Head Coach Mike Holmgren
(On Bill Walsh...) “For me personally, he gave me my chance to coach in the NFL. He took a chance on me. I was four years removed from high school and that usually doesn’t work that way. He was hard on me and I was mad at him a fair amount as an assistant coach. Looking back on it now, he was my mentor and then later in the years he became my friend. I said this and I meant it, I always thought; when I was an assistant coach for him and he was working and having us do stuff that he looked at the game differently as a coach, he just looked at how to put everything together and how to do it differently. The minority intern program is in place because of Bill. He had a heart for minority coaches and he wanted to make sure they had a chance. Ty Willingham was our first minority coach in San Francisco years ago, the first year the program was in place. A lot of us worked for him and had a chance to go on and continue to coach in the league. We took a lot of what he did with us. I am glad I had a chance to visit with him recently.”

(On Walsh’s philosophy...) “I always said that he was an artist and all the rest of us were blacksmiths pounding the anvil, while he was painting the picture. There is always more than one way to win games but that was how he chose to do it.”


Special Projects/Defense Coach Ray Rhodes
“He was very instrumental in my career from day one as a football player. He gave me my opportunity in coaching. I had the chance to play for him for a year and after that year he gave me my opportunity to coach in this league. From day one he molded my career and helped me out tremendously. When you talk about the things he would do for his coaches, not only did he show you the on-the-field part of the game but off-the-field part of the game as far as scouting, dealing with player contracts, just all aspects of football he was willing to share with all of his coaches. For a young coach like myself I can’t say enough things about him. He pushed you, he pushed you to be the best person you could be, the best coach you could be. He always had people setting their goals and their standards high in every phase of what they did in football. He pushed me to the point to where, just like he pushed his players, in reference to be the best player you could be. You want to be the best defensive back coach in the league and you have to strive for that with hard work. You want to have the best group, you want to be known as the best guy coaching that position. He pushed each one of his coaches to the ultimate limit and he stayed on you about it. He was a mentor to me. I can’t say enough good things he did for me and my family.”


Assistant Head Coach/Secondary Coach Jim Mora
“He not only had a great influence on the game but he had a great influence on many people in this league, myself being one of them. He will be truly missed by everybody.”


Special Teams Coach Bruce DeHaven
“I had the opportunity to work with Coach Walsh for three years while I was in San Francisco when he was our general manager. It was a real honor for me to be associated with him. One of the really fine gentleman in the game. You know how innovative he was for the game but I found him to be a wonderful human being, very caring and just a real gentleman. He will be sorely missed by a lot of people.”

University of Washington football coach Tyrone Willingham
“The world lost a great man in Bill Walsh. He had a tremendous impact on me, both personally and professionally. Coaches throughout all levels of football have lost an innovator and teacher who had a truly significant impact on the game. Very few people will be able to say they were able to change the course of history. Bill’s development in the minority coaching program at the collegiate and professional levels literally changed the face of football. His sphere of influence was significantly greater than any coach of his time. He will truly be missed.”

Linebacker Julian Peterson
(On Walsh believing in him as a rookie...) “He meant a lot to me. He drafted me back in 2000 and he told me I was going to be the key to the defense. From right then and there when he said that I just took that as motivation that he thought a lot about me. For him saying that and entrusting that much in to me, I just took it and ran with it and always had the mentality to stay on top of my game. I bought a chain with a key on it just to remind me I’m the key of the defense and to continue to work hard and be focused. I had one of the greatest coaches of all time saying I was going to be the key, that was big to me. Most coaches won’t say that to a rookie. He showed that faith in me and I went out there and showed my talents. He said I knew you were going to pan out the way you are. That meant a lot to me.”

(On Walsh’s eye for talent...) “I know he was a big inspiration to Jeff Garcia. A lot of people didn’t believe in Jeff Garcia and he brought him in the mix and said he was going to be a good West Coast quarterback. Look at Garcia now, a couple of Pro Bowls and you saw what he did last year. He knows talent and knows how to evaluate talent and get the best out of his players.”

