Here are Mike Holmgren's quotes from Friday's practice:

(On who will start at running back and how the practice week went…) “(Shaun) Alexander will start at running back and we had a good practice. He had a good practice. I thought the team was focused. We had some work to do because we got banged around a little bit last week and I was not happy with how we played offensive football in the first half of that game but they responded well. They’re listening and they’re try-hard guys. I was pleased with how practice went.”

=> Read more!

I am flying for most of the day. In the meantime, I wanted to share an interview I did with Ryan Plackemeier:

Can you evaluate your season? I think this year I am doing a lot more to help out the team. Last year the stats looked better, but I think this year, I am putting the ball inside the 20, keeping the ball away from Devin Hester, and Dante Hall for the most part except one last week. That was my best punt last week, 55 yards, and he returned it 56. What Bruce (DeHaven) and I are really trying to work on is becoming an NFL punter and really trying to help out the team. You can’t really look at your stats. You have to ask did I do what I want to do. And for the most part, I think I have hit more punts this year than I did last year.

=> Read more!

SEAHAWKS

OUT
WR D.J. Hackett (ankle)

DID NOT PRACTICE
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
S Mike Green (knee)
LB Will Herring (hamstring)
LB Lofa Tatupu (oblique)

FULL PARTICIPATION
RB Shaun Alexander (knee/wrist)
QB Matt Hasselbeck (leg)
DE Darryl Tapp (shoulder)
RB Maurice Morris (ankle)
C Chris Spencer (shoulder)

EAGLES
DID NOT PRACTICE
QB Donovan McNabb (ankle/thumb)
S Quintin Mikell (knee)
RB Brian Westbrook (knee)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
DT Brodrick Bunkley (knee/hamstring)

FULL PARTICIPATION
CB William James (foot)
WR Greg Lewis (chest)

Both Shaun Alexander and Mo Morris practiced, both looking fairly good. I would say at this point I don't see a reason both won't play (excuse the double negative).

Craig Terrill also practiced, though Rocky Bernard, Lofa Tatupu, Mike Green and Will Herring all did not practice. Lofa is wearing one of those stim machines on his sore ribs.

=> Read more!

I spoke with special teams coach Bruce DeHaven yesterday about punter Ryan Plackemeier. DeHaven said even though his numbers are down, 2.2 yards per punt, he said he thinks Plack is having a good year, and that his numbers are skewed immediately because two punts earlier in the year were tipped, which were not his fault. Also, he is among the league leaders in putting the ball inside the 20, which skews the numbers even further. (From a coaching perspective, DeHaven said he doesn't like to look at gross punting yards. He would rather have a guy punt 40 yards with a long hang time rather than 55 yards with no hang time because the net punting is probably going to be better because of coverage.) Interestingly, DeHaven said he thinks that young punters generally show marked improvement in the second half of their second seasons, which is where Plackemeier currently is. The first year, DeHaven said, rookies are just trying to figure out how to get the punts off without getting blocked. Midway through the second season is when they should start feeling comfortable. DeHaven said he didn't feel like Plackemeier has had any booming games, but he thinks he has been pretty good overall.

=> Read more!

Mike Holmgren was asked on Wednesday about his thoughts on the field condition in Pittsburgh on Monday night, which is relevant because the Eagles apparently are resodding their field as well. Here was Holmgren's response:

“There's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes they do a good job of that. Sometimes, it's not so good. Again, one quick story. When we played in Green Bay, we played Carolina for the NFC Championship Game in 1996. We had played, I want to say maybe San Francisco. I don't remember exactly. We played somebody the week before and Lambeau Field, there was no grass left, and it was just wiped out. Now you have the championship game and they came in and did that field in five days and it was eerie because in the night, it would be 3 in the morning, there were just trucks, it was just like something was going. It was like 'Close Encounters of the Something' and you had this thing going on in the stadium and the lights were on and it was a great field. At the time, I remember Bill Polian was the president in Carolina, and he was stunned that it was so good because that day it was really cold, it was below zero. So we had a good surface. The other night, it rained so hard that it was probably a little bit like our San Francisco game a year ago, but we have the FieldTurf. If we had grass, regular grass, that night, it might have looked like the same thing. I don't know. It was just so much water that they couldn't get rid of it.”

Here is the link.

Here are some quotes from Shaun Alexander's post-practice press conference:

On resuming practice: “Today was exciting. I’m blessed I could have Christmas a little bit earlier than everybody else because I got to do something I love to do which is play football.”

On if he feels fresh: “Yeah, I definitely feel fresh. This was a good day.”

On how it felt missing practice time: “It’s one of those things. We’ve been playing our whole lives so it’s always a weird feeling when you’re gone but to come back, it felt good.”

On if his injuries are healed: “No. Nothing’s healed. This is football. It’s definitely something I can play with and I’ll just try to go out there and play hard.”

On the new pass-first offense: “We’re 3-0 the last three games so whatever we’re doing is working so we’re just going to keep on rolling .... We’re going to do the same thing we’ve been doing and hopefully we can keep on winning. I love it. I think we needed to do it and obviously we’ve been winning so I’m definitely all for it.”

On what his role will be in upcoming games: “It’s the same as always; go out there and make plays and play hard and that’s what I’m going to do.”

On Maurice Morris continuing to get playing times: “Mo has always played a little bit. Mo and I, we have a great relationship just like when I was the backup for Ricky (Watters). We let the coaches decide what’s going to happen and we just play, and we always, I’m not the guy that holds on the secret to this. Mo did a lot of great things while I was gone, and he’s going to continue to do them. Whatever it takes for us to keep winning, that’s what we’re going to shoot for.”

On his knee: “I won’t be surprised if I’m a little sore, but it feels really good right now. I kept on asking if I looked normal, if it looked OK, and everyone said I looked fresh. That’s a good thing.”

SEAHAWKS

OUT
WR D.J. Hackett (ankle)

DID NOT PRACTICE
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
S Mike Green (knee)
LB Will Herring (hamstring)
LB Lofa Tatupu (oblique)
DT Craig Terrill (illness)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
RB Maurice Morris (ankle)
C Chris Spencer (shoulder)

FULL PARTICIPATION
RB Shaun Alexander (knee/wrist)
QB Matt Hasselbeck (leg)
DE Darryl Tapp (shoulder)

Note: Hasselbeck told reporters after practice his has a sore quad and he's trying to be careful with it.

EAGLES
DID NOT PRACTICE
QB Donovan McNabb (ankle/thumb)
S Quintin Mikell (knee)
RB Brian Westbrook (knee)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
DT Brodrick Bunkley (knee/hamstring)

FULL PARTICIPATION
CB William James (foot)
WR Greg Lewis (chest)

The highlights from Wednesday's practice, non-Alexander division:

* RB Mo Morris, who suffered a sprained ankle late vs. St. Louis, was able to practice. Holmgren thought Morris might have to sit out the early sessions this week but Morris managed to gut it out.

* The offensive line, at least in the early portion, featured several different combinations. Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack practiced at both guard spots; Chris Gray, who is listed as the team's backup center, actually took a few snaps at center; and Ray Willis worked in at the right guard spot, too.

* Field goal practice, especially the snaps, drew special attention from Holmgren.

* DE Darryl Tapp continues to wear the red, non-contact jersey but was able to practice.

* With DTs Rocky Bernard and Craig Terrill not practicing, Ellis Wyms worked with the first-team.

Wednesday practice just finished up. Shaun Alexander flashed some speed and "fresh legs," according to RB coach Stump Mitchell in his return to practice. Alexander said the wrist injury and the sprained knee aren't healed, but good enough to play through and that he "should" play this Sunday vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Today was exciting," Alexander said. "Christmas came a little early."

Alexander said he expects to be a little sore tomorrow but otherwise felt good. He said he's good with the team's new offensive approach of passing more, noting that the team has won its last three games.

"I love it," he said. "I think we needed to do it."

Holmgren said that one of the points of focus this week was pass protection, spurred because of the issues they had against the Rams. He said he installed an extra practice session this week specifically to address the issue.

=> Read more!

Mike Holmgren said in his weekly news conference that running back Shaun Alexander will practice today, and depending on how he does he could play Sunday at Philadelphia. Specifics on how exactly he will be used were more vague, Holmgren not really willing to address the topic. I will have exact quotes later, but Holmgren basically said he is going to throw guys out there and he expects them to execute the play if they are on the field.

At the same time, Mo Morris will not practice until Friday because he suffered a sprained ankle toward the end of the win in St. Louis. Holmgren said he does expect Morris to play, and he said he spoke with Shaun to let Shaun know that Morris is going to continue to be a part of the offense.

Mostly, Holmgren said let's wait and see how Shaun does in practice this week before determining exactly how healthy he is and how he can be used. After he sees him in practice, he will have a better idea.

On the Eagles QB situation: "I'll tell you what I told our media. It's very similar to last week. Donovan will not practice today, but he'll continue to rehab and do football-related workouts. We will just take it day-by-day and see how he does as the week goes on."

=> Read more!

Kenny Albert
Daryl Johnston
Tony Siragusa

The route on which Matt threw an interception at the end of the first half was intended for Nate Burleson. Both Nate and Matt said they miscommunicated, and that the play was intended for Nate to run a corner route. He flattened it out, where Hasselbeck thought he was going hard to the flag.

Take a look at the stats. Anybody have a sense of why one of the better offenses in the NFL, 12th in scoring, has more punts than all but six teams, and those six teams -- San Francisco, Carolina, Kansas City, Minnesota, Atlanta, Chicago -- are among the worst offensively? Seems like a statistical anomaly to me. The best explanation I can come up with is that the Seahawks convert only 35 percent of their third downs, which is tied for fifth-worst in the NFL.

NFL Network will replay New England’s close home victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 28, at 5:00 PM.

At 7:30 PM, the Seahawks’ road win over the Rams will be re-broadcast in the fast-paced, 90-minute format.

-- Nate Burleson set a club record for most punt returns in a season (42). Will Lewis had 41 in 1980.

-- It was the first time Seattle has had two kickoff return TDs in a season.

-- Maurice Morris's 46-yard run was the Seahawks' longest run of the season and second-longest of his career.

-- Teams are 18-3 in games that Deion Branch scores a TD.

-- The Seahawks outscored the Rams 40-3 in the second half this season, 73-19 in the second half over the last four games.

-- Matt Hasselbeck is on pace for 585 attempts, which would be a club record (532 – Krieg, 1985)

-- Hasselbeck is on pace for 366 completion, which would be a club record (313 – Moon, 1997 and Hasselbeck, 2003)

-- Hasselbeck is on pace for 4,199 yards, which would be a club record (3,841 – Hasselbeck, 2003)

Matt Hasselbeck, despite the players getting a portion of Monday off, came in and spoke with the reporters. Here are a few highlights:

On how he feels: “I feel pretty good. Not too bad actually; a lot better than I felt last Monday.”

On practicing this week: “Yeah, I would hope so. It was a physical game but my ribs definitely feel good so that’s not really that big of an issue. I think everybody’s a little sore. It was a tough game.”

On the Rams blitzing throwing the team off: “No, they had a good plan but some of the stuff was just bad luck on our part. They played most of the game with three D-linemen in the game but played a four-man line scheme. Will Witherspoon is a great pass rusher. He’s having a great year. Common sense would say he’s the other defensive end. Well they used 54, (Brandon) Chillar as the defensive end most of the day but they went back and forth and made it hard to recognize. Other times they’d have three DBs playing safety-slash-linebacker situations .... We didn’t identify that very quickly, very well."

=> Read more!

Holmgren had praise for the defense and expressed concern over the offense's first half. He said outside of Steven Jackson's 53-yard TD rn in the first quarter, the unit played good and was "up to the task." He singled out Deon Grant, Marcus Trufant, Kelly Jennings and Patrick Kerney for having solid games. He said Jennings had his best game of the season.

Offense was another matter. He said he thought the unit was "out of sync" until it went into their 2-minute package. He said the Rams showed lots of looks that they had not seen before, and that the Rams did a good job of switching formations late on Hasselbeck. He was very concerned about the line's protection of Hasselbeck, saying "It is very, very important that he doesn't get hit like that." What he liked about the offense was the halftime adjustments that allowed the Seahawks to better handle the Rams pressure and how Hasselbeck played a "courageous game."

Special teams weren't so special, Holmgren said. He had stern words for the snapping of Boone Stutz, saying at this point in the season the snapping has to be automatic and that the Seahawks are too much of an adventure right now. Yes, Holmgren used the word adventure. He said there will be an emphasis on snapping this week and that while teams don't need to make a change just to make a change, if there's someone who helps make the team better the Seahawks have not hesitated to make a move... He noted that Ryan Plackemeier did an excellent job of getting a high snap down on Josh Brown's 52 yard miss late in the game. He said he does not think Brown's the problem.

On penalties, Holmgren was not happy about the flag thrown on Deon Grant late in the game. He said he thought the PI that was called was one of those that "could have been left alone" and that "Isaac Bruce (Rams WR) did a good job of calling that play." The other issue was a play when Rob Simms had his helmet ripped off and thrown 20 yards down the field ... yet no flag. He said the team is sending tape of the play to the league to review.

Coach Mike Holmgren just finished his Monday press conference. Let's start with the injury situation.

* D.J. Hackett: Holmgren said Hackett re-injured the same ankle that cost him six games earlier this season. The best guess is that Hackett is out at least 2 games.

* Matt Hasselbeck: The Seahawks QB, who was playing with sore ribs, was so spent after Sunday's game he was heaving. Holmgren said he expects Hasselbeck to be able to practice Wednesday. On another note, I asked him the question Frank posed earlier – Should he sit Hasselbeck out to rest up, given the 2-game lead – and he said if he's healthy, Hasselbeck will play and that it's too early in the season to be thinking that way.

