It was late. I had typed a lot during the day. I was trying to get extra stuff in. I stopped reading after the 10th TWolves joke. Go Bullets!

I spoke with Seahawks president Tim Ruskell earlier today about Seneca Wallace and the backup QB situation. Basically I asked him why he did not go out and find a No. 2 QB so they could use Seneca more extensively. He said they did, that they spoke with David Carr, who saw that Hasselbeck was firmly entrenched and decided not to come to Seattle even though he loved the town and the facilities, and they spoke to Drew Bledsoe, who insisted on retiring. I asked about Tim Rattay and they said they are not sure he is a No. 2. He said they will continue to pursue it but there is not much they can do right now. However, he said that if David Greene plays well enough in the exhibition games to make Mike Holmgren feel comfortable enough with Greene at the No. 2 spot, then they could pull the trigger on using Seneca more in other situations.

Now that I have figured out yet another technology aspect of the blog, I will try to regularly include some of these podcasts from KJR.

WR Jordan Kent was on with Dave Grosby this afternoon.

And Safety Brian Russell joined Groz as well.

Ol Tom Ashworth was on with Groz, as was K Josh Brown.

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said the plan is for DT Marcus Tubbs to be back by the third preseason game. Tubbs has been on the physically unable to perform list, though he has looked pretty spry running sprints up and down the sidelines while his teammates practice. The third game is Aug. 25 against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home. So far, Rocky Bernard and Chuck Darby have been getting most of the work at starting DTs.

It was a light, 75-minute practice in helmets and shells. The most noticeable thing was that Walter Jones dressed and worked out, though it was little to no contact. Still, it was the first time since last Thursday that he saw any action, so that was encouraging, though as you saw in an earlier post Holmgren is not too worried about Jones and his sore shoulder.

During special teams drills, Burleson and Josh Wilson were returning punts. Josh Brown and Kurt Smith booted some nice field goal attempts, though Brown clearly has the stronger leg. On the final kick, Smith's attempt fell well short of the goalpost while Brown's made it over the crossbar by about 10 feet.

Kelly Jennings had a nice afternoon practice, breaking up one play and stepping in front of a receiver on another to intercept a pass by David Greene.

Here's Frank's story on OL Chris Gray helping mentor Ray Willis. Dave wrote about free agent wide receiver Logan Payne, who has some of the best hands in camp.

Here's Dave's weekly appearance on KJR.

Sando on the Seahawks for ESPN.

SI's Peter King was at Hawks' camp.... here's his thoughts.

The Seahawks' game tickets were the hottest seller in the country according to this release.
Dave

Arizona Cardinals
Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart is impressed with the play of his offensive line. After last year, it's hard not to be better. This notebook talks about the Cardinals aggressive defensive scheming. Several players like the change from the 4-3 defense to the hybrid 3-4 look.

How about some audio from coach Ken Whisenhunt from 680 KTAR? Here's some more from linebacker Karlos Dansby.

San Francisco 49ers
Can volatile tight end Vernon Davis keep his emotions in check? The Niners will pay tribute to Bill Walsh before the home opener. Aubrayo Franklin will miss the preseason, but the nose tackle free agent signee should be ready to come season starting.

For people looking for some audio, this Niners coach Mike Nolan's weekly radio show on KNBR. Here's some audio from the Niners offensive coordinator also on KNBR.

St. Louis Rams
The stifling heat in the midwest has forced the Rams to practice indoors. The Rams No. 3 running back spot is up for grabs... does it really matter?

AUDIO: Former coach Jim Hanifan breaks down the Rams.

This week's opponent, the San Diego Chargers
Can all-pro tight end Antonio Gates get even better? That's a frightening thought for opponents. New defensive coordinator Ron Rivera could push the Chargers over the top. Part of that success will be dependent on two new inside linebackers.

Walter Jones missed his fifth straight day with soreness in his shoulder. This was Holmgren's take:

“We’re not going to have one of these diary, day six, day seven, day eight are we? He’s going to be fine. He’s fine. He didn’t practice today but honestly, with him, I really just want him ready to play in the first ball game. He is very honest about how he feels. He could play. He’s in good shape and I’m just taking it real slow.”

