As I was walking from the media center to the hotel for this 2 o clock online chat, I ran into Seahawks defensive end Darryl Tapp. He said he was in town to do a seminar on HIV and AIDS awareness. I asked him if he was staying for the Super Bowl and he said he was flying home right away. Flew in this morning, out this afternoon and to the Pro Bowl with teammates next week. He said he didn't want to be at the Super Bowl unless he was playing in it. He was bummed that they came so close, and said he knew right after they lost that Dallas was going to lose to New York, which made him second-guess even more because then the NFC championship game would have been at Qwest if they were able to get past Green Bay.

I am doing an online chat at 2 pm pacific, just go to the News Tribune Web site, www.thenewstribune.com, to take part.

This was the final day of player media availability, only Tom Coughlin and Bill Belicheck are available tomorrow. These 8 am press conferences are brutal because you have to get up at 5:30 to make it out to the teams' hotels. Not surprisingly, there were far fewer members of the media at the Patriots 8 o clock news conference than at New York's 10 o clock.

All the players at this point are ready to play the game. They seem weary of answering the same questions over and over, tired of preparing for what is going on two weeks, and you get the sense that they wish it would go straight to Sunday. There was a press conference a few minutes ago to name the GMAC defensive player of the year, and Patrick Kerney was one of the candidates. He was not at the press conference though so he did not win. I would have liked to catch up with him and ask him about his surgery.

I saw Matt Hasselbeck again and chatted with him. He is spending more time at the Media Center than I am. He said he has been working out down here with some of the guys who run the combine in Indianapolis trying to get prepared for the Pro Bowl. He leaves for that in a few days he said. He is not sticking around in Phoenix for the Super Bowl. He said his wrist is a little sore but otherwise his health is pretty good.

I caught up with Matt after the Pro Bowl press conference he did with Ben Roethlisberger and Larry Fitzgerald. It was funny because both Roethlisberger and Fitzgerald show up dressed very nicely, and Matt shows up in basketball shorts and a sweat top. He said he was late coming from the Jim Rome show and then got stuck in traffic. In any case, here is the transcript of the interview:

What are your thoughts about Jim Zorn leaving? "It was one of those things that was leaked out that he might be leaving. I didn’t think he would go but when he decided to go, I have been with him a long time and he has meant a lot to me. In the one sense I was happy for him, but it is a bit of a loss for us and for me."

=> Read more!

Last night's Media Party was fun, held at a place called Corona Ranch. One of the funnier things I have seen is Ravens offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden trying to ride a mechanical bull, then trying to rope a mechanical calf. The Gin Blossoms, from Tempe, ended the night with a concert, though you got the sense that they were not particularly happy to be playing before a sparse crowd who weren't exactly stage diving. I hung out with KJR's Mike Gastineau and his producer, Matt Muller.

This morning came early because the media sessions were in the morning out at the teams' respective hotels. More of the same questions, for the most part, not as maniacal a scene as yesterday's Media Day at the stadium. I give the players a lot of credit for having to answer the same things over and over and over again throughout the week. Downtown Phoenix, dead on Sunday and Monday, is starting to liven up as more and more people arrive in town for the weekend's festivities and the game.

Matt Hasselbeck is doing a press conference for the Pro Bowl in about an hour, so I am going to try to catch up with him afterward. I'll post some of his quotes from that interview on the blog afterwards.

This is the big day that you hear so much about because of a circus-like atmosphere and questions like the one to Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, "So, how long have you been a black quarterback."

The day started with a convoy of buses transporting the media from our downtown hotels to the stadium. I soon realized we were getting a police escort. They shut down the entire freeway for us, and we had policemen on motorcycles escorting us down the highway. Once they did open up the freeway, cars pulled up next to us and people were snapping pictures of us with their cell phones. I'm sure they thought we were the players and couldn't see us because of the tinted windowns. It's a pretty weird feeling.

=> Read more!

So far things in Phoenix have been pretty tame, but it is still early in the week. The only bizarre thing that has happened is that on the way to Patriots media availability yesterday, they shut down the entire freeway for about 25 minutes, a cop car doing circles across the four lanes to prevent cars from going past. It turns out it was just a two-car accident. As it turned out, the Patriots were late landing so it didn't cause us to miss anything but an odd start to the week nonetheless.

I just got back from the Giants media availability. They flew in today and went to their hotel in Chandler. It was not as nice as where the Patriots are staying, New England's place is PLUSH. The Giants were all wearing black as a sign of team unity. A couple members of the team have gotten the flu and the trainers are trying to ward off it spreading through the team.

=> Read more!

I was working out this morning watching the Worldwide Leader run its top 10 plays of the day -- and how Tiger's putt was No. 2 instead of No. 1 I'll never know -- and thought I'd do a Top 10 Seahawks Plays -- which, of course, are always subjective and debatable.

10) Rocky Bernard's sack of Alex Smith. (Not only did it establish the Seahawks as the team to beat in the NFC West, it essentially ended the Niners' season.)

9) Lofa Tatupu's third interception of A.J. Feeley in Philadelphia.

8)Matt Hasselbeck's 22-yard TD pass to Nate Burleson against Cincinnati with less than a minute remaining.

7)Matt Hasselbeck's long TD pass to Mo Morris in the season opener against Tampa Bay.

6)Nate Burleson's 90-yard punt return against St. Louis.

5)Nate Burleson's 94-yard punt return against Cleveland (after which he paid homage to LeBron James.)

4)Jordan Babineux's interception return against Washington.

3)Marcus Trufant's interception return against Washington.

2)The goal line stand against St. Louis that ended with Gus Frerotte fumbling the snap.

1) Matt Hasselbeck's touchdown pass to D.J. Hackett against Washington. (Given the point in the game, it was the play that turned around that game.)

Here is the link to the story I wrote about Greg Gadson, the soldier who was injured in Iraq and has become a source of inspiration for the New York Giants.

First off, it is absolutely dumping rain in Phoenix, something all the Patriots commented on, especially after they left their pep rally at their stadium this morning amid snow flurries and expected to arrive in warm weather in the desert. Their flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, which meant they were delayed to meet with the media.

After avoiding the media all week, quarterback Tom Brady was one of six Patriots players to be grilled on Sunday night. He said he will play in Sunday's game, no question. He said he hurt his ankle early in the third quarter of the game against the Chargers, when he was sacked, but that he knows enough to know that he will not be prevented from playing. His teammates already seem to be sick of the topic: "I don't know how many times we can say it: Tom is going to be there," Tedy Bruschi said. "To be commenting about how it feels for me to see him walking normally, it just doesn't make sense." Brady said he did not practice with his team last week but plans on trying to practice three days this week.

Everything else was pretty vanilla. The only controversial topic was the claim by the Giants that Matt Light is a dirty player. The Patriots basically said that football is a tough sport and sometimes you have to play tough.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin and six members of the Giants meet with the media tomorrow night, after they arrive. The rain is not suppose to abate until Tuesday. Somebody mentioned that it has rained for the first three days of the last four Super Bowls.

As was mentioned a few threads ago, it appears the Seahawks are not going to the UK next season for a game. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the Saints and Chargers will be the teams. Here is the link.

It dawned on me on the flight to Phoenix that my interview with Greg Gadson was not governed by the NFL restrictions. So I wanted to include it on the blog. Take a listen, he's a good guy and it's a good story. The sound quality at the start is not very good but it gets better about 30 seconds in.

I'm sitting here at the Alaska gate with my man Mike Sando waiting for our flight to Phoenix to cover Super Bowl week. I took yesterday off to spend some time with the family, but I will blog on what is happening as the week in Phoenix progresses.

