Yet another majestic day in Kirkland with temps in high 70s and low 80s with a slight cooling breeze.

After an extended morning practice in pads, the players wore shorts and shells for the afternoon practice. Despite going more than two hours this morning, there was still a pretty good energy level.

After individual work, the Hawks worked on special teams. Free agent kicker Kurt Smith showed decent leg on a few kick-offs, though the wind was at his back. Josh Brown also boomed a few kicks. I think he's underrated in terms of kick offs, he had 12 touchbacks (about middle of the road in the NFL) last season and averaged 64.9 yards per kick-off.

Back returning kicks were Josh Wilson, Marquis Weeks, Nate Burleson and Ben Obomanu. We all know how tough Burleson was last year. Wilson was good for Maryland as well, returning 31 kicks for 847 yards (27.4 yard avg) and he even returned one 100 yards for a touchdown.

DJ Hackett did not participate in afternoon practice, being still with his wife. It allowed NAte Burleson to have another solid practice, catching several passes including a beautiful 40-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck during 7-on-7. The route was perfect, the separation from the DB and Matt's pass couldn't have been any better.

Tight end notes: Leonard Stephens caught a pair of long passes in traffic going down the hash marks. He's got surprising athleticism and sneaky speed. Will Heller had a few catches this morning on some shorter routes.

One matter of concern is depth at safety. Babineaux is already out, and now so is Patrick Ghee, the rookie free agent from Wake Forest, hurt his hamstring this morning and didn't practice this afternoon but was out limping around the field.

Another guy that's looked solid is Marcus Trufant. I know being an 11th pick that Tru is expected by some to be more than solid, but there's more to be a corner than interceptions.

And with that I'm running out of stuff to post from practice. I have to sneak out of Kirkland in 5 p.m. traffic and write in T-Town.

Camp was fun and I'm pushing to come back more and do some more for the blog and the paper. And I will keep up the linkage post if you guys want.

Welcome to day two of the links. I am going to be simultaneously putting up links and then add to them as I go so you don't have to wait to long. Also if you guys have links that you find that are interesting, send me an e-mail with the link and I will post them and credit you. Make sure they are "safe for work" as well.

First of all Dave's excellent column on Brian Russell, who is rapidly becoming my favorite player to watch. He might be the headiest player I've ever seen and is never in bad position -- a far cry from last year. I wrote about Matt Hasselbeck and his rediscovered swagger. I also had a small story on the reaction to the death of Bill Walsh.

As always Dave was on KJR with just Elise last night for his "Dinner with Dave" segment.

As for around the NFC West ...

Obviously, there were plenty of tributes to the passing of Bill Walsh. Here's his obit from the SF Chronicle. Columnist Ray Ratto believes Walsh was an icon.

But that wasn't the only news out of San Fransico. Running back Frank Gore, who carved up the Seahawks and the rest of the NFL last year broke his hand in non-contact drills.

Over in St. Louis, cornerback Fakhir Brown says he didn't fail a drug test, he missed it, leading to his suspension. Meanwhile, Isaac Bruce, another pain in the Seahawks' neck is trying to stay speedy.
Here's a list of what the Rams rookies are making.

Let's head south to Flagstaff, Arizona where the Cardinals are working out. Here's a story on linebacker Karlos Danby and his new lease on life with the Cards. Like the Hawks, the Cardinals donned full gear for a workout. The defensive secondary will go as far as Antrel Rolle and Eric Green will take it. Arizona is still without top pick Levi Brown but negotiations have started up again. Meanwhile Coach Ken Whisenhunt is trying make the pace of practice quicker. Edgerrin James is thinking about Emmitt Smith and his records. Here's a story on Adrian Wilson, who is one bad dude, obsessed with staying at the top of his game.

Elsewhere ...

Here's a story on Hawks CEO Tod Leiweke. I believe someone mentioned Pete Kendall on the blog, here's an update on him from the NY Times. Will Chris Simms be ready for the Hawks and Qwest field come opening day? The guys over at coldhardfootballfacts.com take a page from Sando and look at refs.