(Will he sit out Sunday's game?) “I don’t know. We’re going to have that meeting. What’s today, Tuesday? We’ll have that meeting Thursday and decide who’s going to play and how much.”

(Unintelligible) “I think his shoulder started it, because it’s a little sore. There really isn’t anything going here. That just triggered, ‘What am I doing? Listen, I have to be smart with this guy. He’s going to be one of our guys we need to play all season long and play well.’ I’m probably being a little bit nice to him.”

This is courtesy of a Seahawks press release:

The Seahawks open their preseason with the first of two back-to-back road games, this at San Diego on national television on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, August 12 at 5:15 p.m. (PT). The game will
be shown on channel 5 in Seattle.
This will be just the eighth time the Seahawks and Chargers have
met in the preseason, with Seattle holding a 4-3 advantage. The preseason series began with three games played from 1976-78 with Seattle winning twice. Seattle also took two of three games when play resumed from 2002-04.
In last preseason’s matchup, the Chargers came away with a 31-20 victory at Qualcomm Stadium.
In the regular season, these former AFC West rivals have met 47
times and Seattle’s 25-22 record against San Diego is the best against any other AFC West team.
This week’s game features the last two NFL MVPs and two of the top
touchdown machines since 2001 in Seattle’s Shaun Alexander and San
Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson. Alexander won the 2005 MVP award after he set the single-season total touchdown record with 28 and rushed for 1,880 yards en route to Seattle’s Super Bowl XL appearance. Last season, Tomlinson bested Alexander’s mark with 31 total touchdowns and 1,815 yards on the ground.
Since 2001, the two have combined for 194 rushing scores
(Tomlinson, 100) while Tomlinson ranks tied for fifth all-time and Alexander is eighth all-time with 100 and 96 rushing scores, respectively.

During his post-practice meeting with reporters, Mike Holmgren was asked to evaluate the tight ends. Pollard is the unquestioned starter. Will Heller is No. 2, and then, Holmgren said, it was wide open. Joppru's injury now plays a role, obviously. He said it has been a slam dunk in the past who the three TEs are they are going to keep, but that is not the case this year.

=> Read more!

Leonard Weaver was on KJR with Mike Gastineau on Monday.

Seahawks president/GM Tim Ruskell was on with Gas earlier in the day.

And before that, left guard Rob Sims was on with Gas.

It was a cold, and sometimes wet, morning session, which could not have made the QBs happy because the first thing they did after stretching was go through sliding drills -- on a Slip and Slide. With former Mariner John Olerud coaching them, the QBs ran a short distance and then slid across wet plastic, which may have been nice in Cheney but certainly not in Kirkland this morning. Kenny Mayne, however, was out at practice and to play off the Slip-and Slide aspect he had Shaun Alexander and I think Leonard Weaver spin around on a Sit and Spin, and then Leonard Stephens and somebody else were beating each other with those noodles that help you float in a swimming pool. Pretty good stuff.

=> Read more!

I don't necessarily agree with the premise of one of the folks who responded after I posted quotes following Saturday's scrimmage at Memorial Stadium, but it at least was the impetus for a conversation that affects the blog.

On Saturday, as I was writing my daily piece on deadline at KeyArena, the Seahawks emailed me the transcribed quotes from Mike Holmgren and Matt Hasselbeck. Because of time constraints, I simply cut-and-pasted the quotes in the blog without reading them, thinking folks on the blog would appreciate the full account of what happened from the coach and QB. Unfortunately, there were some mistakes in the transcription that made their way into other blogs as well.

The question we asked ourselves on Monday was should we just cut-and-paste quotes transcribed from the Seahawks directly into the blog? The Seahawks' take is that they do the transcribing for journalists, they are not meant for full public consumption other than what is chosen by the respective journalists to be placed in the paper, and they do not want to be held responsible for mistakes that inadvertently find their way into the transcriptions since they too are working on deadline with time as a factor.

After some discourse with Boling about responsibility and accuracy, we decided that we will post transcribed quotes when we can, but only AFTER we put a set of eyes on them and give them a thorough read for potential mistakes. What that means is that if we get quotes on deadline like last Saturday night, or presumably this Sunday night in San Diego, we will likely not be able to post them until after we have filed our daily stuff, or the next day.

Hope that helps explain the decision-making.