Tonight, we meet with Patriots coach Bill Belicheck and six New England players. I also on the flight will write a story for tomorrow's paper that is a heartwarming piece that I ran across in Green Bay last week.

While I was interviewing Corey Webster, the D back who intercepted Favre, somebody asked if he kept the game ball. He said no, he had given it to a guy named Greg Gadson, a soldier who has served as an inspiration for the Giants. So I asked around and find out the story: Gadson was the former roommate of Giants wide receivers coach Mike Sullivan. They played together at Army, and played in the 1989 Sun Bowl together. Gadson goes to Iraq last year and gets his legs blown off by a homemade bomb in Baghdad. While he is recovering at Walter Reed hospital in DC, Sullivan asks him if he will come speak to the Giants when they are playing the Redskins. He didn't do the Win One for the Gipper speech, but talks so pointedly about how these young kids need to appreciate the lives they have and the opportunities presented to them that everybody says you could hear a pin drop. So the team asks him to come to Tampa Bay with them for their first playoff game. He does and they win. He couldn't go to Dallas because he was getting prosthetics, but he makes the trip to Green Bay last week as an honorary captain, gets the ball from Webster and was in the locker room after the game. Now he is headed to the Super Bowl with the team. As I was interviewing him, player after player came up and hugged him on the way out of the locker room. He has really connected with Plaxico Burress because they grew up in the same area, and he offers Burress advice on life issues now. It's a really good story and I'm sure one of the networks will pick up on it this week. Very little goes uncovered at this event. But I wanted to write it now to kick off the week. I'll provide a link to it tomorrow.

Jim Zorn, one of nine Seahawks players in the team's ring of honor at Qwest Field, will leave the Seahawks to become the offensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins, according to Internet reports.

Zorn, 54, was the Seahawks starting quarterback in the franchise's debut season in 1976. He played nine years and then became the quarterbacks coach in 2001 after a three-year stint as the Detroit Lions quarterback coach.

Zorn interviewed with the Redskins this week and got the job despite the team having not named a replacement for head coach Joe Gibbs, who retired after the Redskins' playoff loss to Seattle. Zorn's deal is reportedly for three years.

Zorn is the latest coach to leave Mike Holmgren's staff. Holmgren announced the 2008 season will be his last. Already, receivers caoch Nolan Cromwell and quality control coach Gary Reynolds have left for jobs at Texas A&M. Offensive line coach Bill Laveroni was fired and replaced by Mike Solari.

This is a look at the Seahawks' last five drafts: (And for whatever reason, I can't get the columns to line up so you are going to have to bear with it until I can read my Excel for Dummies Book. Just look at each column vertically, in 2003 the Seahawks had nine picks, two of which are now starters, one is a backup, two play for other teams and four are out of the NFL.)

(For a place to officially put people, if a player is on a practice squad somewhere, we listed him as Out of League; also, a player like Marcus Tubbs I listed as a starter because that was what he was before he got injured.)

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Totals

TOTAL PICKS 9 7 9 7 8 40
STARTERS 2 4 3 4 2 15
BACKUPS 1 1 1 3 4 10
OTHER TEAMS 2 2 1 0 0 5
OUT OF NFL 4 0 4 0 2 10

2003
Marcus Trufant
Ken Hamlin
Wayne Hunter
Seneca Wallace
Solomon Bates
Chris Davis
Rashard Moore
Josh Brown
Taco Wallace

2004
Marcus Tubbs
Michael Boulware
Sean Locklear
Niko Koutouvides
DJ Hackett
Craig Terrill
Donnie Jones

2005
Chris Spencer
Lofa Tatupu
David Greene
LeRoy Hill
Ray Willis
Jeb Huckeba
Cornelius Wortham
Doug Nienhuis

2006
Kelly Jennings
Darryl Tapp
Rob Sims
David Kirtman
Mike Green
Ryan Plackemeier
Ben Obomanu

2007
Josh Wilson
Brandon Mebane
Baraka Atkins
Masnfield Wrotto
Will Herring
Courtney Taylor
Jordan Kent
Steve Vallos

The Washington Post's latest story says that it looks like Seahawks quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn is staying in Seattle. It doesn't give much detail beyond that, but the Redskins coaching search sounds like a mess.

The Seattle Seahawks have named Mike Solari offensive line coach, the team announced Thursday.

Solari spent the past 11 seasons with Kansas City Chiefs, including the last two as their offensive coordinator. He was one of just six assistant coaches in team history with more than a decade of service with the Chiefs.

Interestingly, Solari was preceded at Kansas City by Al Saunders, whose job Jim Zorn now may be taking in Washington. Solari was fired after this season by the Chiefs and replaced by Chan Gailey.

Prior to his role as offensive coordinator, he spent nine years as the team’s offensive line coach. Since 2001, Kansas City’s rush offense finished in the top-10 five out of seven years.

A graduate of San Diego State University, Solari spent five seasons (1992-96) as the tight ends/assistant offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Chiefs.

Somebody asked in the last post what the offensive coordinator's duty is under Mike Holmgren. Holmgren has cut back on his time in the office so that he can spend more time with his family. Believe me, this doesn't mean that he works six-hour days. I think his days are more like 10 hours, from like 9 or 9:30 to 7. But Gil Haskell works the really long days, coordinating everything for Holmgren, setting up what needs to be done before Holmgren gets into the office. He also assists Holmgren on play-calling and putting together the game plan, then is up in the box during the game talking almost exclusively to Holmgren during the game. Hasselbeck talks to Zorn.

As always, these are courtesy of Bodog.

Match-up – Eli Manning Super Bowl XLII vs. Peyton Manning Super Bowl XLI

Most Passing Yards

Eli Manning -115

Peyton Manning -115

(Note: Peyton had 247 Passing Yards)

Most Pass Completions

Eli Manning in Super Bowl XLII vs. Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLI

Eli Manning +2 -130

Peyton Manning -2 Even

(Note: Peyton had 25 Pass Completions)

=> Read more!

Here is a link to today's Washington Post story regarding the Redskins' pursuit of Jim Zorn. The story says Zorn headed back to Mobile, Ala. to be with Tim Ruskell after interviewing with the Skins. ESPN however is reporting that the Redskins are not expected to name a coach until after the Super Bowl because they want to interview some of the assistants on the two teams in the game. There is speculation all over the internet that the Seahawks are going to promise Zorn the Seahawks' offensive coordinator job next season in order to keep him around.

Here is a new link from the Washington Post that updates that Jim Zorn situation. It says Jim Fassel is about to be named the Redskins' new coach and that Zorn is the front-runner to become his offensive coordinator. I know that Mike Holmgren and Fassel have a pretty close relationship, so I can't imagine that Holmgren would be too pleased if Fassel stole Zorn from his staff.

I have talked to most of the agents of the Seahawks' free agents, and from everything I can tell general manager Tim Ruskell has not yet contacted them about talking about contract extensions. From the agents with whom I spoke, they were assuming that Ruskell was waiting to hear about the decision of Mike Holmgren before he starts negotiations with anybody.

Also, there was a question earlier in the day about what Holmgren's status means for the hiring of new coaches. I was wondering the same thing myself this morning because if Holmgren is definitely out after one year, and Mora replaces him, does that mean there is continuity in the coaching staff or will Mora want to bring in his own people. I suspect a little of both -- and I would think that whomever the new offensive line coach is needs some assurance that he will be here longer than a year. Some of that also probably depends on the success the team has next year. If they are good, it may not make sense for Mora to replace his staff. But if they have a poor season, it would only be reasonable that he would want to bring in some of his own folks with whom he would be more comfortable.

According to the Washington Post, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder flew Seahawks quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn from Mobile, Ala., site of the Senior Bowl, to D.C. to interview for the team's offensive coordinator position. Here is a link to The Post blog.