The Hawks just got off the field following a fairly intense 2 hour and 20 minute practice. It was the first practice in pads and the team put them to use, going live (up to the tackle) in a number of drills. Coach Holmgren liked the intensity of the team, although he wasn't thrilled with offensive execution at times. It seemed for much of the day, the defense was playing better than the offense. A lot of times that tends to make Holmgren cranky.

The defensive star of the day had to be linebacker Julian Peterson, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble in one session. Also, safeties Deon Grant and Brian Russell spent much of the day breaking up passes. Russell had two nice breakups in a short period ... one coming on a deep ball thrown by Seneca Wallace. "Don't test me, Sen," Russell shouted to him.

Backup tight end Will Heller had a couple nice receptions, as did rookie Courtney Taylor, who was probably out of bounds on one diving catch, but it nonetheless showed nice hustle and very good concentration.

Rookies Brandon Mebane and Baraka Atkins continued to apply good pressure on pass-rush drills ... especially Mebane. It's a theme we've repeated here, but the guy is making an impression.

During the running back vs. linebacker blocking drills, Peterson was umblockable. Once, veteran Mack Strong positively clobbered Niko Koutovides.

Receiver D.J. Hackett ran off the field to head toward the hospital because his wife had gone into labor.

A few quick observations. It seems to me that back Shaun Alexander is doing a better job of catching the ball. Nate Burleson struggled last year as you know, but looks to be doing much better thus far. The secondary appears to be making more plays on the ball and making interceptions rather than batting it down.

The Hawks will probably go back to shorts for the afternoon practice. Often, after long morning practices, the afternoons are lighter with more time spent on teaching and doing walk-throughs.

We presume the Seahawks will put on the pads for the first time in training camp this morning after having gone four practices in shorts and shells.

Don’t assume that means that they’ll necessarily engage in a great deal more contact. In most cases, the NFL of 2007 is no longer a place where there’s a lot of full-contact hitting drills and live scrimmages for hours. The old days of the “Oklahoma” drills and “bull in the ring” are long gone. These guys are too valuable now to risk injury at the hands of a free agent rookie linebacker looking to make a name for himself with a big hit in a July practice.

There is an intensity change, though. The pass-blocking session gets far more interesting. The young defensive guys who have looked great in shorts because of their effort tend to be brought back to the pack a little as the veteran offensive linemen now have more surface area to grab.

Another good session is when fullbacks and running backs take on blitzing linebackers. As is the case with one-on-one pass blocking for linemen, defenders have a great advantage in these drills because there’s no “trash pile” of others to help get in their way. Former Hawk linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski was just brutal for backs to have to try to block in these drills. RBs coach Stump Mitchell gets pretty animated during these sessions, and sometimes looks like he’s ready to take on a blitzer himself.

As far as team sessions go, action may be live up to the point of tackling, or live to first contact. On almost every play, coaches are screaming at players to “stay up.” The biggest threat of injury is when a blocker or defender gets knocked down and somebody gets pushed over the top of them. When somebody hits the ground, he usually gets chewed out.

Usually, the team session that most closely resembles game action is when they go to Red Zone offense and defense. The action is obviously compressed into a smaller area and the contact intensifies. That’s when the players get loudest and tend to cheer more for their units.

I’ve heard theories from fans that maybe some of the missed tackles the Seahawks had last year were caused by the lack of contact in practices. I don’t buy the theory. There was no noticeable change last year to the practices from when the team was 13-3 the year before. They still made plenty of big hits during the season. Tackling is a matter of discipline and effort, getting to the ball, wrapping up the ball carrier. I think that a player with shoulders sore from contact in practice will be a worse tackler in the game than someone who isn’t as bruised up. Too many guys just hit backs and expect them to fall over without being wrapped up. Frank Gore and Larry Johnson don't just fall over unless you've got their legs.

I think players tend to get a little grumpier once the pads come on. It's extra weight to carry around and they do tend to get banged up a little more. Plus, there may be a little testosterone factor at play, too. They're being asked to spend the day pushing each other around, after all.