Defensive Line Coach Dwaine “Pee Wee” Board
“I was with Bill Walsh for a long time, and to think that a lot of us had played for him and worked under him we knew that he cared for the people that worked under him. He changed a lot of lives for a lot of people. He gave a lot of people opportunities to succeed and he stood behind the people that worked under him, you could count on that. He’s going to be missed. Over the years, I usually talked to him about once a month and he always had a last word of advice. He was like a dad to me. It’s a shame he had leukemia and I wish there was a cure for it. Not only for Bill Walsh, but for a lot of people.”

Defensive Coordinator John Marshall
“Great, great football coach and football mind. Much, much better human being. He has helped so many young players, so many people in general in his professional lifetime. The world is a better place because of Bill Walsh being in it. I’ve coached against him and I’ve coached with him and he has helped me in my professional life and I couldn’t think more of him. I admire the man and I admire what he stood for and I admire what he did.”

Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator Gil Haskell
“He was an extremely fine coach, very detailed. He had a great eye for talent. You look at his teams and they always talked about offense but Ronnie Lott and those kids on defense were great players. I have nothing but respect for him. Later when I started working with Mike Holmgren, I got to know him and I even respected him more because he was very loyal to the guys that he coached. Quite a man, quite a man. He had a great life and was very successful.”

Sorry for the delay, just wrapped up a quick sidebar on Bill Walsh for tomorrow's paper. Dave is hard at work on his column so I'll offer up a quick blog before getting to my story and game box.

As expected Tubbs, Pork Chop and Mike Green missed the afternoon practice. Green's absence is scheduled. He's only going one practice a day while he's recovering from Lisfranc surgery.

Much better practice in terms of intensity and execution out of the offense. Passes were much crisper, no interceptions from the QBs (yes, even Greene, but he didn't get many reps) and solid catches from the receivers -- Hackett in particular.

Other happenings

•Nate Burleson had a handful of catches during "skele" and team. Nobody will ever accuse Nate of having the hands or grace of Steve Largent, but he's a good athlete that can, and needs to be a viable threat, if thrown to.

•I thought Brandon Mebane looked good during one-on-one's versus the offensive line. He's just a squatty load, kind of like a small automobile. Of course, I still defer to Dave on all things in the trenches.

•Josh Brown made 4-of-5 field goals through the skinnier, modified goal posts (think Arena League width). His best kick was from 45 yards, which split what appears to be the 10 foot space.

•Matt Hassselbeck and Shaun Alexander addressed the media for the first time today. Both were in pretty good spirits and pronounced themselves healthy and ready to go.

I'm going to use a separate post for the Bill Walsh comments from Mike Holmgren and other coaches, including Ty Willingham (thanks to Don Ruiz) who was part of the Minority Coaches Program Walsh started.

Sorry, I haven't been helping with the blogging from camp. There were some computer issues that dated back to an incident of total computer meltdown after covering a Mariners game. But I do plan to add a few things to Dave's already stellar contributions.

First and foremost, I thought some links about how our divisional opponents are progressing at camp. I know ESPN does this with Buster Olney's blog for baseball but anyway here's some news so you don't have to scour the web to much while your faking it at work.

We'll start with the 49ers where expectations are pretty high for the Niners. It seems are old friend D-Jack had was stripped from behind in a workout.

But the big news will be the passing of Bill Walsh, whose contributions to the NFL should never be underestimated.

Over in St. Louis, the Rams are hoping to bust out from mediocrity this season. Mammoth offensive tackle Orlando Pace has slimmed down some.

Meanwhile, over in scenic Flagstaff (yes, I've been there before). The Arizona Cardinals have high expectations yet again. Much of it falls directly on the shoulders of quarterback Matt Leinart and a potent offense that's still adding new things. Heck even the fickle Arizona fans are excited. At least one person believes the Cards will be a better coached team.