This is the last year that Mike Holmgren will be coaching the Seahawks, he said at his press conference announcing that he is coming back. Now, there seems to be some confusion about what exactly that means because he said that what he said last week about possibly wanting an extension was misconstrued. He said that it was always only option A (staying) or option B (retiring), and option C (staying for a longer period) was never an option. That is not what he said last week. He clearly said that something longer was a possibility. But he said on Tuesday that, despite reports over the weekend, there was never a conversation with the organization regarding an extension. Regardless of the details of that, the bottom line is that he is coaching the last year of his contract for the Seahawks. He did not answer the question about whether Jim Mora was his replacement, saying that is a question for another person at another press conference. He also said he did not think it was appropriate for him to recommend his replacement.

=> Read more!

Frank reports from the road that Mike Holmgren has scheduled a press conference for this afternoon to announce his decision to return as coach of the Seahawks. More to come.

I know everybody is waiting anxiously for an update on Mike Holmgren and his status regarding retirement or coming back. There should -- and I stress "should" -- be some sort of announcement by 2 or 3 this afternoon, I am told, but that is not a guarantee. I have calls in to Mike's agent, though those have not yet been returned. I will let you know something as soon as I know something.

I spent most of yesterday either on a snowy runway in Milwaukee or in the air on the way back from the Midwest, so I didn't hear this interview until this morning. But this is a link to Shaun Alexander's interview on KJR yesterday. It is interesting in that he still obviously thinks he is an elite back in the NFL. He says he thinks he will be back next year, he says he doesn't think the Seahawks will ask him to restructure his contract because they are "too classy" and he said he doesn't think the team is going to use a high draft pick on a running back, among other things. Take a listen.

There is a story on ESPN.com that says the Seahawks are one of four teams being considered to play in the UK next year. I confirmed it with a league official. The other teams are Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Kansas City. The league hopes to have a decision by the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay is the only team on that list on the Seahawks' schedule next season. Keep in mind, Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer also owns the Manchester United soccer team, so there is a chance the game could be in Manchester. The other thing that I find of interest is that the story also talks about Buffalo getting a game in Toronto to strengthen its Canadian fan base. Seattle has a game in Buffalo next season.

You have not experienced cold until you take a crack at 13 below with the wind chill, which it is right now at Lambeau. I don't have any idea how the players can play in this. In the few minutes I had to take off my glove to get out my ID to procure my credential, I couldn't really move my fingers. Unbelievable. I rode the elevator up with an oldster who was telling the story about how he was here for the Ice Bowl 40 years ago, and somehow he got down on the field and they didn't boot him off so he was standing near Lombardi the entire game. That's his story, anyway, and he's sticking to it. He said that today's conditions are just about the same as that game way back when, which ended with Bart Starr sneaking in from the 1. There was an interesting story in the Milwaukee paper today about the guy who took that picture of Starr laying across the goal line. Apparently, it was taken by a 16-year-old kid who is now a photographer at SI. He was working with his Dad, who was a newspaper photog, and at the end of the game he told his son to take a picture if anybody scores, he was going over to the Packers sideline to get a shot of Lombardi if the Packers won the game. The father said he got a photo of Lombardi's back while his son took one of the most famous pictures in NFL history.

=> Read more!

TE Zac Alcorn (ended '07 season on Chiefs practice squad)
C Nick Jones (released by Giants 8/28)
C Chris White (released by Eagles 8/28)
DT Jonathan Lewis (ended '07 season on Raiders practice squad)
LS Tim Lindsey (released by Falcons 6/22)
OG Pat Murray (released by Packers 8/27).
RB Dan Curran (New Hampshire).

PRACTICE SQUAD GUYS

CB Omowale Dada
LB Cameron Jensen
WR Jordan Kent
TE Joe Newton
DE Nu'u Tafisi
DT Kelly Talavou
OG Steve Vallos
OT Kyle Williams

I'm flying to Green Bay for most of the day.

“I want to thank the Redskins organization and owner Daniel Snyder for the opportunity to interview for the head coaching position. The process reconfirmed that the quality of life for my family in Seattle is my first priority. This past year has been a great experience both professionally and personally for myself, my wife Shannon, and our kids. We are very happy members of this community and the Seattle Seahawks organization.” -- Jim Mora

I am told that Seahawks assistant Jim Mora has withdrawn his name from the race for the Redskins vacancy. Not sure entirely what that means, though it could mean that he knew he was not going to get the job so he pre-empted any announcement from Washington by bailing out in a timely fashion. I'm sure there are other conclusions to which people will immediately jump, as well.

Also, the Seahawks are going to announce on Tuesday (MLK holiday is Monday) a list of between 10-20 free agents that they have signed to future contracts, including some or all of their own practice squad players. Presumably that list will include Zac Alcorn, the tight end mentioned in an earlier post.

There is a story in a paper called the Black Hills Pioneer that reported that the Seahawks signed a tight end named Zac Alcorn to a two-year contract on Monday. I have a call in to the Seahawks to clarify.

Apparently, Jim Mora had a pretty impressive showing with Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and is being seriously considered for the Washington head coaching job. One person I spoke with back there said he thinks Mora may be the front-runner; since Gregg Williams has interviewed four times, the person thought, he must not have been that impressive, and there may be some internal friction regarding decision-making.

However, there was one other person quoted in the story that I linked to above that thinks Mora's impressive interview was predictable, but still is not suited for the job.

"Mora will give you a great interview," said one NFL executive who previously took part in a head coaching interview with him. "He's bright and engaging and he's incredibly prepared. I could definitely see him charming Snyder, there's no doubt in my mind about that. But he's also a little bit out there, with what he says and does sometimes. I'm not sure how you can sit there as an owner and talk about stability, stability, stability and then hire Jim Mora, but I can see why Snyder would be attracted to him."

Player Procedure MD

Shaun Alexander Left Wrist Dr. Ed Khalfayan/Dr. Carleton Keck

Baraka Atkins Left Wrist Dr. Carleton Keck

Will Herring Arthroscopic – Right Knee Dr. Ed Khalfayan

Josh Scobey Left Lower Leg Dr. Ed Khalfayan/Dr. Lawrence Holland

Floyd Womack Right Biceps Dr. Ed Khalfayan/Dr. Lawrence Holland

Ray Willis Arthroscopic – Left Knee Dr. James Andrews (Birmingham, Ala.)

Additionally, Chris Spencer will undergo shoulder surgery and reconstructive thumb surgery on Friday. Shoulder surgeries will also be performed next week on Patrick Kerney and Walter Jones. Deion Branch will undergo knee surgery in the near future.

Frank called and asked me to point this out:

Mike Holmgren talked with Mitch in the Morning on KJR this morning. Listen to the interview.

There is a story in the Philadelphia Daily News that says Hawks Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney is going to miss the Pro Bowl to have surgery. Here is the link. . The Seahawks have confirmed the details of the story. Mike Holmgren did not mention this in his postseason press conference the other day. The story says Trent Cole will replace Kerney on the Pro Bowl roster.

Mike Holmgren was on KJR radio this morning with Mitch Levy in what I thought was a very informative interview. The thing about a forum like that as opposed to the free-for-all that is Holmgren's Wednesday press conference is that in a one-on-one setting, you can lead Holmgren down a certain path and stay on topic. At his press conference, just when you get him on a certain track, somebody else jumps in with their own question and the conversation veers elsewhere.

