The combination of physicality, heat and monotony has led to altercations at football practices since the game began, and the Seahawks were not immune to them on Wednesday.

Although Macdonald doesn’t want his players to cross the line between competitiveness and team-detrimental actions, he liked the players’ reaction after he stopped practice and called the entire team together for a quick message from their head coach.

“Yeah, we came out and did our best,” Macdonald told NFL Network after practice. “I’m proud of how we responded today. We came out, we were ready to practice. I don’t know what the numbers are, but we’ve been out here, I don’t know, 14 of the last 16 days… I think we’re tired of competing, you know. But the guys are spirited. We had a great practice and we’re excited for Saturday.”

When asked about how it’s like to walk the line between competition and over-the-top action, Macdonald said the team walked that line on Wednesday, but he liked the way DK Metcalf handled the team after he was involved in one of the incidents.

“Yeah, we’re on the right track right now. And I think the guys have realized that they have to look out for each other,” Macdonald said. “We definitely don’t want people fighting and stuff like that here, especially against our own teammates. And then DK gave a great message at the end of practice that put everything in perspective. The guys finished it right. I’m so proud of our guys.”

When asked about his message to the team and the reaction to it, Macdonald said: “It was positive and the guys are in a good position, but let’s just remind them why we’re here, what we want to achieve and let’s take a deep breath and finish training properly. And that’s what we did.”