roughly a third of his dropbacks and carried long stretches of Monday night.

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This article was originally published on Heavy Sports

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