Having said that, the biggest news that came out of that interview was that Holmgren said the Seahawks are going to have to concentrate on their own free agents, Marcus Trufant, Josh Brown and Sean Locklear, which will preclude them from going after big-name, big-money guys like Alan Faneca. He said they will still be in the free agent market, but not in the same fashion they were last year with Kerney, Grant and Russell. They will have to take second-tier guys, as they have done in years past. I would say he did not sound overly optimistic about re-signing D.J. Hackett, though he didn't rule it out. He also said placing Deion Branch on injured reserve next year is a possibility, depending on how Branch rehabs from his surgery.

=> Read more!

Here is the link from the Washington Post regarding Jim Mora's interview with the Redskins. Though Mike Holmgren said Mora was leaving today for the interview, this story says Mora interviewed yesterday with Daniel Synder. Gregg Williams still is apparently the front-runner for the job, based on Snyder's assertion that continuity was a key in the wake of Joe Gibbs' retirement.

Since it's the offseason, let's start breaking down the team piece-by-piece. We'll try to do a different installment each day, time permitting. This is my first offseason, so I am still getting a handle on the free agency aspect of the beat. I will post as much stuff as I can as it becomes available, and as I speak to various agents and contacts throughout the league. But I'm throwing the disclaimer out there that this is an entirely different animal.

THE QUARTERBACKS

When I look at the draft and listen to Mike Holmgren, one of the first thoughts I had was do the Seahawks need to take a quarterback somewhere in this draft and start developing him for the time when Matt Hasselbeck no longer is able to carry this team. It's sort of like the economy: When things are going really well, why don't people/companies/organizations sock away some savings for when times get hard? Yes, things are gravy right now with Seattle's quarterback position, and they have a viable backup. But do the Seahawks want to become the 49ers and when Matt Hasselbeck, 32, isn't in his prime any more, do they want to start over or do they want to try to make a seamless transition to the next QB? I think most people agree that while Seneca Wallace is a talented backup, he is probably not ready to step in as a full-time starter the way maybe Aaron Rodgers is in Green Bay once Brett Favre leaves. And Charlie Frye, while a nice insurance policy, is not that player, either. Of course, one of the Seahawks' coaches told me this year that the most important room in any organization is the draft room. If you mess that up, you screw yourself for a long time. If you make good choices, you can sustain a good organization for a long time. That being said, with draft picks so valuable, and the offense needing an overhaul, can the Seahawks afford to use a pick to take a QB who will not see significant time anytime soon? Hasselbeck was a sixth-round pick and took, what, four or five years to develop, including a full year on the Packers' practice squad? Is there a Hasselbeck out there this year that can be taken late and given time to develop? And if there is, can the Seahawks afford to take him and put him on the roster, even if that means four QBs would be on the roster? Furthermore, how much longer will Hassebeck be in his prime? Most people look at Favre this year and think that he skews everybody's opinion because everybody thinks, "What if my guy can play til he's 38?" That, to me, is wishful thinking. Matt played 16 games this year, but that too is probably an aberration. So let's say realistically he will be able to play at a high level until he is 35 or 36. You take a young guy now, let him be tutored under Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace -- and hopefully Jim Zorn and Mike Holmgren -- in four years he is 25 or 26 and ready to step in for Hasselbeck once Hasselbeck no longer is able to play at the level he is playing now. That is looking way ahead, but Tim Ruskell's job is to project ahead if he wants to maintain a certain level of excellence.

Mike Holmgren spoke for about 40 minutes, mostly about his decision to retire. The biggest news out of that is that he said that not only is he open to retiring or coming back, but that he would be open to an extension as well -- though he did say that there are other people (Paul Allen) involved in that decision as well.

Deion Branch did tear his ACL. He will have surgery done by Dr. James Andrews in the next few days and will not be back probably for 9 months, but will not be completely right for a year.

=> Read more!

• Cris Carter – Wide Receiver – 1987-89 Philadelphia Eagles, 1990-2001 Minnesota Vikings, 2002 Miami Dolphins

• Fred Dean – Defensive End – 1975-1981 San Diego Chargers, 1981-85 San Francisco 49ers

• Richard Dent – Defensive End – 1983-1993, 1995 Chicago Bears, 1994 San Francisco 49ers, 1996 Indianapolis Colts, 1997 Philadelphia Eagles

• Marshall Goldberg – Back – 1939-1943, 1946-48 Chicago Cardinals

• Randy Gradishar – Linebacker – 1974-1983 Denver Broncos

• Darrell Green – Cornerback – 1983-2002 Washington Redskins

• Russ Grimm – Guard – 1981-1991 Washington Redskins

• Ray Guy – Punter – 1973-1986 Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders

• Bob Kuechenberg – Guard – 1970-1984 Miami Dolphins

• Randall McDaniel – Guard – 1988-1999 Minnesota Vikings, 2000-2001 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Art Monk – Wide Receiver – 1980-1993 Washington Redskins, 1994 New York Jets, 1995 Philadelphia Eagles

• Andre Reed – Wide Receiver – 1985-1999 Buffalo Bills, 2000 Washington Redskins

• Paul Tagliabue – Commissioner – 1989-2006 National Football League

• Derrick Thomas – Linebacker – 1989-1999 Kansas City Chiefs

• Emmitt Thomas – Cornerback – 1966-1978 Kansas City Chiefs

• Andre Tippett – Linebacker – 1982-1993 New England Patriots

• Gary Zimmerman – Tackle – 1986-1992 Minnesota Vikings, 1993-97 Denver Broncos

Remember, Mike Holmgren's postseason press conference is at 3 today. I will post details immediately after.

As always, these are from Bodog:

Will Mike Holmgren return as head coach of the Seahawks for 2008?

Yes -140

No Even

Who will be the starting Running Back for Game 1 of the 2008 Season?

Shaun Alexander 1/2

Maurice Morris 5/4

Other 9/5

=> Read more!

The Seahawks' secondary coach is a candidate for the vacancy left open by the retirement of Joe Gibbs, according to an Associated Press report out of Washington. Here is a link to the story, which also lists the other candidates.

The Seahawks say they are not going to release Deion Branch's injury until Holmgren's press conference tomorrow. I spoke to his agent, Jason Chayut, who said they are seeking a second opinion on the injury. When I asked him what the injury was, he declined to say. That, to me, does not sound good. A few people I spoke with who saw him grab his knee said the way he grabbed it was indicative of an ACL injury. I have a few other calls out and will update that if the information becomes available. If it actually is that serious, it could affect the way the Seahawks now view D.J. Hackett and his free-agent status. While he may not have been as valuable before, if Branch is not going to be completely right for a year -- which would be the case if it is an ACL -- Hackett's value may have just increased.

Before the playoffs continue on to the conference championships, NFL Replay will highlight all four divisional playoff games of this past weekend exclusively on NFL Network. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008:

5:00 PM ET: Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots

6:30 PM ET: Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers

Wednesday, January 16, 2008:

5:00 PM ET: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys

6:30 PM ET: San Diego Chargers at Indianapolis Colts

Mike Holmgren is not going to hold his press conference today but is going to wait until 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. I don't suspect he is going to announce anything about his immediate future at the press conference. I think it will be more of a postmortem on the season, his thoughts on the season, his thoughts on where the team currently stands regarding its ability to get back to the Super Bowl with its current core group of players.

=> Read more!

Here's an unofficial list that I pulled from the Internet of upcoming free agents. I haven't been able to go through and find out who has re-signed for some of these players. It's grouped by position. And as I said earlier it's unofficial so there may be people missing like Jeff Robinson.