* Lofa Tatupu: Holmgren said he thought Tatupu has a rib injury although it could be an oblique, given the rash of those injuries lately – ha ha. He said he expects Tatupu to rest during practices this week sort of like what Patrick Kerney did a few weeks ago after he injured his oblique.

I'll get some more stuff up here ASAP.

Wow, what can you say about that game or the finish. I was absolutely stunned when Gus Frerotte fumbled that snap. Sorry, about the lateness of the links, but we had an internet training lecture today. Lots of fun..... like a spinal tap.

Anyway let's get to the newspaper for the South Sound, The News Tribune.
Here's Frank's game story. Dave's column is about the luckiness of the win. Here's a story on Patrick Kerney's second big game in a row. Here's the game notebook leading with Josh Wilson's wild play.

Let's see how the paper in St. Louis covered the games ....

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the game story by Jim Thomas. According to this story, the Rams rattled Matt Hasselbeck early. here's the game notebook which starts with running back Steven Jackson asking that the game music be changed.

Columnist Bernie Miklasz blames head coach Scott Linehan for the fumble, while fellow columnist Jeff Gordon believes that fumbled snap is the best example to define the Scott Linehan's tenure with the Rams.

One of the things that sometimes happens in our business is that there is so much stuff that happens in a game that you can't get everything in a game story. This, I am finding, is especially true with a football game. If you read my game story, you would notice that I couldn't really even get into the second-half events much beyond the final drive and final play, which I felt for obvious reasons held great importance and chose to focus a great deal of the gamer on that aspect. I usually write about 900 words for a game story, which is about 22 column inches, give or take. I was over 1,000 words for this game story (not sure how many actually got in the newspaper) and I still wasn't able to touch on many aspects of the game.

=> Read more!

(On the Seattle defensive turnaound)
“I would say a personnel adjustment when Frerotte came in. At the time, when we started blitzing they made a couple of big plays on us, so we said let’s play base defense. We’ll be good enough on the base defense, we have pretty good pass rushers up front and everybody just played their coverage. It made the game a lot easier. Everybody was on top of their guy. The coverage was a lot tighter because the guys didn’t have to worry about trying to get to the zone and that’s why we were pretty strong out there, pretty stout.”

=> Read more!

"I stumbled a little bit. I got a little tired. But when the blockers do a great job like that, I could probably stumble a lot of not have to do much work. It was a long, long play."

"We had a little bit of confusion. It was better that both of us were there rather than nobody was there. I didn’t hear Nate until the last second, and then once I caught it I looked back at him and he was like, ‘Go.’ So I took off like Forrest Gump."

=> Read more!

(On his play and the defense)
“I’d take the win over good stats any day. It was a huge win. That was a heck of a team that we played today. Steven Jackson and the wide receivers, that is a good team. It was a big challenge for us and I am thrilled that our team was able to overcome it.”

(On the fourth-down play)
“We did a good job of raising up. The defense was able to reset the line of scrimmage for the first three plays. On fourth down we were able to anticipate and when they mis-snapped the ball. It was sign of relief and we’ll take it any way we can get it.”

(On his three sack-performance)
“I was just able to reap the benefits of the other guys around me. My defensive line mates did a great job and the defensive back have good coverage causing the quarterback have to hold the ball. I have always said that sacks are a team thing. Lately, I have been the beneficiary of it.”

(On the comeback against the Rams)
“The first half was bad and the second half was better. The first half was bad. Everything was slow. Then, once we came in and regrouped at halftime it made it a different game. We continued to do the same things, and we didn’t change too much. We just need to execute better.”

(On being surprised by the Rams’ defensive scheme)
“It was a combination of both, us (the Seahawks) not playing fast enough and the things that they were doing. Give them credit they did a great job of game planning. When you are a professional you have to learn how to regroup and you have to do it fast.”

(On his touchdown)
“It was a good play, and a great time that we called it. They kind of gave us a defense that there were a lot of guys clogged up in the middle. We were just trying to get by them with the ball and I just had to get open.”

This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in tomorrow's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune

ST. LOUIS – The Seattle Seahawks were one yard from having their season begin to crumble in on them, one yard from doubt and consternation becoming a constant companion over the final five games.
But with the St. Louis Rams facing a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line with 30 seconds left in Sunday’s divisional game, quarterback Gus Frerotte fumbled the snap and then was tackled from behind by Darryl Tapp, preserving a 24-19 victory before 65,423 suddenly catatonic fans at the Edward Jones Dome, Seattle’s third consecutive win.
And just like that, the Seahawks went from being distressed and second-guessed to celebratory.

=> Read more!

(On the outcome of the fourth down play)
“I saw the whole thing. I was coming on a down block, saw the ball and made a play. The only thing I was thinking was, ‘Get there.’ I was probably the only guy there that was free on my side. I knew I had to make the play and I was able to do that.”

=> Read more!

(On the Rams last offensive play of the game)
“It’s pretty obvious; [the ball] just came out. It wasn’t a perfect exchange, it just came out. I told myself walking up there, ‘This is a big play. I have to stay with the center,’ because on powers and things like that they have to move to their left and you’re pulling out and you have to reverse out. Those are things that we always work on. I just have to stay with him. I can remember talking to myself walking up to the line. It just happened.”

=> Read more!

Well, it was an interesting postgame locker room, beyond just the relief felt from winning the game.

After almost everybody had cleared out of the locker room, Matt Hasselbeck was back in the bathroom retching. Not once. Not twice. But three times. When he met with the media in front of his locker, he said, "I'm just exhausted." He did not look good. Glassy-eyed. Beat up. Lofa was very complimentary about how tough Matt is -- then took it back when he heard him start retching. Matt basically said the adjustments they made in the second half were to try to stop guessing what St. Louis was doing and just snap the ball because they kept guessing wrong in the first half and he was getting killed. He said he still doesn't know what St. Louis was doing to have such a successful pass rush, but in the second half instead of outhinking the Rams they just played football.

=> Read more!

On fourth and goal from the 1 with 30 seconds left, Gus Frerotte fumbled the snap and Darryl Tapp chased him down from behind to allow the Seahawks to win their third in a row. Whew!

The Seahawks put together a nice drive that mixed in the run with the pass and scored on a four-yard dive play by Leonard Weaver. That is three consecutive games where they have scored a rushing touchdown. They are keeping St. Louis's pressure off-balance by calling draw plays, screens and rollouts for Hasselbeck. Now the defense needs to hold. It has done a good job in the second half to give the offense a chance to catch up.

Jackson took a blow to the head and is being evaluated. However, he is on the sideline with his helmet off and does not look as if he is coming back.

Thanks to a 46-yard run by Maurice Morris that sprung open an offensive drive, the Seahawks scored on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Deion Branch. Now it's a game, and the Rams have to be feeling the pressure. Hasselbeck had an odd reaction after the pass. He usually celebrates, jumping around with teammates. On this on, he simply walked to the sideline.

Hackett's return is questionable.

What an odd game. And a great deal of the Seahawks' 19-7 deficit has to do with Nate Burleson. He allowed a punt to drop that pushed the Seahawks back to the 2, which led to a safety. He fumbled on a punt return in his own territory that led to a Rams touchdown. He dropped a deep pass. And he ran the wrong route on Hasselbeck's interception just before the half that cost the Seahawks some points. He is not the only one, of course. Josh Brown missed a field goal. Deion Branch dropped a pass. A third-and-one play once again was unable to be converted on a Mo Morris run to the left side. Hasselbeck has been sacked three times. But Burleson's mistakes have been glaring and costly. The Seahawks look like they are asleep, the time change seeming to affect them. They better wake up in the second half if they want to come back in this game. The hurry-up offense was employed successfully in that drive that ended in an interception, and they may want to keep going with that to keep St. Louis's pressure off them. Hasselbeck has very little time to throw the ball. Will Witherspoon has been all over the field. Still, the game is not out of reach. It'll be interesting to see if Mike Holmgren makes any halftime adjustments.

He recovered quickly. Give the guy credit, he came back from another injury a few weeks ago during the game.

Jennings' return is questionable.

Rams QB Marc Bulger went from back soreness to a concussion. Not sure how that happened. The bottom line though is he is out of the game.

The Seahawks have yet to get a first down. Mike Holmgren's playcalling at this point is lacking any type of rhythm. Not sure why he keeps going with the run when it obviously is not working. Hasselbeck's passes are off today, it may have something to do with the ribs. Deion Branch, who dropped two passes in Friday's practice, has a dropped pass that would have helped them, and Will Heller has been unable to catch two poor passes by Hasselbeck. They have been sacked twice and there does not seem to be any flow.

Romberg has been replaced by Andy McCollum. As the press box announcer said, Romberg's return is "problematical."

There has been a safety, a 53-yard touchdown run, an 89-yard kickoff return, three fumbles, an interception and now a 15-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce that gives St. Louis a 16-7 lead. And we are not even out of the first quarter.

Marc Bulger is being examined in the locker room. No word yet on his return.

Rams QB Marc Bulger just went into the locker room escorted by somebody. Not sure what is going on there.

Well, that certainly helps out. I don't think Wilson was even supposed to take that kickoff, it looked like he stole it from Nate Burleson, but he found a hole, accelerated and went 89 yards for the score. He had a nice cutback at about the 25 to avoid several tacklers. Rams lead, 9-7.

The Rams caught the Seahawks on a perfect play call for Steven Jackson to break a big run. Deon Grant had come up to the line to blitz, and Julian Peterson also blitzed on the play. When Jackson got through the initial line, there was nobody left to stop him. All this could have been avoided if Rocky Bernard had fallen on that fumble. The Seahawks again have their work cut out for them, trailing 9-0 on the road.

The false start by Leonard Weaver on Matt's audible set up a safety in which Mo Morris was tackled in the end zone by Alex Carriker. It seems as if it was Sims or Spencer's fault for not picking up Carriker, who ran into the backfield untouched to tackle Morris. Rams lead, 2-0.

Nate Burleson made a poor decision on that punt by the Rams. He could have fair caught it on the 15, but let it hit and then roll to the 2. I'm not sure why Bobby Engram was not in there on that play, Holmgren said Engram was going to be in if the ball was around the 10 so that better decisions would be made. The Hawks now have the ball, first and 10 on the 2. They need to protect Matt better in this situation.

Coach Mike Holmgren said on Friday that he was going to talk to Shaun Alexander about not making the trip to St. Louis since he was injured. They apparently came to the conclusion that it was best for Shaun to stay behind because he is back in Seattle.

WR Marques Hagans (3rd QB)
WR Brandon Williams
LB Tim McGarigle
C Nick Leckey
C Dustin Fry
T Mark LeVoir
TE Dominique Byrd
DE Trevor Johnson

Brett Romberg replaced Andy McCollum at center

Todd Steussie replaced Nick Leckey at right guard

Rob Petitti replaces Brandon Gorin at right tackle

Charlie Frye
Shaun Alexander
Jason Babin
Will Herring
Mansfield Wrotto
Ray Willis
Courtney Taylor
Howard Green

Maurice Morris starts at RB for Shaun Alexander

There is a game preview story in the St. Louis Post Dispatch this morning, which is linked right here. The story is about how the Rams wish that the crowd at the Edward Jones Dome is the same as the 12th Man at Qwest Field. There was a pretty funny quote in the story though, about when Ichiro raised the 12th Man Flag:

"I asked the fans for three false start penalties," linebacker Chris Draft said. "That means they've got to get loud. Seattle, you know, they've got their 12th Man. Last time we went there, they had Ichiro with a pink scarf on -- what was it, purple? -- getting the crowd up."

The press box at the Edward Jones Dome is literally above the lights. We are Waaaaaaayyyyyy up here. There is a sense of vertigo when you look down at the field. Binoculars are a must. The noise hasn't started but there is a speaker directly in front of us that Boling says blares in your face the entire game. Should be interesting.

In any case:

Referee Walt Coleman
Umpire Jeff Rice
Head Linesman Wayne Mackie
Line Judge Ron Phares
Field Judge Steve Zimmer
Side judge Dave Wyant
Back judge Richard Reels
Replay Bob McGrath

SEAHAWKS

Out

Shaun Alexander

Questionable

Mike Green
D.J. Hackett
Matt Hasselbeck
Will Herring

Probable

Rocky Bernard
Walter Jones

ST. LOUIS RAMS

Questionable

DE James Hall (ankle)

Probable

T Alex Barron (neck)
C Brett Romberg (ankle)
LB Will Witherspoon (foot)

Practice once again was outside on a sunny, brisk day. As we wrote in the previous post, QB Matt Hasselbeck got a lot of reps with the first team on a day that he was only scheduled to get some throws on the side. As Matt said, I thought he looked pretty good, he didn't look at all hindered by the rib injury, though he said he didn't do everything he wanted to do today because they had not planned on him being out there for so long.

Everybody else but Will Herring and Shaun Alexander were back practicing, including Walter Jones, Rocky Bernard and D.J. Hackett, though Hackett kept messing with a wrap on his swollen left knee. Still, it didn't seem to hinder his ability to run routes. C.J. Wallace was practicing with a brace on his leg.

=> Read more!

Initially, Hawks QB Matt Hasselbeck was only supposed to do some light throwing on the side today. But he said he made a ton of progress with his sore ribs between yesterday and today and so he took a big part in practice, taking a majority of the first-team reps.

"The weather was nice, I was feeling pretty good, and so I asked the coaches if I could get out there and do a little more than I normally planned," Hasselbeck said. "They put me through a workout and it went good, and so I took most of the snaps today. It got a little better as I went along."

Hasselbeck said he plays with a flak jacket every game, but he is going back to the one he wore last year for Sunday's game at St. Louis.

"I'm really encouraged with how I felt out there," Hasselbeck said. "Now I have to go see (on film) if I looked good. I felt good, but I don't know if I looked good. But I feel really good. Compared with how I have felt going into games before this is not one of those games where I am wondering if I can make it through this game. I feel as close to 100 percent as I have felt in a long time."