And for those of your already making Super Bowl plans for Glendale, you may want to make reservations for the Playboy Party. I know I want to meet Hef, and his women.

As for our old friend Jerramy Stevens, he is supposed to be a player to watch in Tampa.

Okay, another one in the books. Trufant came back after a short break (getting poked in eye). So, there was nothing to it. The interesting part while he was of the field was how they lined up with him out. Jennings moved over to the left corner and Josh Wilson came it on the right side.

All you Leonard Weaver fans out there take note that he's looking more and more like a real nice fit as a third-down back. Nice hands, good elusiveness in the open field. However, one play was interesting in seeing what COULD be. On one pass play when downfield receivers were covered, Hasselbeck flipped a swing pass to Shaun Alexander. Alexander pulled it in in stride and raced up the sideline. If he could be counted on to do that, it would give him so many more touches out in the open and would surely help to open up defenses for his rushing attempts.

From one-on-one pass blocking drills (okay, it's my favorite part of practice): Ray Willis is looking better at guard ... just my opinion. Why? He still looks too rangy to waste at guard when he's a natural tackle, but it looks as if he's developed a technique that might help offset the leverage advantages short and stout DTs would have against him. He's got a terrific punch that allows him to get his hands on guys almost before they're coming out of their stances. Typically, if a guard or tackle can get his hands on a defender, the battle is won. Willis doesn't "catch" rushers, he extends on them. It's a very nice technique.

On one play, rookie Brandon Mebane DISCARDED fellow rookie Steve Vallos. Mebane tossed him aside. I still contend this kid is a sleeper stud.

Babineaux's health situation was clarified today. It is just a bone bruise, as scans came back negative for fractures. Still, Holmgren says he's expected to miss three or four weeks. Also, Pork Chop Womack suffered a "tweaked" hamstring, which complicates his return from the double-knee arthroscopy he had in June

Chris Gray had a false start in team drills that caused Holmgren to offer a bit of criticism. Well, Gray's young, and he'll learn. During his interview, Holmgren was asked about these types of "focus" penalties and he said that last year's team was the most penalized he's ever had. He said that he hates those penalties so much that if he could imagine something really horrible to do to players who commit them, he'd do it.

David Greene must be a real gamer. He won more than 40 starts while at Georgia. For the life of me, I can not see any indication in practices that he ever could be a successful quarterback in the NFL. He's consistently inaccurate.

The death of coach Bill Walsh led Holmgren to be asked about his relationship with the former 49ers coach. Holmgren gave some poignant recollections about Walsh's impact on his life and career. Walsh was critical in starting the NFL's minority coaching program, Holmgren said, pointing out that UW coach Tyrone Willingham was their first assistant to benefit. At one point, Holmgren very articulately spoke of Walsh as "being an artist while the rest of us were blacksmiths."

My usual KJR radio visits are with Elise and Ian at 8:30 Monday nights. In addition, Clare Farnsworth of the P-I and I were on with Mitch Levy this morning. Here's a link to the audio.

Nothing to be alarmed about, but during one-on-one pass routes/coverage between receivers and corners, Marcus Trufant got tangled up with Nate Burleson and went down. It appears that he got poked in the eye. Trainers looked at him and brought him off the field. No blood, just a lot of blinking as he went past.

Interesting moment in that drill, too, when Deion Branch beat second-year corner Kelly Jennings on a route. All the way back up the field, Branch walked close to Jennings, talking to him, gesturing, obviously trying to teach him what it was he had done. These are the ways in which some guys are more valuable than their statistics suggest.

Got a chance to watch tight end Marcus Pollard go one-on-one against safeties. This guy runs routes like a receiver. He looks very precise and agile, with good hands.

Back to practice ...

Same schedule for practices today: 9:15 and 2:45.

Here's links to Ryan Divish's camp story and my column from this morning.

Off to Kirkland.