QUARTERBACK

Pos 	Player 	     FA Status 	Current Team

QB 	Marc Bulger 	UFA 	St. Louis Rams 	 

QB 	Todd Collins 	UFA 	Washington Redskins 	 

QB 	Cullen Finnerty ERFA 	Baltimore Ravens 	 

QB 	Ryan Fitzpatrick RFA 	Cincinnati Bengals 	 

QB 	Rex Grossman 	UFA 	Chicago Bears 	 

QB 	Tim Hasselbeck 	UFA 	Arizona Cardinals 	 

QB 	Drew Henson 	UFA 	Minnesota Vikings 	 

QB 	Sam Hollenbach 	UFA 	Washington Redskins 	 

QB 	Cleo Lemon 	UFA 	Miami Dolphins 	 

QB 	Jared Lorenzen 	UFA 	New York Giants 	 

QB 	Jamie Martin 	UFA 	New Orleans Saints 	 

QB 	Josh McCown 	UFA 	Oakland Raiders 	 

QB 	Craig Ochs 	RFA 	Buffalo Bills 	 

QB 	Dan Orlovsky 	RFA 	Detroit Lions 	 

QB 	Jake Plummer 	UFA 	Tampa Bay Buccaneers 	 

QB 	Tim Rattay 	UFA 	Arizona Cardinals 	 

QB 	Chris Redman 	UFA 	Atlanta Falcons 	 

QB 	Tony Romo 	UFA 	Dallas Cowboys 	 

QB 	Jim Sorgi 	UFA 	Indianapolis Colts 	 

QB 	Brian St. Pierre UFA 	Pittsburgh Steelers 	 

=> Read more!
				

Here's a list of the Hawks who will be free agents if not signed by March 1.

Unrestricted free agents
LB Kevin Bentley
PK Josh Brown
DT Chuck Darby
WR D.J. Hackett
TE Bennie Joppru
ILB Niko Koutouvides
OT Sean Locklear
TE Marcus Pollard
CB Marcus Trufant
OG Floyd Womack
DT Ellis Wyms

Restricted Free agents
RB Alvin Pearman
FB Leonard Weaver.

While Frank, Darrin and Dave enjoy their flight back home. I'm up in Kirkland to meet with some players as they clean out their lockers.

I talked with most of the prospective free agents for next season, and most said basically the same thing — that it's the business side of football and would like to come back, but also have to look at what's best for their them and their families.

Josh Brown called the whole process "frustrating" and a "war of communication." After being saddled with the franchise tag this season, Brown said he was comfortable with having the franchise tag placed on him again. Because "it's guaranteed money" and as a kicker probably more than he would normally make per year in a multi-year contract.

DJ Hackett admitted that playing in just seven games because of his nagging ankle injury probably hurt him a little in terms of free agent offers. But his big game against the Redskins may have helped. "It never hurts to play well on national TV."

Hackett, who fought his way up the receiving ladder, did say the prospect of signing a bigger free agent contract is what every athlete hopes for. "It's what you work for. You want to be able to set your family up."

Marcus Trufant said that the Seahawks have had a few "little talks" about his contract, and said "I would like to already have it done."

Sean Locklear said he hopes to stay with the Seahawks. And thought the possibility of resigining before the March 1 deadline was real. "I like this organization, and I think they like have I've done here."

The results of Deion Branch's MRI haven't made available. The Seahawks media department figured they would have an update on his status sometime on Monday or Tuesday.

I emailed Jon Fox, Warren Moon's attorney, about a week ago to ask him about Warren's recent arrest on suspicion of DUI. Fox recently got back to me. Here was a statement he released:

"At this point our firm is investigating the facts of Mr. Moon's case. We believe that Mr. Moon had a valid license at the time of this incident and that there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Moon for any crime, including DUI. Mr. Moon is cooperating fully with our
investigation. We ask the public not to judge this case based upon headlines. In our system of justice, Mr. Moon is entitled to the same presumption of innocence afforded to all citizens."

(on whether he’d rather play at home next week) “We’d love to play at home. I think that goes for every person in this building, but we’ve got to win the next game whether it’s here, whether it’s at Dallas. We haven’t had a whole lot of success in Dallas. I’m well aware of that, but I’m just pleased that we won this game and gave ourselves an opportunity.”

=> Read more!

(on the defense ending their season by giving up 42 points) “It is extremely frustrating to end the year like this because it is way out of character for us. We went out there and stunk it up today. Green Bay executed well and we didn’t. This will stick in our craw all off-season and it will be a big motivator for us to get better.”

(on what Green Bay did to protect Favre so well) ”They kept a lot of guys in and that was probably a smart move on their part. Our pass rush has been good all year. Favre bought some extra time and he was able to find guys on some key third down conversions. They protected well and we didn’t play well enough.”

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

By FRANK HUGHES
Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Seattle Seahawks’ lofty aspirations of returning to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years came crumbling apart on a classic Midwest afternoon, driving snow and quarterback Brett Favre two forces of nature with which the Seahawks ultimately could not contend.
With first-year running back Ryan Grant atoning for two early fumbles with 201 yards and three touchdowns, and Favre throwing for another three scores, the Seahawks were sent into an offseason of uncertainty with a humbling 42-20 loss at Lambeau Field.

=> Read more!

(on how quickly they overcame 14 point deficit and scored six straight touchdowns) “Number one, I thought Brett (Favre) was extremely sharp. He did a great job of keeping us in favorable plays, particularly in the sub groups. (He) threw the ball very well. When we got behind 14-0 I was concerned that the weather was going to turn bad because there were some things in the passing game that we wanted to get to and we were able to accomplish that. The line of scrimmage, I felt like we controlled that on both sides throughout the contest and Ryan Grant had a big day after a tough start. I can’t say enough about the performances. That’s the performance you’re looking for and our guys definitely stepped up.”

=> Read more!

(on if the snow impacted his vision) ”Absolutely. It was tough to see people. That was crazy weather out there, but they were playing in the same conditions and they handled it pretty well.”

(on the loss) ”It stings quite a bit right now. We are just scratching our heads on a couple of things. Whatever team you are on and you don’t win the Super Bowl, it is tough. It is a real hollow feeling.”

(on if he was frustrated by some of the dropped passes) ”It is tough, but that’s a cycle thing. There are guys I am sure that are harping when I miss them from time to time. Another thing that we have done well this year is to never point the finger and we just stay positive. We all know what needs to happen to get better.”

(on the key to the game) “Brett (Favre) had a good game, but I think the key to the game was their rushing. Passing yards were pretty close, but they ran the ball very well and to me that was the difference.”

(on being up 14-0 after four minutes) ”We were up 14 and we were thinking that it couldn’t be any better, but then Green Bay settled in and responded beautifully, and then we just could not stop them. We couldn’t stop them today very well.”

=> Read more!

"I was on the edge at that time and Mebane actually had a good grip on him. I had a guy on me. We could have sworn he had him down. For some reason he stayed on his feet. Who knows how? But he just made a spectacular play. That is Brett. He is one of the greatest out there."

Holmgren said that he was going to have meetings with his coaching staff and players tomorrow, meet with the media either Monday or Tuesday, and then take off with his wife and debate his future. He was noncommital about which way he was leaning, saying he needed to get away from it for a while to make a clear-headed decision.

Matt Hasselbeck said he was not really worried about Holmgren's future. Not because he has any inside information but because it is something that is out of his control.

Holmgren basically said that Marcus Pollard was gone. I think his quote was, "We need to either upgrade or develop the position. The position had a tough day." He also said that there are some aging vets on the team that they need to make a decision about. I'm guessing that means Chris Gray, but Holmgren was not specific.

DJ Hackett said he was looking forward to free agency but hasn't thought about it up to this point. Marcus Trufant didn't commit to anything, saying that it is a business and wants everything to work out for the best. Trufant clearly wants a top-dollar contract and will come back if the Seahawks give it to him but will not give them a hometown discount.