As always, this information is courtesy of my friends at Bodog.com:

Patriots Notes

The Patriots have crushed sportsbooks around the country…Below is a quote from Richard Gardner, Bodog Sportsbook manager, along with the percent wagered on the Patriots on a weekly basis.

Sun 9/9 at NY Jets W 38-14 64%
Sun 9/16 San Diego W 38-14 58%
Sun 9/23 Buffalo W 38-7 53%
Mon 10/1 at Cincinnati W 34-13 66%
Sun 10/7 Cleveland W 34-17 55%
Sun 10/14 at Dallas W 48-27 73%
Sun 10/21 at Miami W 49-28 63%
Sun 10/28 Washington W 52-7 58%
Sun 11/4 at Indianapolis W 24-20 70%
Bye
Sun 11/18 at Buffalo W 56-10 68%

Total money bet on the Pats was 65% and 35% on the opponents.

Richard Gardner, Bodog Sportsbook Manager: "The lines for the Pats keep getting higher and higher, it’s not so much that the bookmakers don’t think the Pats can cover lines over 20 as they’ve proven all season that they can, the bookmakers are trying to set the line so high that it will scare off a lot of bettors. Unfortunately, the bettors keep betting on the Patriots regardless of the line and the Patriots are doing their part as they’ve covered every spread except the game versus the Colts."

=> Read more!

Hope everyone had their fill of good Thanksgiving food and poor NFL football. Since I'm stuck in the Tacoma Dome, I figured I'd get you some links for those of you not out fighting the pyscho soccer moms at the mall and Best Buy today.

Here's Darren's preview of a Rams squad that is starting to get a little healthier and play a little better. Dave wrote about Marc Bulger's ribs and how they could be hurting again after this week.

For today's paper, Dave worked practice and had a nice little notebook on giving thanks and make turkeys out of the rookies.

Here's an AP story by Gregg Bell on D.J. Hackett.

Now let's get to this week's opponent, the St. Louis Rams ...

Several Rams players are extremely interested in the big Kansas-Missouri showdown this weekend in Kansas City. Here's a story on the versatile Marques Hagans.

The Rams defense knows all about the Seahawks new pass-first, pass-second, pass-always offense. Here's what they think about it.

The Rams are welcoming the return of veteran tackle Todd Steussie to their ailing offensive line. Here's a notebook from earlier in the week that talks about Isaac Bruce moving up the Rams record books.

Rams beat writer Bill Coats of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a good Rams blog and he offers his thoughts on the Hawks and their dominance in the NFC West.

AUDIO ALERT: Here's a some audio from lineman Brett Romberg.

* Updates coming **

Hey, troops. Boling here. I jumped in to help out with the grunt work yesterday at practice and tried to file to the weblog afterward, but couldn’t get on. I suspect it was some kind of cookie issue … lost, deleted, tossed … something. I think I’ve got it figured out now, so better late than whatever.

Froze my keister off out there. They practiced outside again, which stuck me as strange because the game is in the dome. It was in the high 30s or low 40s and danged cold.

=> Read more!

OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT

SEAHAWKS
DID NOT PRACTICE
RB Shaun Alexander (knee)
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
G Chris Gray (team decision)
WR D.J. Hackett (knee)
QB Matt Hasselbeck (ribs)
T Walter Jones (shoulder)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
LB Will Herring (hamstring)
S C.J. Wallace (knee)

RAMS
DID NOT PRACTICE
T Alex Barron (neck)
DE James Hall (ankle)
WR Torry Holt (knee)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
C Brett Romberg (ankle)

Because of injuries, there were some interesting combinations at Wednesday's Seahawks practice.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace took all the snaps with the first team as starter Matt Hasselbeck sat out. Wallace threw some good passes, particularly a nice deep in to Deion Branch.

Also, the line was without two starters: Walter Jones and Chris Gray. Both were on holiday – line coach Bill Laveroni joked it was Veterans Day – to rest injuries. Playing for Jones at left tackle was Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack and at guard for Gray was Ray Willis, who continues to make strides after a knee injury.

Defensive end Darryl Tapp wore a red jersey – signifying no contact – because of a shoulder injury. Tapp, however, participated in practices with the first team and didn't seemed to favor his injury.

Receiver D.J. Hackett did not practice because of some swelling in his knee.

Here are some Holmgren quotes from the Wednesday press conference:

On Matt Hasselbeck not practicing but playing this week:
"He has to stay very focused and he’s working real hard on those things. Would you like him to practice? Certainly. He’s played enough to be able to play in the game, I think."

Because you've had success with Mo Morris replacing Shaun Alexander, are you tempted to sit Alexander until he's fully healed?
"We’ve had that conversation, Shaun and I. With his leg, that’s how we’re approaching it. When he is ready to go, and go. The wrist is the wrist. The wrist is going to be there all season long, that’s my understanding. So really, when his leg is ready, that’s kind of the agreement we have. He knows that, and he’s working at it, it’s getting better all the time. I meant when I said it: if I put him on the field when he’s not 100 percent, it will probably be more of what he went through before, maybe even worse, and then he really runs the risk of getting hurt again. And we don’t want that to happen."

=> Read more!

"I think with Kelly it's a matter of experience because all the other things that you like about a guy who plays corner - toughness, attitude, being able to shake off a bad play and compete again the very next play - all that, his physical skill, that's all really good. That's all really good. And now, the one thing, he's not a very big guy. That's about the only thing I can say that you might not, he's not very big. But because he has all those other things, he should just continue to get better and better and better and better. If he can stay healthy because he has what it takes to play the position. He just needs to play it. Every corner that's ever come into the league, the greatest corners of all time, I think have gone through some growing pains when they come into this league because they're facing a good guy every week."

Mike Holmgren's weekly meeting with the media was a lightly attended affair, presumably because of tomorrow's holiday. There also was not a ton that came out of it, in part because they are winning and in part because the Shaun Alexander topic remains on the back burner.

It is interesting because Holmgren continues to dodge Shaun's issues. He said he was going to go out there and run around. "Practicing?" No, not practicing. "So does that mean he is not playing?" You've attended my press conferences before, right?

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

=> Read more!

We have a teleconference with Rams RB Steven Jackson in about 15 minutes. Mike Holmgren's news conference is at noon, and Scott Linehan's is at 12:20, which means Darrin Beene will cover the Linehan stuff and I will be there for Holmgren. We'll both file stuff after all the press conferences and then today's practice at 1:35.

Don't know if you saw this little item, but David Greene was cut from the Patriots' practice squad yesterday.

Also, the Rams, with a really torn-up offensive line, signed 36-year-old veteran Todd Steussie on Tuesday and he will probably start Sunday against Seattle.

Scott Fontaine, The News Tribune's mobile journalist, took in Shaun Alexander's appearance at the Tacoma Mall on Tuesday. An interview with Alexander is posted on Fontaine's Word on the Street blog.

One of the interesting parts about Mike Holmgren's press conferences is that he usually regales the assembled media with some sort of story that is germaine to the question he is answering. Last week it was the Mel Gray story about kickoff returns. This week, while discussing the shotgun, this was what he gave us:

"When I was with the 49ers, Coach (Bill) Walsh didn’t run the shotgun there, with Joe Montana and those guys. We had a mini-camp and he went and visited somebody, or saw something the rest of the league was doing it. So he goes, ‘Ok, I want us to work on the shotgun within our off-season’. We had mini-camps that were shotgun mini-camps, and it was my job to develop the footwork to coincide with our 3, 5, and 7 step drops from the center for the shotgun, make them the same somehow. So I worked hard on that, I worked really hard on that, and we had this mini-camp, we do all the things, we got it down, the quarterbacks like it ok, our timing is pretty good, we don’t have to change a lot of our routes. First shotgun snap of the regular season, our center snapped it right over (Joe) Montana’s head. That was it. So four months of my life, down the drain, over.”

The Seahawks currently hold a one-game lead over the Arizona Cardinals in the division, and they don't exactly have an imposing schedule left in terms of the teams they play. St. Louis (2-8), Philadelphia (5-5), Arizona (5-5), Carolina (4-6), Baltimore (4-6) and Atlanta (3-7). However, four of the remaining six games are on the road, and three of them are on the East Coast three times zones away.

Meanwhile, Arizona has four of its remaining six games at home, with contests against San Francisco (2-8, eight-game losing streak), Cleveland (6-4), Seattle (6-4), New Orleans (4-6), Atlanta (3-7) and St. Louis (2-8). Clearly, the Cardinals have the more difficult opponents but a much more favorable travel schedule. The key date on both schedules is Dec. 9, when the Cards and Hawks meet at Qwest Field.

"We have our work cut out for us," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "Arizona is having a good year, they’re hanging in there really good. It appears that they really believe in what’s happening there. So it’s going to go right down to the wire, I suspect. To make sure that that happens we have to play well on the road. How we handle our road games will determine our regular season, and any playoff hopes we might have. I wish the schedule had kind of flopped differently, I don’t think it’s real great to go on the road 4 of your last 6, at the end of the season, but that’s what it is. We have to be able to handle it, if we’re going to do anything we have to be able to handle it.”

The father of Kyle Williams, who is an offensive lineman on the Seahawks' practice squad, sent me this photo. It is of Kyle's uncle, Eric, after the 1983 Apple Cup, when the Cougars beat the Huskies to keep them out of the Rose Bowl. The photo is of Eric in front of the Cougs' student section. Just thought I'd pass it along with a little Apple Cup-Seahawks tie-in.

In case anybody wants to go get Shaun Alexander and Leonard Weaver autographs:

Event: Thanksgiving on Tuesday

Where: J.Kinlow Hair & Body Lab

Tacoma Mall

4502 S Steele St

Tacoma, Wa 98409

(253) 473-8630

When: Tuesday November 20, 2007
Time: 5pm - 7pm
Details: Food Drive - Benifits Tacoma Rescue Mission
Free Haircuts with Food Donation
Autographs & Photos with Shaun Alexander and other fellow Seattle Seahawks.

The shotgun was a big topic of conversation on Monday, and while it is something that Holmgren said he is not entirely comfortable with because of the potential for disaster, Hasselbeck seems to like it and it gives him some initial space between the line and the pass rushers. He said it is Matt's call to use it based on what he sees from the defense once he emerges from the huddle. He was talking about that first snap from Chris Spencer last week that rolled along the ground, and he said he was looking at the play sheet and did not see it happen. He looked up and asked his assistants what happened and they said, "Oh nothing, everything is fine." Then when he saw it on film, he said, "You guys didn't tell me this happened." And they said, "Oh really, we didn't?"

=> Read more!

Mike Holmgren waffled on the Shaun Alexander issue because when he was asked who was not practicing this week, he mentioned Alexander. The follow-up then was from his comments last Friday, which he re-iterated on Monday, if Shaun cannot practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then he is not going to play. We tried to clarify then that Shaun was not playing, and Holmgren said he did not mean to indicate that. "Let's wait and see," he said.

He also said Shaun is lobbying to get his cast off. Holmgren said they are not going to allow that, but they are trying to figure out a way to make the cast smaller.

Other folks not practicing this week are, as Holmgren said, "the usual suspects:" Walter Jones, Darryl Tapp and Rocky Bernard. All are expected to play. He did not say anything about Kelly Jennings.

Mike Holmgren said in his day-after press conference that QB Matt Hasselbeck is pretty banged up with sore ribs and that he is not likely to get much practice time this week. He is expected to play, but they are going to rest him up as the Seahawks prepare for the Rams this Sunday. Holmgren said it will have an affect on his timing with receivers, but he spoke with him and said he needs to prepare himself without getting the physical part in. He hopes to see him get some throws toward the end of the week to give him a few reps, but he said that will be a day-to-day decision. He said he was in the training room with ice all over him and was pretty sore.

Mike Holmgren has his day-after news conference at 2:15 this afternoon. I will have updates after that. The players have been given the day off, so they are not available until Wednesday. They also have Tuesday off, their regularly scheduled break.

Here are a few notes from Sunday's 30-23 victory over Chicago:

QB Matt Hasselbeck

His 30 completions tied for the second most of his career. The 337 passing yards marked his 15th-career 300-yard passing game, most in franchise history. Hasselbeck had 15 first-quarter passing attempts, second most of his career (16 last week versus SF). Hasselbeck now ranks third in the NFC with 17 TD passes, fifth with 2,638 passing yards and fourth in passer rating (91.3).

Hasselbeck Single-Game Completions
36 at San Diego 12/29/02
30 Chicago 11/18/07
30 at Cleveland 11/4/07
30 at San Francisco 12/1/02

WR D.J. Hackett

Set career highs with nine receptions, 136 yards and a 59 yard reception. It marked Hackett’s third-career 100-yard game and second in as many weeks.

WR Bobby Engram

He was presented during pregame with the award for being named Seahawks Man of the Year by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He went on to catch eight passes for his jersey number (84). He ranks fifth in the NFC in receptions (60) and yards (744). His best season in a Seahawks uniform came in 2005 when he caught 67 passes for 778 yards.

2005 (13 games) vs. 2007 (10 games)
67 Rec 60
778 Yds 744
3 TDs 3

Seahawks Defense

Seattle forced the Bears three-and-out four times. For the season, Seattle leads the NFL in forcing three and outs with 39.

Seattle forced two fumbles versus the Bears and are now tied with the Detroit Lions for the NFL lead with 16.

With five sacks, Seattle ranks second to the N.Y. Giants (34) with 31 sacks this season.

NFL Sack Leaders
Giants 34
Seahawks 31
Bears 30
Steelers 28
Packers 28
Lions 28

Seattle has had three games in which a player has recorded three or more sacks.
4.0* Darryl Tapp 10/21 vs. St. Louis
3.0 Julian Peterson 9/30 at San Francisco
3.0 Patrick Kerney 11/18 vs. Chicago

Even the most cynical Seahawks fan would find it difficult to find much to complain about in that win. Definitely my favorite moment was the Josh Brown tackle on Devin Hester. Anyway let's get to the links ...

From the newspaper of the South Sound, the News Tribune Here's Frank's game story with the headline "Payback comes to pass."

Darren's wrote about D.J. Hackett, who had a solid game and adds another dimension to the Hawks receiving corps. The game notebook leads with another strong Seahawks defensive performance.

Dave wrote about quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and his importance to this team.

John McGrath wrote about Josh Brown's tackling ability, and the idea of kicking to Hester.

I had the pleasure of covering a morose Bears' locker room, and wrote about whether the play of Rex Grossman was good enough to earn a start next week.

From the Chicago Sun Times....
The game story ran with the headline "No defense for latest loss."

Many folks were wondering why Cedric Benson didn't get the ball more, including Benson himself.

Receiver Bernard Berrian had another good game against the Hawks

Former player Matt Bowen offers his thoughts in a weekly postgame column.

Columnist Mike Mulligan believes the defense was to blame in the loss. Here's some more.

Columnist Greg Couch thinks the Bears defense has lost its edge.

Predictably, columnist Jay Mariotti is critical of Grossman and everyone else who thinks the Bears still have a chance at the playoffs.

From the Chicago Tribune...
Under the headline, "Blunders leave Bears on life support" here's the game story. Here's a story on the wasted performances of Berrian and Mushin Muhammad. Also a good start by Cedric Benson. Here's the game notebook with an interview with Warren Moon about Grossman.

Columnist Fred Mitchell writes about the 12th man advantage.

Columnist Rick Morrisey believes the Bears' defense is in denial.

Columnist Mike Downey wonders why Benson didn't get more carries.

Columnist David Haugh doesn't think you can blame Grossman for once.

Updates in progress

K JOSH BROWN

(On the celebration after the tackle of Hester…) It was Devin Hester, are you kidding me? It was just cool. I always told Kerney that if I got a big hit that I would do the flex like he did, but you don’t think about it in the moment. They have a phenomenal special teams and you noticed we were kicking the ball all over the place, and finally forget this, let’s kick deep. And we kick deep and deep in the corner, and he showed us exactly why you don’t kick to him. He took it from the farthest end, and went the other way, and I just happened to be where I was supposed to be, and I held on for dear life.

=> Read more!

WR NATE BURLESON

(On his touchdown…) “It’s quite a simple route. I go across the field and try to get them to move a little bit, and strike back inside. Matt (Hasselbeck) was very patient. He saw (Lance) Briggs locked up on me, and he gave me a little big of time. He stepped up in the pocket instead of freaking out and throwing it away or tucking it and running with it. He had faith that I was going to bust open. That play needs patience by the quarterback and Matt (Hasselbeck) did that perfectly.”

(On Matt Hasselbeck…) “When you have a quarterback like Matt who can throw the ball the way he does. Place it the way he does, and also go out there and be patient, takes hits when he needs to, and also gives his receivers time to get open it makes our job easier. All we do is run routes. Most of the time we do a pretty good of getting open.”

(On Josh Brown’s special teams tackle…) “Josh (Brown) is a fierce competitor. If he’s anywhere near the ball he’s going to try to stick his nose in it.”

(On the offense…) “We have a ton of talent. I say it all the time. It’s just really up to us to work hard, and up to the coaches to put us in position to be succesful. As many threats as we have, we can make it very difficult for any team to guard us. We just have to go out there and utilize everybody. This was a good game, it’s going to be hard for teams to watch film and really come up with a game plan to try to stop us. We just have to continue to play hard. Hopefully Shaun (Alexander) will come back, him and Mo (Morris) can handle the backfield. The receivers continue to make plays. Will Heller and (Marcus) Pollard continue to make plays. We have tons of guys. I think the sky is the limit for us.”

DE PATRICK KERNEY

(On the rest of the season…) “It’s going to be tight with them. Arizona is a heck of a football team. I can see them winning a lot of games, particularly the way they are playing defense. We’ve got to keep bringing our ‘A’ game, especially next week with another divisional opponent in St. Louis. We’re going to have to bring our best.”

(On his forced fumble…) “Just a great job by our coverage. You can’t say enough about the job that they did. Rex (Grossman) was back there forever, and it was just one of those things were you had to keep staying after him. Our coverage held up, our other rushers flushed him (Rex Grossman) real well. He took off and he didn’t see me coming so I was able to get the ball.”

=> Read more!

QB REX GROSSMAN

(On the day overall…) “ It was a tough loss. We got an early lead on them and made a lot of good plays but we didn’t score enough points in the second half. For whatever reason we didn’t finish our drives in the second half and that came back to bite us.”

(On the late second half fumble…) “We had a shot to go deep on that play, they got out of there and did a good job of covering it. I got out of there and saw a crease and I was trying to run into it and either throw the ball to Adrian Peterson or run it. There was a defender in between us and at that point a guy from the backside came and knocked it out. It was a big play in the game.”

=> Read more!

This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in Monday's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune

The Seattle Seahawks have said it all season long, oftentimes to the detriment of their own credibility: Our best football is ahead of us.
It seemed like bold hyperbole when their running game was in shambles or their defense was getting shredded.
But they finally made good on their repetitious promise in a 30-23 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon at Qwest Field, the Seahawks’ most complete game of the season resulting in their second consecutive win before 68,249 fans.
Behind another 300-yard afternoon from quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, a defense that recorded five second-half sacks and a kicking game that relatively contained Bears specialist Devin Hester, the Seahawks finally seemed to take control of what has been a haphazard season.
“In this game, everybody contributed,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “Everybody. I think when I look at the film I am going to feel that every third of our team – offense defense and special teams – contributed to the win, no question.”

=> Read more!

HEAD COACH LOVIE SMITH

(Thoughts on the game…) “Disappointing loss. To come out with a ten-point lead on the road is definitely a good start. We felt that we needed to get off to a good start to get the fans out of it and all of that. We weren’t able to hold the lead. We made some critical mistakes. Penalties you know really hurt us. We talk a lot about getting takeaways. We weren’t able to get enough today with it.

=> Read more!

QB MATT HASSELBECK

(On the mental match with Brian Urlacher…) They give him a lot of leeway on their defense. He is the quarterback of their defense. When teams check, he checks. They will be in a blitz, and we will check to a blitz-play, and then they will check out of their blitz. When you are playing at home you have the ability to do the they check, we check, they check, we check. Whoever gets the last check in is usually the most successful. Being able to play them at home we had that opportunity.

=> Read more!

HEAD COACH MIKE HOLMGREN

(Opening…) Well, another day at the office. Exciting football. First of all, I would like to give the Bears credit, they were on the road. Grossman I think did a fine job for them. Their defense has always been really tough for us, or anybody. And we were down 10-0 before we could blink. So, I was proud of our guys the way they battled back and got even. They hung in there. I thought we got pretty good pressure on the quarterback in the second half. It was a game of big plays, clutch plays. Obviously, it was a very important win for us. We’re very happy with the outcome.

=> Read more!

Seahawks win, 30-23 their second consecutive victory. The locker room was, predictably, pretty jovial. As Matt Hasslbeck said afterwards, after a win the training room is a virtual ghost town. After a loss, you can't find a table. Hasselbeck was not very specific about his injury, saying he doesn't know if it was the oblique or his ribs. Holmgren seemed to indicate it was his ribs. Obviously it didn't bother him a great deal because he was pretty impressive even after sustaining the injury.

Holmgren said the other injuries -- Kelly Jennings' knee and Rocky Bernard's concussion -- were not serious.

=> Read more!

In what I thought was their most complete game of the season, the Seahawks won their second straight game by defeating the Chicago Bears. The score was 30-20 when I went down to the field. The passing offense once again was impressive, with Matt Hasselbeck throwing for more than 300 yards. Mo Morris did a nice job at RB and now raises the question of whether or not Shaun Alexander should just wait until he is 100 percent healthy to come back. For the second straight game, Morris had a rushing TD. D.J. Hackett had a career day. The defense, unable to get to Rex Grossman in the first half, did a nice job of pressuring him in the second, with Patrick Kerney getting a forced fumble for the second straight game. Leroy Hill was good coming off his hamstring injury, and as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Deon Grant had some big plays that warranted mention. The Seahawks remain a game ahead of Arizona in the division. I'll provide postgame stuff when I come back up.

After that 59-yard pass play, Hackett now has nine receptions for 136 yards, both career highs. That pass play was also the longest play of his career. Matt Hasselbeck has gone over 300 yards passing. Hackett has back-to-back weeks of 100-yard games.

Jennings' return is questionable. That pass to Muhsin Muhammad for 41 yards came against Jordan Babineaux the first play after Jennings was injured.

The Seahawks are tied at halftime, 17-17, in a game that is hotly contested between two teams with similar records. They look pretty evenly matched. The Seahawks started off poorly, allowing the Bears to start the game at midfield and then allowing Cedric Benson to rumble for a 43-yard touchdown. Josh Brown missed a field goal, giving the Bears good field position again, and when Craig Terrill had a roughing the passer penalty, it enabled the Bears to take a 10-0 lead. To their credit, the Seahawks came right back, drove the length of the field and Hasselbeck connected with DJ Hackett for 10-7. Mo Morris seems to be making Shaun Alexander an afterthought, going 19 yards for Seattle's second TD and a 14-10 lead. Chicago came back on a sustained drive, Adrian Peterson going in from 5 out for 17-14. And Josh Brown just kicked a 40-yard field goal to tie the game at 17, though that should have been an extra point because Hackett dropped what should have been his second touchdown. The pass rush needs to get better in the second half, as does the defense of the underneath pass. Rex Grossman actually looks pretty good. Chicago's run game also is strong, though Seattle's front tightened up in the second quarter. Matt Hasselbeck's injury could play a factor in the second half, though he looked pretty good on that final drive. Hopefully home field advantage is enough to push the Seahawks past the Bears in the final two quarters.

A team of doctors and trainers have been working on Hasselbeck's side on the sidelines. It is the same spot that he strained a few weeks ago. He is warming up on the sideline.

After MAtt scrambled to the right sideline and was chased out by Urlacher, he looked like he was grabbing his oblique. He looks like he has grabbed it a few other times as well. It is something to keep an eye on.

I guess Rocky passed all the tests for his concussion because he is back in the game at defensive tackle.

Nate Burleson seems to be much more conservative this week on his punt returns, which leads me to believe that the chewing out he got from Mike Holmgren this week did not fall on deaf ears.

They just announced that Rocky Bernard's return is questionable because he has a concussion. They are still looking at him on the sideline doing equilibrium tests.

I think Rocky may have had a concussion, or they are checking on that. He is surrounded by a few medical personnel and they are doing tests on him like having his eyes follow their fingers. I think he will be OK.

That was a 10-play scoring drive, and there was only one run, to Mo Morris, on the drive. There also was one sack. Deion Branch caught his first two balls since returning, both on quick slants. Overall, the Seahawks have run 16 plays, 14 of which have been passes.

For all intents and purposes, the Seahawks have allowed the Bears to start one drive at the 50, and their second drive at Seattle's 35 after one pass and a roughing the passer penalty on Craig Terrill. Not that the defense is playing that well, but they need to give themselves a chance for success.

After the Seahawks' first drive stalled at the 26, the usually reliable Josh Brown missed his field goal attempt. This was the first one this year that I think he missed that was his own fault. He had been 17-19 before that, but one was blocked and one was short after a penalty last week nullifed his first make. He is now 17-20.

It doesn't matter how poor Rex Grossman is if the Seahawks' defense is going to be that porous. Two plays after allowing the Bears to start at midfield, Cedric Benson ran 43 yards for a TD. Bears lead, 7-0, less than a minute into the game.

Josh Brown short-kicked the opening kickoff to avoid Devin Hester. The only problem is that Garrett Wolfe took it and returned it to the 50. Brown would have been better off kicking it out of bounds. Makes for a very short field.

Musicians Jerry Cantrell and Matt Cameron of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam raised the 12th Man flag.

Bobby Engram just received his man of the year award from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, as well as Tim Ruskell and Tod Leiweke. The award was given to Engram at about the 30-yard line in front of the Seahawks' bench. He is one of 32 finalists for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which will be voted on just before the Super Bowl.

WR Mark Bradley
CB Nathan Vasher
FB Lousaka Polite
S Josh Gattis
LB Darrell McGlover
OL Josh Beekman
WR Mike Hass
QB Brian Griese

Trumaine McBride will start at CB for Nathan Vasher

Shaun Alexander
CJ Wallace
Will Herring
Mansfield Wrotto
Ray Willis
Courtney Taylor
Baraka Atkins
Charlie Frye

Maurice Morris will start at RB for Shaun Alexander

Referee John Parry
Umpire Tony Michalek
Head linesman Derick Bowers
Line judge John Hussey
Field Judge Gary Cavaletto
Side Judge Barry Anderson
Back Judge Perry Paganelli
Replay Lloyd McPeters
Video Dan Lengeloh

There's no more exciting play than watching a return for a touchdown. And no one does it quite like Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears.

Hester, who has already returned eight kicks for TDs in about a year-and-a-half in the NFL, is a marked man. The Seahawks can not afford to have him running wild if they want to beat the Bears today.

The Seahawks faced Hester twice last year – once in the regular season and again in the playoffs – and kept him in check.

In the regular season loss, Hester had five punt returns for 45 yards and did not return a kickoff.

In the playoffs, Hester was able to return only three of the Seahawks’ five kickoffs, averaging a pedestrian 17.7 per return, down almost 10 yards from his season average. On punt returns, the Seahawks were even better. Hester, who averaged 12.8 yards in the regular season, average 1.7 yards on three returns and fumbled three times.