Shaun Alexander spoke like he was coming back, saying one of the things that will make the running game better is for him not to get hurt in the first game of the year.

First of all, Deion Branch has what Mike Holmgren said he thinks he is a pretty serious knee injury. He will have an MRI tomorrow and then go from there, depending on the outcome. Also, Josh Scobey broke his fibular and will have to have surgery to repair it. As John Clayton pointed out to me, both injuries happened on or around the 19-yard line.

The postgame locker room had this feel: We're diappointed, but we just got smacked by a better team. Hats off to the Packers for playing a really good football game.

=> Read more!

There are some stories of some far-flung Seahawks fans over at the Word on the Street blog

I am heading down to the field now, but the Seahawks clearly are going to be eliminated from the postseason, trailing 42-20 as I write. I will come back up with postgame stuff. A disappointing loss, but let's keep the discussion to football within the parameters of what is allowed on the blog. Management thanks you.

The Seahawks finally stopped the Packers from scoring a TD, but Leroy Hill was called for a roughing the passer penalty, extending the drive and allowing Ryan Grant to go in from the 1, his third TD of the day. Green Bay leads 42-20. The 42 points is a single-game Packers record and Grant's yardage and TDs are team records in the postseason.

The Seahawks scored on a 27-yard field goal, but they have to feel like they left four points behind. Marcus Pollard let a sure TD pass go right through his hands in the back corner of the end zone. Green Bay leads 35-20, and the snow is dumping unbelievably hard here. It is truly incredible. It feels like being inside a snow globe. It's difficult to even see clearly down to the field. Remember on Wednesday when Mike Holmgren said, "The weather absolutely will not play a factor in this game."

Seattle's defense still can't figure out how to stop Green Bay's potent offense, Brett Favre throwing his third TD pass of the game, a 13-yarder to RB Brandon Jackson out of the backfield. Green Bay holds a 35-17 lead with 10:25 left in the third quarter.

Talk about an emotional swing. The Seahawks jump out to a 14-0 lead after two quick fumbles by Ryan Grant, and you immediately start thinking about Dallas. But when the Packers have been able to hold onto the ball, Seattle's defense has been unable to stop them, the reason Green Bay holds a 28-17 halftime lead. Brett Favre is sharp, the wide receivers are elusive, even moreso with the snowy field conditions. The Seahawks have been unable to get any pressure whatsoever on Favre. You probably can't see it on TV, but Patrick Kerney is either double- or triple-teamed on every play. Mark Tauscher is doing a nice job on him. Julian Peterson nearly had a sack and missed him, as did Brandon Mebane. Both misses were costly. The Seahawks are still in the game, but they have to stop making mistakes on offense, like fumbling the ball or dropping passes, and they have to figure out how to stop Favre on defense.

Packers running back Ryan Grant ran in from 3 yards out with 26 seconds left to give the Packers a 28-17 lead. Brett Favre made an incredible play just before the TD, avoiding getting dragged down by Brandon Mebane and flipping an underhanded pass to Donald Lee just as he was about to fall down. Lee got to the 3, setting up the score.

The Seahawks had to settle for a 29-yard field goal after D.J. Hackett dropped a slant pass on the 4-yard line that likely would have kept alive a drive. The score is 21-17, with 7:18 left in the half. The conditions on the field are slippery, and players are having a hard time hanging onto the ball. There already have been four fumbles, three lost. Seattle's defense needs a stand before the end of the half to go into the locker room with some confidence.

Brett Favre hit Greg Jennings for his second TD catch of the day, beating Jordan Babineaux. The defense has been unable to stop the Packers so far, other than Ryan Grant's two fumbles.

After a Rob Sims holding call put the Seahawks in a second and 19, Matt Hasselbeck's short pass to Marcus Pollard was fumbled after a hit by Atari Bigby.

The 28 points in the first quarter ties the 28 points scored in the Oakland-Houston postseason game in 1969.

Ryan Grant scored from 1 yard out to tie the score at 14 with 1:02 left in the first quarter. Grant had runs of 26 yards and 15 yards on the nine-play drive.

The 72,168 fans on hand is the largest crowd ever to see a game at Lambeau.

From the press box at least, the visibility is so poor that the ball got lost on that punt. You literally could not see the ball in the air. Don't know how that affects things down on the field, but this could turn into a classic if it keeps coming down like this.

The Packers are not laying down. Brett Favre just hit Greg Jennings for a 15-yard score, beating Kelly Jennings. With the score 14-7, the snow is really coming down right now, the part of the field the team is not playing on blanketed.

Matt Hasselbeck just hit Bobby Engram with an 11-yard TD pass. The refs ruled it a forceout and gave Engram the TD. Less than five minutes into the game, the Seahawks lead, 14-0. Ryan Grant may not want to stick around Green Bay too long if this lead holds up.

Branch has a knee injury, we were told. He was just carted to the locker room. His return is doubtful. Ben Obomanu is now the fourth WR.

The Seahawks' wide receiver, who missed two games with a calf injury, appears to have restrained it. He is still down on the field.

On a picture perfect tackle by Brian Russell, Ryan Grant fumbled again. Bib play Babs recovered. Seahawks have ball at midfield.

His return is questionable

Shaun Alexander, who had three one-yard TDs in the last playoff meeting, just scored on a 1-yard TD run. Twenty seconds in, the Seahawks lead 7-0. The entire stadium is stunned.

The Seahawks have the ball on the 1.

Not an auspicious start for Josh Scobey. He was injured on the opening kickoff and is still on the field. It is apparently something with his left leg.

The fighter jets we saw practicing yesterday didn't fly over today because apparently, with the snow, the ceiling is too low.

The award was won by Dallas' Greg Ellis. Here is a link to the story.

Favre came running over in a break between the offenses and defenses coming together and met Holmgren at midfield. Holmgren whispered something into his ear for about 30 seconds, a photo opportunity I'm sure you'll see somewhere on in the internet or in tomorrow's paper.

While Brett Favre is wearing long white sleeves, Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck has come out on the field without them. There was a story that emerged earlier this week about the last time these teams played in similar conditions, and Mike Holmgren said something like, "OK, John Wayne, go put some sleeves on now." I wonder if he'll say the same thing today.

Referee Mike Carey
Umpire Dan Ferrell
Head linesman Kent Payne
Line judge Mark Perlman
Field judge Buddy Horton
Side judge Ton Fincken
Back judge Bill Schmitz
Replay Tommy Moore
Video Bud Alexander
Supervisor Neely Dunn
Observer Ed Coukart

Craig Nall
Shaun Bodiford
Will Blackmon
Desmond Bishop
Orrin Thompson
Ryan Krause
Conrad Bolston
Daniel Muir

Charlie Frye
Logan Payne
David Kirtman
Jason Babin
Mansfield Wrotto
Ray Willis
Courtney Taylor
Ben Joppru

Usually, the end zones at Lambeau have GREEN BAY in one end and PACKERS in the other end. But in today's game, as they have all season, there are white lines painted diagonally across the end zone to get the retro feel. It is the 50th anniversary of Lambeau this season, so in one end zone, in the south side of the stadium, is a 50th commemorative insignia.

At the moment, there is only a light snow blowing, almost insignificant.

The snow got lighter as we drove from Appleton to Green Bay. It's still snowing here but not as heavily as it was 30 miles south. There is a light breeze, with the flags blowing flapping pretty regularly. We saw a lot of Seahawks fans walking around tailgating. As we sit in the press box, assistant coach Jim Mora is running the bleachers of Lambeau in shorts. He's a bad-ass, no doubt about it. If the snow stays like this, I think it will be fine. We're still more than 2 1/2 hours from kickoff.