I talked to punter Ryan Plackemeier this week and he said he's been aware of Hester ever since his college days at Wake Forrest (Hester played at Miami). He said the key is to get plenty of hang time on punts and to keep Hester moving – if he's lined up right, kick it left, etc.

"We came out of those games pretty good," Plackemeier said. "If you don’t get enough hang time, if you don’t hit a good enough punt, if you put it left when you are supposed to put it right, any guy in the league can take one back on you. He has done it more so than other guys and we do have to be careful.

"My goal for this game is to hit the ball the best I can. Every game I’m trying to put enough hang time on it to give our guys a chance to get down there."

Well, a win would be nice, as always. But beyond that.

Will Mike Holmgren stick with the passing game as prevalently as he did against San Francisco. I spoke this week with offensive coordinator Gil Haskell, who said the run-pass split was not that dramatic. I pointed out to him that that was because of the one-sided nature of the game. Had the game been 24-17 instead of 24-0, he said they probably would have thrown 7 more passes and had 7 fewer runs, though when you have 60-70 plays that is 10 percent, so relatively large. Either way, he said, if they get 70 plays to run, they should win the game.

=> Read more!

SEAHAWKS

OUT

Will Herring
C.J. Wallace

QUESTIONABLE

Shaun Alexander
Baraka Atkins
Deion Branch
Leroy Hill
Walter Jones
Darryl Tapp
Ray Willis

PROBABLE

Rocky Bernard

BEARS

QUESTIONABLE

Tommie Harris
Nathan Vasher

PROBABLE

Brian Griese
Brandon McGowan

Shaun Alexander is not going to play on Sunday, Mo Morris starting at RB. Mike Holmgren said he told Alexander that until he can put in a full week of practice he is not going to play him. So if Shaun is there next Wednesday, he has a shot against the Rams. Otherwise, no go. Holmgren said he thinks Alexander is close.

=> Read more!

Craig Hill, who used to be a sportswriter at the paper and now is our Outdoors Writer, sent me the link to the Seahawks' answer to the Bears' Super Bowl Shuffle. It's a hoot to watch.

Here is a pretty good read about Mike Holmgren and his future, written by a Chicago columnist. I thought it captured where Holmgren is in his life pretty well.

By the way, practice is this morning at 11:45. I will have details -- well, as many as I can give -- afterward. The biggest thing to keep an eye on is if Shaun Alexander and Leroy Hill are able to go.

Here is a link to my story in today's News Tribune about Shaun Alexander's future with the Seahawks. It is long but I think comprehensive regarding almost everything that goes into the situation and, ultimately, Tim Ruskell's decision about what to do with the 2005 MVP.

As I was going through my weekly picks for our Football Friday section, it dawned on me that the Carolina-Green Bay game may feature the oldest starting quarterback duo in league history. With Vinny Testaverde at 44 (this week, in fact) and Brett Favre at 38, they are together 82 years old. Some of us looked up other combinations and I don't think there has ever been an older combination.

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

DT Tommie Harris (knee)

LIMITED

QB Brian Griese (shoulder)
LB Hunter Hillenmeyer (foot)
S Brandon McGowan (elbow)
T Fred Miller (ankle)
CB Nathan Vasher (groin)
DT Darwin Walker (knee)

For the second consecutive game, the players went in helmets and shoulder pads instead of full gear, probably because Mike Holmgren would prefer that nobody else gets injured.

The injury list is looking much better, by the way, though Shaun Alexander, Walter Jones (precaution), Leroy Hill, C.J. Wallace, Rocky Bernard (precaution) and Will Herring did not practice. Marcus Pollard went through the full practice, as did Deion Branch and Ray Willis. Branch and Pollard both looked good and I would say are pretty strong candidates to play and possibly start on Sunday. With Walter out, Pork Chop has been getting his reps at left tackle.

=> Read more!

I'm quite certain that most people reading this blog already know this, but the Seahawks have asked us to remind you that Sunday's kickoff is 1:15 p.m., not 5:15, because of NBC's decision to move the game from its Sunday night broadcast. If you show up at 5:15, go straight to a bar to watch the New England game because Qwest will be cleared out -- though you'd probably get good parking.

This game against Chicago goes from Al Michaels, John Madden and Andrea Kremer to, umm, Matt Vasgersian and JC Pearson.

Practice is being held today at 1:30. I am working on a lengthy story for our football friday section that has to be in before practice so don't have a great deal of time to blog. But I wanted to provide some Deion Branch comments from yesterday, and how today is going to go a long way in determining if he can play Sunday in terms of his soreness following yesterday's practice. Here are some of his comments:

"I’m just excited just to try to show coach something this week and hopefully he’ll let me play It’s a little different feel when you’re not on the field and you don’t feel like you’re contributing to the team. I just want to be out there with the guys running around. As long as we win I’ll be straight. I’m very anxious to get out there but the thing is you have to be smart and Coach is not going to put me in a bad situation so if it looks good and I feel good then I think he’ll let me play.”

=> Read more!

It was brought up during Mike Holmgren's press conference that the MNF broadcast mentioned that Holmgren said that Chris Spencer and Rob Sims would be good players for their next coach. This is how he addressed that:

"Did they really?" Holmgren asked. "I was kind of joking around because you know in those production meetings you have to have fun. They were asking the typical question. I said that. I probably had no idea that it would create that kind of reaction. I have been straight with you guys. You know my contract situation. We are taking it one year at a time. I love this football team, and I love Spencer and Sims. I think it is fairly safe to assume that if they play as long as Chris Gray has played, they will probably be playing for another coach.”

Holmgren was asked about kicking to keep the ball away from Devin Hester. He responded with this story:

There’s a number of things you could try to do when you play against a great player like that. I told you the story before about Mel Gray. And I told Nolan Cromwell who was the special teams coach at the time, I do not want him touching the ball. Nolan is a good guy. You all know Nolan. And the whole game, we’re kicking it short we’re kicking it out of bounds. Everything is going fine. We had just scored a touchdown and Nolan got a little cocky. It was in the fourth quarter. I go around to get a drink of water. We kick off, I’m thinking it’s going to be one of those pop ups or something, I turn around just as Mel Gray is running by me for a touchdown. I go…I’m looking for Nolan and he’s hiding from me, I go, ‘What did you do?’ He says, ‘We were covering so well.’ It’s like fielding a punt on the 10. Even coaches, it’s like, ‘Ah, we can do this.’ I’d rather he not touch the ball though. Devin Hester. And I’m sure we’ll have some thing to try and make that happen."

Shaun Alexander, Walter Jones, Leroy Hill, CJ Wallace, Rocky Bernard and Will Herring all sat out practice. As I mentioned in the earlier post, Shaun and Hill are not scheduled to go til Friday. Walter and Rocky are both precautions, I think, because, as Holmgren said earlier in the day, he wants to have them ready on Sunday.

=> Read more!

Cornerback Kevin Hobbs, who was cut on Monday to make room for the promotion of fullback David Kirtman, was re-signed to the Seattle Seahawks practice squad. Hobbs, who did not play in two of the four games he was on the active roster, cleared waivers.

Mike Holmgren said that Deion Branch should be back this week, though he will practice all week to determine if he has the proper ability to explode off his sprained foot.

=> Read more!

Receiver Bobby Engram has been selected as the Seattle Seahawks 2007 Walter Payton/NFL Man of the Year for his on-going work in the community and his achievements on the field.

Engram is one of 32 finalists – one from each team. The winner, which be announced before the Super Bowl, will be selected by a panel of judges including commissioner Roger Godell, Connie Payton (wife of the late Walter Payton) and former players such as Frank Gifford, Jack Kemp and John Mackey.

For the past two years, Engram has held a walk at Seward Park that benefits Sickle Cell Anemia research. He has also spoke to state legislators on the importance of funding research for the disease, which is a hereditary form of anemia in which the red blood cells become sickle-shaped and less able to carry oxygen.

Engram has teamed up with the NFL's "What Moves U" program, which addresses childhood obesity by encouraging exercise. He has also been involved with Marcus Trufant's foundation and supporte Deion Branch's pool and bowling event, which raises money for victims of meningitis.

We just got off teleconference calls with Bears coach Lovie Smith and linebacker Brian Urlacher, neither of whom said a great deal. Smith declined to say who was going to start at QB this week, or to even tell us who practiced. He said he would release that information later in the day, which I assume means their injury report, but that is not likely to indicate specifics about the practice. Smith played down the QB controversy, saying it is something that goes on in a lot of cities and something he has to deal with. He said the problems with the team's running game this season has been sort of the same as Seattle's, inconsistency that needs to be fixed. Urlacher said that the only difference in their defense is that they are not performing as well. He didn't make excuses about injuries or personnel but said they are not as good this year. Urlacher also said that if he was a coach, he would not kick to Devin Hester. Lovie said Hester is the best return man he has ever seen. About memories of last year's playoff game, Urlacher said, "We won. That's it."

Mike Holmgren's press conference is at noon. I'll have updates from that.

Well, that was an interesting game. The Hawks look much improved, but really I think most teams would look much improved against a San Francisco team that's borderline inept and embarrassing. For as much as Hawk fans get upset about the run game, could you imagine being a Niners fan and having to watch that passing attack each week.

For those of you, who weren't at the game, how was the Monday night broadcast. I saw they had the obligatory and cliched shot of Pike market and the fish throwing.

Anyway let's get to the links.... starting with the News Tribune..
Here's Frank's game story. Darrin wrote about the defensive pressure on quarterback Alex Smith with some interesting numbers about the Seahawks wins in corollary with getting sacks. The game notebook leads with the solid play of linebacker Kevin Bentley, who came up with the big stop on Frank Gore on 4th and 1 from the 2.

Dave's column focuses on the passing game.

Meanwhile, I had the luxury of covering the Niners lockerroom, where I talked to a very dejected D-Jack.

The "professor" and former News Tribune Hawks writer, John Clayton was in the house and filed this column on the passing game.

Let's take a look at how the San Francisco area papers covered the game.

From the San Francisco Chronicle ....
The game story ran under a headline "Scoreless in Seattle" The game notebook leads with Alex Smith maintaining his confidence in himself.

Columnist Ray Ratto writes about the nosedive of the Niners. The Niners game grades look like some of your report cards in college.

From the Santa Rosa Press Democrat ...
The game story from beat writer Matt Maiocco ran under the headline, "New Low for Niners." You do have to feel for head coach Mike Nolan, who wouldn't speak about the recent death of his father, Dick Nolan. His players talked about his "heart."

Columnist Lowell Cohn believes the Niners are inept and unprepared — every week.

From the Sacramento Bee...
The also used a scoreless in SEattle headline for the game story. Here's the game notebook leading with a faulty nickel defense.

From the San Jose Mercury News...
The game story

Columnist Mark Purdy writes about the frustrating day for head coach Mike Nolan...

Columnist Tim Kawakami blogged about the game and the MNF broadcast.

*Updates in process, keep checking**

Mike Holmgren gave the Seahawks off today, and because it was a Monday night game Holmgren is wrapping his postgame press conference and his midweek press conference into one get-together on Wednesday afternoon, which means there will not be a lot coming out of Hawksville after last night's 24-0 victory.

The biggest question, of course, is this: Is there a RB controversy in Seattle?

=> Read more!

WR DARRELL JACKSON

(On the outcome . . . ) “We expect more from ourselves. We just aren’t delivering.”

(On if it’s odd being in the visiting locker room . . . ) “No, it’s all in the sport, being professional. Things like that happen. I’m a San Francisco 49er now. I had a good time (tonight). I know they still love me here. I still love them. Sometimes you’ve got to move on. It felt good out there. It felt like a good time. We just didn’t get it done.”

=> Read more!

LB JEFF ULBRICH

(On his role as a leading tackler…) “I will take a no-tackle, bad-performance and a win over a great performance and a loss. There is not much consolation in playing well in a losing effort.”
(On the level of energy he plays with…) “I just bring it upon myself to create a spark for this team. I have been a starter in this league for a long time; now I am more of a specialty team roll player guy. Seeing that I am in on a limited opportunity I feel it is my responsibility when I do get a chance to on only play well but give that emotional lift. I hope they respond well, but you would have to ask them.”

=> Read more!

(Opening statement…) “I don’t have a lot to say. We had our opportunities today. But we did not capitalize on them. The opportunities I speak about are primarily in the second half, down 17-0. We got in the red zone. We went for it on fourth down and came away with nothing. So, onside kick, we have it in our hands, lose it- things like that. So when I speak of opportunities, those are opportunities we had. We had several dropped balls in the game. Again, we didn’t capitalize on any opportunities we had.

=> Read more!

LB Julian Peterson

(On the shutout win…) “It was good. We worked very hard on defense trying to get a shutout. It’s pretty much a dream thing for the defense, and I thought we did a good job doing it. They gave us a couple of scares, they got in the red-zone and threated us a couple of times, they went a couple of times on fourth down. It just shows the courage of our defense, everybody just playing their position. Nobody made a lot of spectacular plays, everybody just did their job. If everybody can do their job you get results like this, and I’m satisfied with that zero on the board.”

=> Read more!

LB KEVIN BENTLEY

(On preparing to start…) “It’s easy to prepare, for me, especially when I know what position I am going to playing because I can focus in on that position; what kind of looks I’m going to get. Whereas, when I’m the backup, I’m focused in on all three of those guys trying to figure out what everybody’s getting. So it makes it a little bit difficult but that’s what the pay me to do; play great on teams and when I’m called upon, do well. I just know we won and we got a shutout. I’m going to get a Krispy Kreme for that one.”

WR NATE BURLESON

(On a greater emphasis on passing…) “Definitely. You try not to get too excited because you never know how the game is going to go but, obviously, when Coach (Mike Holmgren) says we’re going to the pass the ball more opportunities come quite often. I think our receiving corps, we did a pretty good job. If we do that every week I think you’ll see a lot of receivers smiling on the sidelines. It feels good. All of us, we’ve all been that receiver. We’ve been that guy, whether it was in college or in the league. So for us to come together as a receiving corps and contribute all around it really means a lot. It helps the offense. When you’re practicing all week, we go pretty hard. We wear ourselves out as a receiving corps. So we are all just hoping that we can go out there and pass the ball a little bit more but we prepare for both. We prepare to be great blockers and great receivers and today we passed the ball a little bit more than we ran.”

This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in tomorrow's News Tribune.

By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune

This was precisely the way the Seattle Seahawks wanted to begin the second half of this sporadic season, a dominant performance that resulted in a 24-0 victory over the hapless San Francisco 49ers that they hope establishes a tenor for yet another run to the playoffs.
In front of a national television audience on Monday Night Football, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren made good on his promise to become a truer facsimile of a West Coast offense, allowing quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to take advantage of his deep cadre of receivers early and often.

=> Read more!

(On the importance of getting off on the first drive…) The first drive was great. We did everything that we had talked about, even the fake shotgun snap on the ground, I think that was deceptive, I thought that worked great. [laughter] I thought that was the end of the shotgun for the night, but luckily it wasn’t.

=> Read more!

(Opening…) Well, it was a great team effort. I told the guys that anytime you can get a shutout in this league, it’s really something, and your defense played very well. I want to give credit to our defense, I think they had a good game plan. We were able to pressure their quarterback a little bit, which I think you have to do. Of course, Gore is a very good runner, so I was pleased with how our defense played. The offense was a little bit better tonight. The special teams, we have some work to do. We had 6 points taken off the board in the first half, which fortunately did not cause us to lose the football game, but it is inexcusable, so we’re going to have to work on some of that stuff. All in all, it was a division opponent, and a great win for us.

=> Read more!

Seattle's defense has a shutout in three consecutive season on Monday Night Football. Seattle’s five shutouts all time on Monday Night Football is a record. Seattle has 14 shutouts all time.

24-0 at San Diego Chargers 10/29/84

37-0 vs. L.A. Raiders 12/8/86

42-0 at Philadelphia 12/5/05

16-0 vs. Oakland Raiders 11/6/06

24-0 vs. San Francisco 11/12/07

Matt Hasselbeck had the most pass attempts of his career for the first quarter (16).

D.J. Hackett tied a career high with eight receptions (last time vs. San Francisco 12/14/06). His 100-yard effort was the second of his career (at Arizona 12/10/06).

I'll give a few observations and then post quotes and notes and my game story, etc.

One funny scene from the locker room: Nate Burleson finished his postgame interview with reporters, everybody was clearing out and I was writing a note in my notebook. Behind me, Burleson says, "I see you Will Heller. What are you doing, practicing to go to the Pro Bowl?" Not surprisingly, Heller didn't have much to say. But he got congrats from his teammates still remaining. He has three TD catches this season.

=> Read more!

I am heading down to the field now for postgame interviews, but I think it's safe to say that San Francisco is not going to score 25 points in the final three minutes. The score is currently 24-0, the first time the Seahawks have recorded a shutout since a 16-0 win over Oakland on Nov. 6, 2006. I'll file postgame stuff after we come back up.

San Francisco's Aubrayo Franklin, a DT, suffered a calf strain and is questionable to return.

San Francisco is 0-8 on third-down conversions and 0-2 on fourth-down conversions.

That deep pass to Mo Morris was the same one that he caught as the game-winner against Tampa Bay. Only, this time he gave up on the pass, which I don't think you could see on TV. He didn't think it was coming to him and pulled up, then sprinted when he saw Hasselbeck heave it. A play later, Morris fumbled the ball.

The Seahawks pieced together a thoroughly dominant first half, holding a 17-0 lead in a game in which Mike Holmgren stayed with his promise to pass more. Ten of Seattle's first 11 plays were in the air, and Matt Hasselbeck threw for 196 first-half yards, as well as a touchdown to Will Heller. Mo Morris looks pretty good in place of Shaun Alexander, and has a six-yard touchdown run off a draw play, something Alexander has not done in over a month. The defense, meanwhile, has three sacks, two fumble recoveries and has completely stymied San Francisco QB Alex Smith, who had -3 passing yards, if you can believe that, until he threw a 45-yard pass to end the half. Smith looks awful. It will be interesting to see if Holmgren continues to pass in the second half or if he goes more to Morris. The passing game looks great, and so does the defense.

Tight end Marcus Pollard is now warming up on the sidelines, loosening his legs. I have to wonder if that was inspired by Will Heller's holding penalty that took 3 points off the board.

There was so much success passing early, and now I get the sense, that with a 10-0 lead, that Mike Holmgren wants to run the ball more for some reason. The Seahawks have 131 passing yards and Hasselbeck looks sharp, I'm not sure why he is not sticking with it.

The two defensive ends have switched sides, with Kerney playing the right side and Tapp on the left. It may have something to do with their respective injuries.

Excluding the two field goals, 16 of the Seahawks' first 19 plays from scrimmage have been pass plays, with three runs to Mo Morris. Two have come out of the shotgun.

Marcus Pollard is not on the inactive list, but Will Heller is starting, catching Matt Hasselbeck's pass for a touchdown. But I don't even see Pollard on the sideline. And Tom Ashworth twice has reported as the second tight end in the two tight end set.

The Seahawks have run 11 plays so far, and 10 of them have been passes. Only one was a run, to Mo Morris, for four yards. They have been helped out by a replay reversal that continued a drive and a roughing the passer penalty. They are six yards from the end zone.

I think that is the first time this season that Matt Hasselbeck has been in the shotgun. It was almost a disastrous first attempt because Chris Spencer botched the snap. Reminds me of Boone Stutz's first snap.

Drew Carey, who is a minority investor in the MLS team coming to Seattle, is raising the 12th Man flag tonight.

The Seahawks just had a tribute to Dick Nolan, father of 49ers coach Mike Nolan, on the stadium big screens. He passed away over the weekend. Mike is coaching in this game.

After the Sunday night debacle against New Orleans in which Matt Hasselbeck almost was knocked silly by the over-the-field camera, there is a much more sleek skycam over the field tonight. So even if it drops, it would cause far less damage. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

WR LeRon McCoy
CB Tarell Brown
S Keith Lewis
T Patrick Estes
DE Atiyyah Ellison
WR Jason Hill
DE Ray McDonald
QB Shaun Hill

The Seahawks waived CB Kevin Hobbs and signed FB David Kirtman from the practice squad.

RB Shaun Alexander
LB Will Herring
LB Leroy Hill
T Ray Willis
WR Deion Branch
DT Howard Green
DE Baraka Atkins
QB Charlie Frye

Bobby Engram will start for Deion Branch at WR
Maurice Morris will start at RB for Shaun Alexander
Kevin Bentley will start at LB for Leroy Hill

With Mike Holmgren saying Shaun Alexander is out for this game with a sprained knee (I will list the Inactives when they are made official), it may not be the worst thing, especially on first down.

This season, Shaun 95 rushes on first down. He has 13 rushes this year on first down for 0 yards. Two for -1. Four for -2. Three for -3. One for -4. Which means that on one out of every four carries on first down, he is getting zero yardage or losing yards. That is 23 carries for zero or negative yards.

He has only four first-down rushes this season that have gone for longer than 10 yards.

Take it a step further, he has another 12 first-down runs for 1 yard. And eight for 2 yards.

43 carries for negative yards, zero or one or two yards. That is 45 percent of his carries on first down, and they leave the Seahawks in a bind.

Matt Hasselbeck, on the other hand, has passed on first down 106 times. 31 have been incompletions. One has been an interception.
Two have been sacks. But 23 of those passes have gone for 10 yards or more.

Mo Morris has 11 rushes on first down. Only one has been for negative yards, -3 against St. Louis, and only one has been for no yards. Every other run has resulted in positive yardage, including a 21-yarder against St. Louis.

With those kind of numbers, it's no wonder Mike Holmgren wants to start passing more.

Referee Larry Nemmers
Umpire Bill Schuster
Head linesman Mark Baltz
Line judge Mike Spanier
Field Judge Eddy Powers
Side Judge Carl Sheffers
Back Judge Dino Paganelli
Replay Lloyd McPeters
Video Don Langeloh

For those of you not in Seattle, the weather has turned from the rainy, windy day it was earlier, which would have affected the Seahawks' passsing game, to somewhat clear, broken clouds, little wind, no rain.

Happy Veteran's Day. Thanks to Darrin Beene for being custodian of the blog while I was in the wedding of a friend in Texas. I got back late last night. Let's look ahead to tonight's big game and some of the most pressing issues.

This is the first game in the second half of the season and I think will go a long way toward setting the tone for the direction the Seahawks are going to take in the final eight games. Arizona won yesterday, so this game is a must-win if the Seahawks want to maintain sole possession of first place in the division. More important, they need to win to regain some confidence lost during this stretch in which they have dropped three of four.

=> Read more!

Here's the official Friday injury report, which gives an idea of the chance a player has at being able to play.

Mike Holmgren said two Seahawks, backup LB Will Herring (hamstring) and OT Ray Willis (knee) are out for Monday. LB Leroy Hill, a starter with bad hamstring, was listed as doubtful which means he has a 25 percent chance of playing (whatever that means).

The six questionables have a 50-50 chance of playing. They are:
RB Shaun Alexander (knee)
WR Deion Branch (foot)
TE Marcus Pollard (knee)
DE Patrick Kerney (oblique)
DE Baraka Atkins (ankle)
LB Niko Koutouvides (hamstring).

One note about Alexander and Branch. Holmgren said they are "game-time" decisions and must show him something in Saturday's practice, which is closed to the media.

DT Rocky Bernard (groin) is listed as probable.

The 49ers injury list:

QUESTIONABLE
RB Frank Gore (ankle)
T Kwame Harris (back)
CB Walt Harris (knee)
S Keith Lewis (hamstring)

Back at the desk after the practice. A few highlights:

* Deion Branch made a brief appearance, running a few routes with the first-team offense. Mostly, he worked on the side, running and doing agility drills. Coach Mike Holmgren said Branch is a game-time decision.

* No Shaun Alexander. Holmgren said Alexander did some conditioning but Alexander was not at practice. He's a game-time decision, too.

* Some of the injured guys were at practice, but not doing much. Patrick Kerney was out there with a helmet, but he was watching, just like Marcus Pollard and Baraka Atkins.

* Getting the work at Kerney's DE spot was Ellis Wyms. He's been there all week, despite being listed as a DT.

* Pork Chop Womack saw a little time at RT for Sean Locklear, but Locklear got the majority of the work.

Just got to Kirkland for Friday's practice. Today ought to be interesting because some of the 10 injured Seahawks will probably be declared out for Monday night's game if they haven't shown enough improvement by now.

That's a large number of wounded, even for this point in the season. And, even more, six of those players – Shaun Alexander, Deion Branch, Marcus Pollard on offense and Patrick Kerney, Leroy Hill and Rocky Bernard on defense – are starters.

We'll update you on who's practicing, who's not and what coach Mike Holmgren has to say. I would be surprised if Alexander goes today, which would likely mean he wouldn't play on Monday.

I was talking to defensive coordinator John Marshall about what he's going to do if he finds himself short of linebackers come Monday Night. Right now, three of the seven LBs on the roster aren't able to practice.

He said the backup to the backups are two safeties: Brian Russell and Deon Grant. He said the Seahawks are lucky because they've got some versatile guys, guys like Julian Peterson and Jordan Babineaux, who can play multiple positions and guys like Russell and Grant who can come in to finish out a game.

He said when he was the defensive coordinator with San Francisco the team went light on D-linemen for a game in Atlanta. Lo and behold, they suffered a couple of injuries on the line and had one of their players have to leave during the game because his mother, who was in attendance, had heart problems.

For four man fronts, Marshall didn't have enough wide bodies so he recruited an offensive lineman to go in for a few plays.

"You just have to adjust," he said.

I'm sure he doesn't want to have to make those type of adjustments again...

You might enjoy these comments by Matt Hasselbeck, made on Wednesday.

On Coach Holmgren’s offensive changes: “I don’t know, I think he seems to go with what works, but today at practice was any indication or meanings, we’ve got a lot more shots downfield, a lot more things that are sort of wide-open, very aggressive offense. I think it gives us an advantage because if you’re going to play us, you haven’t seen a lot of what we’re about to do, so that’s exciting and that’s fun.”

On liking a more aggressive offensive plan: “I think we all do, it’s just a matter of getting it done, of executing it, and being smart with it. It’s fun, I know the wide-outs are excited, I’m excited, and not that we’re not going to run the ball, we’re going to run the ball obviously, but it’s cool, it’s good.”

On the offense becoming run-oriented the past few years: “I don’t know about that necessarily, but I know that we’ve been talking about certain things all season long this year, and he’s probably just at the point where he wants to try something new, think outside the box a little bit and give us a little change-up, make us harder to defend, and if that means throwing it in running situations, great, I think that it will just help us when we decide to run the ball.”

On Seahawk fan’s reacting to Darrell Jackson’s return: “I don’t know, I really don’t know, I don’t really care either, to be honest. Whatever, I’ll say hi to him and then I’ve got to go play their defense.”

On Monday Night Football: “Yeah I think it’s a big deal. It was passed my bedtime, when I was a kid I got to watch the 1:00 game, the 4:00 game, and when sixty minutes came on it was time to do your homework, and really I hadn’t even started it until right about then.”

On if he feels a sense of urgency: “Yeah I think this is the obvious halfway point, a chance to take a look at what you’re doing and how you have been this season, and hopefully there is more than eight games for us. We know what we need to do to make that happen so, it’s an eight-game season at this point to determine our future and what kind of chance we have in the playoffs. It’s fun, exciting, and hopefully we can get this thing going quickly.”