We had a pretty good response to Thursday night's call to readers looking for service members deployed overseas. It's not too late if you want to e-mail me at scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com and add your voice to the chorus, but later today you can head over to the Word on the Street blog to hear from American soldiers in Iraq, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Honduras and a sailor stationed in the Persian Gulf.

I'll update this blog when I add one of their stories.

Good morning. Darrin and I are about to leave the hotel in Appleton for Green Bay, but it just started dumping snow. Heavily. This should make for an interesting game if it continues. I'll get back on the blog whenever we get to the stadium to update you with how the field looks.

This is Walter Jones and a Jones Soda, umm, scientist.

I have to say, the trip that Darrin Beene and I took to Lambeau Field today was well worth the five hours or so we spent there. (To see some of the sights in Green Bay, check out staff photographer Dean Koepfler's photo tour.) When we first got there, there was a line of about 200 people outside waiting to get in to help shovel the snow. I was wrong in an earlier post, they did not shovel the field but shoveled the stands. All those people got turned away because 300 people ahead of them already got the job. They get paid $8 an hour to shovel the snow out of the stands. One woman who Darrin interviewed as she was walking away said, "I would have done it for free." It was a great scene. With a wintry wind blowing through the stadium, it looked like a bunch of ants at work. What they do is set up these aluminum slides -- they look like a slip and slide -- from the top of the metal seats down to the field. There is a front-end loader at the bottom of the slide. All the people pick up a shovel full of snow and send it down the slide, where the front-end loader hauls off the snow. After a section is done, the people pick up the slide and move it to another section and repeat the process. One of the supervisors said it usually takes about 3-5 hours to clear the stadium, but the sun earlier in the day had melted some of the snow so it only took 90 minutes. I love the accents here. The supervisor's name was Bill Miller. Darrin asked him how to spell Miller. In a deep Wisconsin accent, he says, "Like the beer. The right way."

=> Read more!

The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard.

Sorry for no links yesterday. But the commute from Kirkland back to Tacoma was not exactly pleasant, so by the time I was done writing I was fairly angry at my fellow drivers and ready for an adult beverage and watching the WSU game. The story about Frank and Darren in the bar was pretty damn funny. I can only imagine the looks on their faces.

Anyway, people are already getting their gamefaces ready for tomorrow. Here's some more tunes to get you rolling, I can't believe I left this song off my playlist. Thanks for all who contributed to the Seahawks Soundtrack.

Let's get to it.

If the music doesn't get you fired up, how about this... not one of ESPN's experts or these other experts picked the Hawks to win.

From the News Tribune, your newspaper from the South Sound ...

From today's paper, Frank had a story, which he posted earlier, on what the Hawks would have been like if they had kept Steve Hutchinson. One thing is for certain, Shaun would have been happier.

John McGrath has a story on a different Shaun. Shaun Bodiford a Federal Way native who plays for the Packers.

I was up at Kirkland and wrote about the health of the Hawks.

Here's the AP story on Brett Favre leaning towards playing again next season.

From Thursday, Johnny Mac had a big story on how Mike Holmgren shaped Brett Favre's career. There's a cool chart at the bottom, courtesy of our chart guru Victor Yoshida, on all of the starting QBs the Hawks have had during Favre's tenure with the Packers.

Frank had a story about Holmgren's relationship with Matt Hasselbeck.

Here's Dave's column about the Hawks defenders being constantly held by offensive linemen.

Let's get to Saturday's opponent — Green Bay Packers.

From espn.com, Sando has a story on Pack GM Ted Thompson as the architect for Green Bay's success.

From yahoo sports, here's a story on the Packers corners Al Harris and Charles Woodson.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel..... Here's a story about having the Packers vote on who the team's leaders are. Here's a story on the Favre returning... Apparently the Packers have trouble defending the screen pass. Paging Leonard Weaver. Here's a story about the bond between Bobby Engram and Koren Robinson. Here's another story lauding the play of Patrick Kerney.
Green Bay's pass-rush specialist, right defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila knows he's going up against a legend. Here's their story about Matt Hasselbeck.

From the Wisconsin State Journal
Here's Jason Wilde's story on Matt Hasselbeck and the overtime coin flip. Here's Wilde's breakdown and prediction. Here's a story about tackle Mark Tauscher who has the unenviable task of going up against Patrick Kerney. Here's yesterday's practice notebook.

Updates in progress

I wrote a story today that is a good conversation piece for debate. I posed the question: Where would the Seahawks be if they had signed Steve Hutchinson after the Super Bowl? Here is the link to the piece, and some thoughts on what the team would look like now.

Well, actually not just yet. The Seahawks land today. After several Midwest-induced delays, Darrin and I arrived in Appleton at midnight last night. We got off the plane to a blowing snowstorm, though the locals said it was barely snowing. It dropped about 3 or 4 inches. Today is totally clear, though, cool but clear. I think temperatures are supposed to pick up and the snow is going to melt. Me, Darrin and our photographer, Dean Koepfler, are heading up to Lambeau Field in a bit to get a tour of the place. At noon I think they are having a snow shoveling party, where fans get to go out on the field and shovel it clean. Then tonight at 6 they are having a rally that is supposed to be about 15,000 people large. Dean is going to get shots of everything and I think we are going to try to post a photo gallery on the blog, or at least a link to a photo gallery. Darrin is writing a piece on Lambeau for tomorrow's paper, and there has been a bunch of great stuff said this week about the place. I have posted some of the quotes so you can get a flavor, and Darrin will add some scene stuff from our trip there today. After I get back from Green Bay, I'll post some details about the trip on the blog.

We went out in downtown Appleton -- think Mayberry -- and got a few beers after getting into town. Darrin and I walk into a place with a band and it's jumping. No cover. Gotta love that. There would be a $20 cover in Pioneer Square. Pretty soon we realize half the place is dressed in pajamas. Turns out there was a pajama party-themed get-together with this band. One guy, about 6-4, is wearing bright red Little House on the Prairie long johns, with horns on his head. A sure replica of Lucifer. Another guy is wearing an outfit where -- how to explain this -- he was basically riding a horse. The outfit he was wearing was connected to a horse, so whenever he walked around it appeared as if he was riding a horse. If those were his pajamas, I was wondering what he did with the horse when he tried to go to sleep. Darrin turned to me and said, "I don't know where here is, but we're here."

At The News Tribune, we're always trying to find different ways to cover the Seahawks and the team's fans. We occasionally need help with coverage, and finding the right people for an article for Sunday's edition is proving difficult.

We're hoping to talk to service members who are deployed overseas and fans of the Seahawks. (We'll take a Packers fan or two as well.) We'd like to chat with them during or after the game -- it kicks off at midnight Sunday in Baghdad -- and tell the rest of our readers how football helps maintain that link to home.

So if you know someone from Washington or in a unit based at a Washington military installation, please e-mail scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com or call 253-320-4758.

Patrick Kerney did practice today. He took part in the full practice. Head coach Mike Holmgren said he expects him to play on Saturday.

The only player missing from practice was wide receiver DJ Hackett, who missed because of his sore ankle. Hackett did show up for stretch early on but went back inside.

Holmgren said it was more precautionary than anything. Hackett practiced on Wednesday and the ankle got a little sore. So they held Hackett out of today's practice.

Game balls were handed out at the end of practice...

Defense — Leroy Hill (pretty obvious)
Offense — DJ Hackett
Special Teams — Ryan Plackemeier

As I type this, Frank is packing his collection of Armani suits and expensive books (his place smells of rich mahogany), Darren is packing up his numerous hair gels and brushes and Dave is trimming up his mustache and battling high winds on the Narrows Bridge as they prepare to fly out in a few hours.