I apologize if you've been looking for some notes today. I had my head down on a story I was writing and only recently realized that, hey, it's 4:30. Yikes. Where does the time go. Anyway, here are a few notes from practice:

* Deion Branch is still not practicing with the team. He was running through a series of agility drills and catching passes thrown by a trainer. We'll have to see if he's able to go on Friday.

* Floyd Womack continued to get some time at right tackle for Sean Locklear. Locklear got the majority of the work, but Pork Chop had some snaps, too.

* Shaun Alexander, who usually talks to the media on Thursdays, did not speak today. The rule of thumb is an injured player doesn't do media, and Alexander was not at practice.

* Play of the day goes to WR Courtney Taylor, who dueled CB Kelly Jennings along the sideline to make a one-handed catch.

Here's the official injury report. Note that all the players are the same for the Seahawks, with Niko Koutouvides going from limited practice on Wednesday to nothing at all on Thursday. The 49ers had their workout today, so there's some news there.

SEAHAWKS

DID NOT PRACTICE
RB Shaun Alexander (knee)
DE Baraka Atkins (ankle)
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
WR Deion Branch (foot)
LB Will Herring (hamstring)
LB Leroy Hill (hamstring)
DE Patrick Kerney (oblique)
TE Marcus Pollard (knee)
OL Ray Willis (knee)
LB Niko Koutouvides (hamstring)

49ERS
DID NOT PRACTICE
T Kwame Harris (back)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
RB Frank Gore (ankle)
CB Walt Harris (knee)
S Keith Lewis (hamstring)

Note that RT Justin Smiley was declared out for the season by the 49ers. Smiley will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, FYI.

Sorry for the delay on posting this but I had to finish my story for the Thursday paper first. So, here it is, some highlights from 49ers coach Mike Nolan's press conference with the Seattle media:

On Darrell Jackson fitting into the offense: “Well our offense hasn’t been as productive and you can’t fault any one person or anything like that. Darrell has come in and he’s done a good job working in the offense. I’m sure that he’d like to have more production; kind of the numbers that he had in Seattle but so is the case right now for the entire offense. We’d all like to have better numbers whether it be individually or even collectively.

On losing offensive coordinator Norv Turner (now coaching the Chargers) and how that's affected the offense: “Look it, I take responsibility for our record. That’s my job, my responsibility. Obviously assistant coaches have a job to do but I would not take anything away from Jim’s (Hostler) ability to do the job. ... I think he’s done an outstanding job the last month or so as as far as devising game plans. Prior to that I think we might have been a little bit etched into what we had done last year because we had some success late in the year; we wanted to stay with what we did and we still do a lot of those things but Jim has an ability to actually go outside that a little bit and do some things that we didn’t even try last year. ... At the same time you have to get points on the board."

On the NFC West: “I think everybody has their own individual issues. I think ours are different from the others and vice versa. ... Obviously we’re just at the midpoint of the season but all the teams in this division, would like to think they would be ahead of where they are today. Nonetheless, it is a division that is to be had by someone and everybody is still trying to get it. So this is obviously a big game for us and Seattle both this week.”

Here's the official injury report:
SEAHAWKS

DID NOT PRACTICE
RB Shaun Alexander (knee)
DE Baraka Atkins (ankle)
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
WR Deion Branch (foot)
LB Will Herring (hamstring)
LB Leroy Hill (hamstring)
DE Patrick Kerney (oblique)
TE Marcus Pollard (knee)
OL Ray Willis (knee)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
LB Niko Koutouvides (hamstring)

49ERS

Did not practice...
Coach Mike Nolan said he's giving the team a lighter day early in the week because of the game vs. Seattle being on Monday night. That way, he has a regular week but with an extra day off to study film, rest, etc.

Nolan did say that two offensive linemen won't play.

LT Jonas Jennings (ankle) is out for the season
RG Justin Smiley (shoulder) is out and is getting a second opinion.

A few quotes from San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who talked with the Seattle-area media today:

On Monday's game vs. Seattle:
"It's a big game, huge game. With all the struggles this year, (to be) two games back and playing the first place team – you win that game and you're just a game out halfway through the season."

If he holds a grudge vs. Seattle for knocking him out with a separated shoulder the last time they played:
"Not all. We play the game – it's a rough game – and you're going to have injuries. Things like that happen. In no way do I think it was malicious at all."

ON the 49ers' 32nd ranked offense:
"You can't dwell on the stats. We're right in the middle of the season right now and we've got to look forward. We've got to look ahead, and we're looking at what we can do to get better, how we can improve."

The Seahawks have finished practicing. A few things:

* Another day, another position for Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack. Womack, who practiced at both guard position last week in practice, subbed in for right tackle Sean Locklear for a portion of Wednesday's session.

* Mo Morris had one of those "oh no" moments when he bumped hard into quarterback Matt Hasselbeck on a handoff. Hasselbeck began shaking his hand after the collision but was OK and did not miss any reps.

* With linebackers Leroy Hill, Niko Koutouvides and Will Herring missing practice with injuries, Kevin Bentley got plenty of reps.

* Play of the day was made by QB Seneca Wallace and practice squad WR Jordan Kent when they connected for a long TD pass. Wallace threw a perfect deep ball down the middle of the field that Kent ran under.

Mike Holmgren's press conference had a noticeable lack of focus on the upcoming opponent, the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, Holmgren was grilled on the team's lack of a running game, his switch to more of a focus on the passing game, the lack of a red zone offense and his feelings about where the team stands at the midway point of the season. I guess that is what losing three of four games will do.

=> Read more!

Mike Holmgren revealed in his weekly press conference that there are more injuries than originally believed. Besides Patrick Kerney, Shaun Alexander, Deion Branch, Ray Willis, Leroy Hill and Marcus Pollard not practicing today, Will Herring and Niko Koutouvides also suffered injuries. Both those guys strained hamstrings. Holmgren said that when the second half was delayed by the lights coming up at Cleveland Browns Stadium, some guys got tight on the sidelines and then suffered injuries when they had to go out and explode on special teams. Holmgren said all those players need to practice by Friday to prove to him that they are ready to play Monday night. "I think half those guys will play," Holmgren said. "Now, which half, I don't know."

Mike Holmgren jokes that the running game should be called 2 and a half yards and a cloud of dust in Darren's story from yesterday. I think two and a half may be stretching it a little for a team that can't get 18 inches on fourth down. Somebody tell Oregon stud tailback and Lacey, WA native Jonathan Stewart to come out early and come home soon. Or maybe Minnesota's Chester Taylor since he's been Wally Pipped in Minnesota. Maybe this guy, rated No. 1 on Mel Kiper's positional board. Nighthawk reports that Young is out for the season, so how about this guy. He's considered the best lineman in the country.

Anyway enough of my blatherings, let's get to this week's opponent, the San Francisco 49ers.

The Hawks can't run, but the Niners apparently can't pass. Even stranger, SF ran the ball better with Frank Gore on the sidelines.
Remember when the Niners were chic pick in the NFC West, now they are considered one of the worst teams in the NFL. Offensive lineman Jonas Jennings is done for the season.

From the San Jose Mercury News is a story about second-guessing the 2005 NFL draft and the Niners choices. This columnist specifically believes the Alex Smith choice is a mistake.

The Sacramento Bee has the 49ers midseason analysis report.

AUDIO ALERT — Here's Niners head coach Mike Nolan's weekly radio show. Columnist Mark Purdy speaks about his column on Alex smith. Here's Santa Rosa Press Democrat Matt Maiocco offering his thoughts.

Let's go around the NFL ...

Here's is Peter King's Monday Morning QB for those who missed it.

Here's ESPN Page 2's Tuesday Morning QB, notice the paragraph about Hutch opening up a huge hole for Adrian Peterson. If you watch closely, Hutchinson and Bryan McKinnie give AP some truck sized holes to run through. It's enough to make a Hawks fan vomit in their mouth.

Pro Football Weekly released its midseason all-pro team, voted on by its editors. There are no Seahawks on the list.

Offense
QB Tom Brady, Patriots
RB Adrian Peterson, Vikings
RB Brian Westbrook, Eagles
WR Randy Moss, Patriots
WR Plaxico Burress, Giants
TE Antonio Gates, Chargers
C Kevin Mawae, Titans
OG Shawn Andrews, Eagles
OG Logan Mankins, Patriots
OT Joe Thomas, Browns
OT Chad Clifton, Packers

Defense
DE Jared Allen, Chiefs
DE Ty Warren, Patriots
DT Kevin Williams, Vikings
DT Albert Haynesworth, Titans
OLB DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys
OLB Keith Bulluck, Titans
MLB Patrick Willis, 49ers
CB Asante Samuel, Patriots
CB Champ Bailey, Broncos
S Bob Sanders, Colts
S Sean Taylor, Redskins

Specialists
PK Kris Brown, Texans
P Shane Lechler, Raiders
PR Devin Hester, Bears
KR Leon Washington, Jets

Head coach
Mike McCarthy, Packers

For all the attention Chicago's Devin Hester gets, and deservedly so, Nate Burleson became the first player in NFL history to return three punts for 90+ yards in his career.

I got a call from David Locke last night just to catch up on what's happening. Our discussion inevitably led to the topic of Shaun Alexander, and he mentioned he had written a column about the topic after the Super Bowl, saying at the time he didn't think the Seahawks should sign him. I went back and read it. Here is that column.

Locked on Sports: Now we'll see the real Alexander

By DAVID LOCKE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I

It feels absurd to still have questions about a player who was named NFL MVP. Yet Shaun Alexander's performance continues to be one of the most highly debated topics in Seattle sports.

His dominance last season made most of the doubters into believers. However, now we will really find out about Alexander.

With a huge contract weighing down his bank account, what truly drives Alexander will finally come to the forefront.

=> Read more!

For those of you who thought Mike Holmgren calling a quarterback sneak for Matt Hasselbeck on fourth-and-inches in overtime would have been prudent, he said he did consider it. But, here is the explanation about why he went with a run to the left:

"This is going to sound kind of odd, but Matt (Hasselbeck) is not a great quarterback-sneaker. There are some guys who are very good at it, and have a knack for it. I think if you asked him he would say the same thing, so the other thing is, if you play a team, that in that situation, they had big defensive lineman, 335 pounds, big guys, if you get a big guy right on the centers nose, some people in that situation don’t cover the center, they did, and if that guy gets low, and gets right on the center, it used to happen to (Robbie) Tobeck too, on occasion, they can prevent the quarterback from moving any place. So there are teams that the sneak makes more sense for, I didn’t think that was a viable call (Sunday).”

On the Cleveland loss: “We had our chances, and we misfired in crucial situations, particularly in short-yardage situations on offense. And on defense we needed one stop, something at the end, and we couldn’t get it done."

=> Read more!

Holmgren said the injuries suffered Sunday don't appear to be serious. He said he expects RB Shaun Alexander, DE Patrick Kerney (oblique) and LB Leroy Hill (hamstring) to have a chance at playing against the San Francisco 49ers.

He also said he thinks WR Deion Branch and TE Marcus Pollard should return for Monday's game.

He added that Alexander, who suffered ankle and knee injuries, was pretty sore and probably would not practice much, if at all, this week. He said he does not have a hard-and-fast rule about how much a player needs to practice to be able to play, especially for someone who is a veteran.

Mike Holmgren just finished up with his press conference. Two things he said really jumped out at me.

Holmgren said based on what he saw against Cleveland with the success of the passing game, he's leaning on being more pass oriented that balanced with the running attack. He said the team's going to need to still run.

Also, he said he had a meeting today about Shaun Alexander's wrist and that Alexander will likely wear the cast for the rest of the season.

I'll add another post soon, but I wanted to get these out there.

The Seahawks released this message from the NFL today:

NFL Announces Time Change for Chicago Game
Kirkland, Wash. – The NFL announced this morning that Seattle’s original Sunday night game on November 18 vs. the Chicago Bears has moved to a 1:15 p.m. (PT) time slot. The game will be shown on FOX (channel 13 in Seattle).

Later that evening, the New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills will be televised on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Wow, not much to say about the loss. But it was frustrating to watch, particularly the short-yardage situations. It's gotten to the point, where you almost hope for an offsides penalty as the best chance for converting.

I don't know who the announcers were, but at this point I've come to realize there are so few good game announcers out there, it's useless to get frustrated.

Anyway, here's Frank's game story from today's paper. And here's Dave's column.

Shaun Alexander admits the Hawks' running game is broken. Bobby Engram is one player that is producing.

Let's go to the opponent's papers ...

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, here's the game story Former Brown Brian Russell felt the Hawks let one get away. The win brought tight end Kellen Winslow to tears. Here's the game notebook, leading with the fourth down stop.

Columnist Bud Shaw wrote about Jamaal Lewis and his four TD night.

Columnist Terry Pluto writes about the return of a home-field advantage to Cleveland.

From the Akron Beacon Journal, here's the game story. Here's another story on Lewis. Here's the game notebook.

Columnist Patrick McManamon writes that the Browns have finally become a team.

*Updates in progress**

As I sit here at the Cleveland airport with six hours to reflect since my last post, I have concluded that, yup, the running game is still broken. There was a point in yesterday's game where Boling and I looked at each other and said, "Why do they ever run? Just throw it every time."

=> Read more!

LB Andra Davis
(On the comeback) – “We never stopped. We are a team that always plays hard. We know we are always in the game with an offense like we have.”

(On the fourth down play in overtime) – “It was a good call. The coaching staff has us well prepared. Our players do a great job of focusing in critical situations. We knew if we got that stop in overtime, we were going to score.”

=> Read more!

(On getting used to winning) – “You better believe it. This feels good. Anytime you win it feels good, but I was impressed with the way the kids fought. They hung in there and just wouldn’t give up. They made enough plays to get ourselves into overtime so we had a chance to win the game. We came through when we needed to. That is a good staple when you see your guys fight. They kept fighting and gave us a chance.”

=> Read more!

LB Lofa Tatupu

(On Kellen Winslow) – “He’s out there like another receiver. I know he plays tight end, but he gets open, he has speed and he runs good routes. We had our hands full today.”

(On covering Kellen Winslow) – “We knew what we had to do on defense. We had people match up with him. Kellen [Winslow] knew that. We play the great tight ends like Tony Gonzalez. He’s up there with him. He’s a threat.”

FS Brian Russell

(On the defense giving up 21 points in the second half) – “I knew eventually those guys would come back. We are so focused on what we are doing and I am on what I had to do at free safety. I’m not looking for excuses. We just gave up too many points.”

(On Kellen Winslow getting open) – “I was in the deep part of the field today. I couldn’t see what was going on, but we didn’t do a good enough job on defending him.”

The ankle is feeling better. The knee is still a little sore.

What happened in the second half that you sat out? The pain never really got any better. I said can you all tell that I am even limping. They said no. And I said, ‘I need to win an Oscar.’ I jut kept on playing and then after a while Sammy said we need to stop this. If we wouldn’t have had a halftime, I think I would have been alright.

=> Read more!

This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in Monday's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune

CLEVELAND – With the way the Seattle Seahawks’ and Cleveland Browns’ offenses were moving the ball in the second half, it seemed apparent that whichever team won the coin toss in overtime was going to win the game.
Only, Seattle failed to consummate its portion of the assumption, getting stuffed on fourth-and-18 inches, giving up a huge play two snaps later and losing a 33-30 decision at Cleveland Browns Stadium on a 25-yard field goal by Phil Dawson.

=> Read more!

When he said go for it there, it makes you feel like he has a lot of confidence in what you are doing. We had a lot of confidence. It would have been a shame to walk off that field right there. He gave us the opportunity. That is all you can ask for. And we let him down. It is too bad. Hopefully he hasn't lost faith in us because we love going for it in situations like that. We just have to find a way to get it done.

=> Read more!

"We are not out there getting it done.. “We take the blame. That is the offensive line. No matter what the play is called, that is the offensive line. You want to be put in that situation. You are going to get to the point where the coach don’t trust you. That is the game. You have to go for it. And all we are doing is killing the trust of our coach."

"I think everybody is upset about the game and stuff. But these guys go out and fight every week. I will take them in battle every week. It is just tough. You got to overcome that and continue to keep working."

(Opening Statement) – “I give credit to Cleveland. Romeo (Crennel) and his staff did a nice job and they won a real close game. They are a very explosive offensive football team. The game was the type of game that I expected. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make that last fourth down, otherwise, maybe we would have had a crack at kicking the field goal. It is what it is.”

=> Read more!

There was a palpable sense of frustration and I would almost say embarrassment in the locker room, particularly from the offensive line, in light of their failure to get a half yard in overtime, which ended up costing them a chance at winning the game. They didn't really know what happened, waiting until they reviewed the film, but they all said not being able to get a half a yard is unacceptable, regardless of who is running the ball. Rob Sims said he hopes the film doesn't show getting stuffed was his fault, but if it was he will take the blame.

=> Read more!

Leroy Hill did in fact suffer a hamstring injury. His return is doubtful.

And Cleveland right guard Seth McKinney suffered a shoulder injury and is not returning.

Hill was getting stretched out, and he doesn't look like he is any hurry to return so it must be a hammy or something. Kevin Bentley is in for Hill. Wyms is in for Kerney at left end.

Meanwhile, Shaun Alexander is sitting on a stationary bike behind the training table, though he is not pedaling. He was not in on the last few plays of the last possession.

His return is probable.

Matt Hasselbeck just passed Jim Zorn to move behind only Dave Krieg on the Hawks' all-time passing list. He still is 6,000 yards behind Krieg.

After that drive, which ended with a Josh Brown FG, Hawks coach Mike Holmgren came over to line coach Bill Laveroni and had Laveroni show him some photos from the drive, during which there were several blocking breakdowns. Holmgren then said something to Sean Locklear before walking back to the sideline to manage the game. I have to think Holmgren is frustrated because they cannot seem to run with any consistency. Shaun Alexander has 30 yards on 13 rushes and Mo Morris has 19 yards on four rushes.

-- It was his 3rd career punt ret. TD, 2nd with Seattle (90 yards last year vs. StL 11/12/06)

-- It tied the longest punt return in team history (94 Charlie Rogers at Pitt 9/26/99)

-- It ties for most combined kick return TDs (punt/kick off) in a season (Joey Galloway 2 punt ret's in 1998)

-- He is now 2nd all time in combined kick returns with three (Galloway - 4 - all punt returns)

The Seahawks thus far look pretty impressive while leading the Cleveland Browns, 21-9, at halftime, though Cleveland's drive at the end of the first half can at least partially be pinned on a poor punt by Ryan Plackemeier, giving the Browns the ball on their own 44. Then, for whatever reason, the defense played soft and gave up a late FG. It could have been worse, but the defense stood from first and goal at the 2. The secondary has done a really nice job of containing both Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, and Derek Anderson does not appear to be able to get into a rhythm. He is 12 for 23 for 148 yards. Marcus Trufant, as he did against Chad Johnson, has been mirroring Edwards. The Seahawks' running game still has not gotten going, but Matt Hasselbeck looks pretty good, finding receivers, mostly Bobby Engram, and making good reads. You are kind of wondering why they are even messing with the run, given that Cleveland does not seem to be able to stop Hasselbeck and Co. Matt is 15-for-21 for 172 yards, two TDs and one INT. The TDs were to Engram and DJ Hackett, playing for the first time since the first game of the season. Nate Burleson had yet another impressive punt return, 94 yards for a touchdown, dodging and eluding an entire wave of defenders and then juking the punter. Shaun hurt his left leg but came back in, but he cannot find any room to run. The culprits to me appear to be Chris Spenver and Chris Sims, though Boling says Walter Jones has not been great either. They'll need to keep throwing in the second half because Cleveland is going to keep trying to go deep.

In case you didnt pick up on it, that thing Burleson did after his punt return was what Cavaliers star LeBron James does before games, when he puts talc on his hands.

That was Burleson's second punt return of the season for a TD. He also has a kickoff return for a TD.

That was the first punt return against Cleveland since Oct. 27, 2002, when Santana Moss had one.

If Shaun Alexander can't catch a pass because of his wrist, why is he in the game for those plays? He now has two drops. Matt Hasselbeck is 11-16 but should be 13-16.

Brian Russell was put back in the game .

Shaun Alexander is not in the game right now but he looks like he is loosening up and could go back in.

The missed extra point by Phil Dawson snapped a streak of 55 consecutive extra points made by him.

On the play where Derek Anderson threw to Lawrence Vickers, Brian Russell made the tackle and took a serious hit. He tried to get up too quickly and almost fell back down, then was escorted to the sideline, where he almost went down again. He is on the bench right now being tended to by four trainers. Mike Green is in the game for him.

Alexander is on the training table and they are working on his left ankle. It appears they are re-taping it, which would seem to indicate he will attempt to return if he can put weight on the left side. Remember, he already has a cast on his left wrist.

They took Shaun's left shoe off when he was on the training table. He is off and back on the bench, but has a noticeable limp. They just announced he has a left knee and ankle sprain and his return is questionable.

They are holding a towel up over the training table, but it appears they are checking Shaun's left leg.

I think he hurt himself on a block he threw on the pass to Bobby Engram two plays before the TD. I'll keep you updated.

Eight of the Seahawks' first 12 plays were intended to be pass plays, with one of them turning into the sack and penalty.

Mike Holmgren decided to start DJ Hackett instead of Nate Burleson. Burleson will probably play flanker when they go to the three-receiver set, with Bobby Engram sliding to the slot.

Coming into Cleveland Browns Stadium this afternoon stirred memories of the Seahawks' last trip here.

The thing that I remember most of that weekend was that I flew back out of Cleveland the following morning ... 9/10 2001. The morning after that, of course, many things changed.

It was a fairly new stadium back then. And it was more remarkable from a Seahawks' historical standpoint as Matt Hasselbeck's first NFL start.

=> Read more!

Kenny Wright
Ricardo Colclough
D'Qwell Jackson
Isaac Sowells
Nat Dorsey
Travis Wilson
Louis Leonard
Ken Dorsey

Shaun Smith will start for LE Orpheus Roye
Andra Davis will start at WLB for D'Qwell Jackson, with Leon Williams starting at MLB

CJ Wallace
Jason Babin
Mansfield Wrotto
Ray Willis
Deion Branch
Marcus Pollard
Howard Green
Charlie Frye

Bobby Engram will start for Deion Branch

It's a nice day here in Cleveland. No wind. About 50 degrees. No rain. Patches of blue sky. A good day for football. There are some players out on the field but I don't see Deion Branch out there yet.

Referee Gene Steratore
Umpire Carl Madsen
Head Linesman Paul Weidner
Line Judge Tom Barnes
Field Judge Doug Rosenbaum
Side judge Barry Anderson
Back judge Tony Steratore
Replay Al Hynes
Video Lou Nazzaro
Supervisor Johnny Grier

Ah, the joys of travel. Flight to Chicago canceled, rebooked through Portland to get into Cleveland 3 hours later than scheduled, then flight reinstated, though right on the cusp so I have to try to make it from Concourse C to F in Chicago in 5 minutes or I miss my connection. Ah well, I guess I could be leaving on a 10-day trip with the Sonics.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this game tomorrow against Cleveland to see what, if any, progress the Seahawks have made. It's interesting to listen to the national perspective of the Seahawks, who have been labeled for the most part as a middling team that doesn't scare anybody any more. I wonder if Shaun had not fumbled that ball in Arizona and they were 5-2 instead of 4-3 if the perception would be the same. Because I, like Mike Holmgren, still think they have not played their best football. I don't think they are 2005 level, but if they can get a little run going after this week, when they play five straight teams with losing records, who knows what that does for their confidence, and in the NFC that is everything at this point.

=> Read more!

Here is the Mike Holmgren quote I was talking about earlier, where he says the things he does should be taken at face value:

“It’s a big deal when you make changes, particularly at this part of the season, so if I talk about it I don’t do it causally, necessarily, and I don’t really have any real slick ulterior motives. It’s just trying to fix something or trying to look at something else that will help us get going. If it has an affect on the players, good. The bottom line is that we have to get the running game going. If we feel we have to try something we will.”

Mike Holmgren still has not completely ruled out the return of Deion Branch, though Branch did not practice on Friday. While the team was in the bubble, Branch was on an outside field doing some individual stretching drills. I can't see how he would play, but who knows? Holmgren said that if he does play, it would be on a limited basis.

=> Read more!

I misunderstood the Seahawks' practice schedule. They actually do have media availability this morning, only players are not available. Mike Holmgren however is available. So I'll be back with some notes from practice and some Holmgren postpractice comment, which my experience so far has been, "We had a good week of practice. I think we're ready."

Shaun held his weekly meeting with reporters after Thursday's practice. It was pretty brief. Here is what he had to say about the cracked bone in his wrist and the effects of his cast:

“We talk about it but it’s just one of those things, the wrist is feeling really good and now we just, I think we do x-rays again Monday and do all the scans and I think that we’ll all be totally surprised but now we’re kind of at the stage of when can I take the hits and bend backwards and things like that? As soon as we do that then we’ll be ready to go. I can’t do that with the cast. I’d have to wait until the cast is taken off. The cast is just too big. I’m always the person, we don’t cry over spilled milk. It just is what is. It’s definitely different and definitely difficult but we just have to go out there and play. Football, everybody has injuries and mine just is a bummer. You know what? We’re going to work hard and we’ll turn this thing around. It’s going to be really good.”

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

LB Kris Griffin (achilles')
LB D'Qwell Jackson (ankle)
WR Joe Jurevicius (other)
DT Louis Leonard (illness)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

CB Leigh Bodden (back)
FB Lawrence Vickers (concussion)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

Deion Branch
Marcus Pollard
Ray Willis

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

Rocky Bernard
Walter Jones
Sean Locklear

FULL PARTICIPATION

Shaun Alexander
Matt Hasselbeck
Darryl Tapp

Today was the last practice of the week that was available to the media. The Seahawks practice tomorrow morning and then depart for Cleveland in the afternoon.

This practice was more normal along the offensive front, although Prok Chop did step in for both Rob Sims and Chris Gray at the guard spots at times. My guess is that Mike Holmgren will keep the same line intact that he has used all along, but was using Chop to send a message to everybody that the status quo is unacceptable. We'll see on Sunday.

=> Read more!

For those of you interested in some of the odds on things around the league, these are courtesy of my friends at Bodog.com:

Patriots at Colts Odds

Odds to win the Super Bowl

Indianapolis / New England -700

Rest of the Teams +400

2008 Early Super Bowl XLII Line @ Glendale, AZ

NFC 12.5

AFC -12.5

2008 Early Super Bowl XLII Total @ Glendale, AZ

Over 53.5

Under 53.5

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Besides the obvious advice about tendencies of Cleveland players both on offense and defense, Brian Russell has told the Seahawks that the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium tends to get a little soft and torn up. Not quite like the field at Wembley Stadium but certainly not firm. "They have longer grass that gets torn up real fast, it’s right on Lake Erie, so if there is moisture the field gets torn to shreds, so you end up wearing these long spikes that I’m wearing here, in fact that’s why I’m breaking them in, so little things like that might help, might help our kickers and stuff," Russell said. "You don’t want to fall down against Braylon Edwards or Kellen Winslow, that’s and easy touchdown for them.”

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Brock and I got together during Wednesday's practice and discussed a number of topics regarding the Seahawks and this week's game against Cleveland. I think it's worth a listen.