I'm up at Kirkland today. But as for how much we can actually blog from practice remains to be seen. It's a little tighter ship during the playoffs and for good reason. But I will post some links and try and give you guys some news.

Before I get to the links. How about some playoff predictions... including score? I was just giving the PI's Clare Farnsworth a hard time for picking against the Hawks on KJR.

At this point, (this one's for you K.J.), I'm going to say Favre throws a pair of late picks one to Deon Grant and one to Marcus Trufant, and the Hawks hang on for a 21 win.

These are from the Packers:

(Anything to be concerned with Jennings and Jones?)
They both wanted to finish practice. (We’re) just being cautious. This is the healthiest we’ve been all year medically and I just want to make sure we’re ready to go. They experienced some tightness three-quarters of the way through practice, so I sent them up for treatment.

(How about Woodson?)
Woodson bumped his knee on the turf yesterday, just had some swelling. He’ll be fine. We know Charles will be ready to go.

=> Read more!

These are from the Packers:

(What do you see out of Seattle as far their big play-making ability?)
They have a lot of talented individuals. They have a lot of talented receivers. You’ve heard Coach Holmgren talk about those guys and certainly they’re very well-coached, they have a good scheme and Matt Hasselbeck does a great job of getting the ball to them, and they do an excellent job of running after the catch. Then when they have you spread out and opened up, then they’ve had some explosive gains in the run game too. It’s a very good scheme and they have a quarterback that is very, very good at executing that scheme, and then they have playmakers at a lot of positions on offense.

=> Read more!

Finally, the official injury report. Per NFL rules, the Seahawks do not have to put one out until Wednesday. It's interesting because Patrick Kerney has not practiced the last two days and now we know why: He has a knee injury.

Let me couch this by adding what coach Mike Holmgren said today to begin his press conference. The team, he said, is "about as healthy as it can be."

The report:
SEAHAWKS
DID NOT PRACTICE
DE Patrick Kerney (knee)
DT Rocky Bernard (groin)
T Walter Jones (shoulder)
LB Niko Koutouvides (knee)

LIMITED PRACTICE
WR Deion Branch (calf)
WR D.J. Hackett (ankle)
S Mike Green (knee)

PACKERS
DID NOT PRACTICE
CB Charles Woodson (knee/toe)

LIMITED PRACTICE
CB Will Blackmon (foot)
WR Greg Jennings (groin)
WR James Jones (hamstring)
WR Koren Robinson (knee)

FULL PRACTICE
G Jason Spitz (quadriceps)

Patrick Kerney did not practice today and was not made available to the media. Deion Branch had limited participation but afterward said, "There is no doubt about it. I am playing." Gil Haskell said after practice that the Packers' cover guys are very good, but throwing the four WR set of Branch, Hackett, Engram and Burleson at them puts them in a real bind. Walter Jones and Rocky Bernard did not practice, and neither did Niko Koutouvides or Mike Green.

=> Read more!

Sorry for the day off, but we'll get you plenty of links to keep you busy for the rest of the day. First, a moment of silent rage, for fans having to endure Tony Siragusa for Saturday's game. Check this out from one the awfulannouncing.com blog. Everytime when Sirgusa says something I want to respond with this.

Also, here's something to listen to get your game intensity going.

Here's a question,: If you had to make a Hawks soundtrack that you would play before and during games at Qwest to get people fired up, what songs would be on it? Since we're in the press box, we can't hear the music during games, other than the Seahawks song at the end of wins, I don't know what's being played now.
I'd have to go with...

Thunderstruck, TNT, Hells Bells, Highway to Hell by AC/DC; Welcome to the Jungle by G-N-R; Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne; Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue; Remember the Name by Fort Minor; Alive by P.O.D; Song 2 by Blur; The Game by Motorhead; Black Betty by Ram Jam; Raise a little Hell by Trooper
Here comes the boom by Nelly; Lose yourself by Eminem; Cocky by Kid Rock; Last Resort by Papa Roach. God, I love youtube.

From the News Tribune, your newspaper for the South Sound.
On Monday, John McGrath had this column on Matt Hasselbeck returning to Green Bay and Frank wrote this piece on playing the Packers.

On Tuesday, Dave wrote the Hawks defying the odds. The Packers are down to an 8 point favorite as of Wednesday instead of 8 and a half which it opened at. Deion Branch will be back this week.

From Wednesday,
Johnny Mac is in Green BAy and wrote about Koren Robinson's saga. Dave wrote about whether how much experience matters. Darren wrote about how close Leonard Weaver was to being cut and how far he's come. Frank wrote about the similarities between the Hawks and Pack.

From the AP's Gregg Bell.... Matt Hasselbeck is banged up, but fine. Run? Who needs to run to beat the Packers?

SEveral Hawk players got individual awards from Peter King in his Monday Morning QB column.

Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning QB wasn't pleased with the overall looks of the Sea Gals....

From Wisconsin.....
From the Wisconsin State Journal, Al Harris recalls the "interception" of Matt Hasselbeck. Brett Favre believes he's immune to Mike Holmgren's mental games. The Packers should be "very healthy" for this weekend. And the playoffs brings out the "best" in the Packers. Packers and Seahawks? Just like old times.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel..
First, here's their Packers Insider blog. Here's their story on the Al Harris intereception. Corner Tramon Williams expects the Hawks to pick on him some. Here's a story on Mike Holmgren's future.

From ESPN.com
Here's yet another Favre story.

Mike Holmgren said Deion Branch will practice today after taking yesterday off and that he is keeping his fingers crossed that Branch can play this week. Everybody else he said is healthy and should be able to play.

Holmgren had a great line today, when he was asked if he is identified more with the Packers or the Seahawks. "Well, once I tell them I'm not Craig Stadler," he said. His answer was that it depends on where he is in the country, but he considers Seattle his home now since his entire family is here.

=> Read more!

Here is a link to the story. We were in Mike Holmgren's press conference when this news came around so there is no reaction available from him.

Again, these are from the Packers:

(You‘ve gone against Mike Holmgren a number of times since that ’99 game. How have your thoughts changed since that game?)
It’s happened enough and he’s been coaching in Seattle now longer than he coached here. I don’t want to say it’s old news (but) I can’t say that I get anymore excited playing in this game than any other game. Maybe initially, which to me still is a little silly. It’s a game. It’s obviously an important game for us, but I’m sure Mike’s saying the same thing to his guys. ‘Hey, they’re going to try to make a big deal of me going back, and the playoff game here several years ago.’ I know ’Hass’ (Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck) has caught a lot of heat this week, but I don’t look at it much differently than any other game. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Mike, don’t get me wrong, but I want to play well for the obvious reasons in this game.

=> Read more!

This is cut-and-pasted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Packers had practice at 10 a.m. this morning their time and already are done:

*
CB Charles Woodson was not at practice. Obviously this is something that Mike McCarthy will be asked about. He looked fine at practice on Tuesday;
*
CB Will Blackmon did individual stuff on the side but otherwise did not take part. He was relegated, for the most part, to doing a rehab workout on the side. Usually during the season, a rehab workout meant a player was not on track to play that week;
*
TE Bubba Franks and WR Koren Robinson fully participated in practice;
*
Jason Spitz was at his usual right guard spot.

These are quotes coming out of Packers camp:

(Is Spitz clear?)
He’s doing better. We’ll have an injury report filed tomorrow. I think we’ll be very healthy for the game, including Jason.

(How do you like your practices since you came back?)
Practice Friday and Saturday was very good. They were two spirited, padded practices, I would categorize them. Today’s practice I thought was very good. The tempo was outstanding. We’ll watch it here at two o’clock with the players. I was pleased with today’s work.

=> Read more!

Here is a story about Josh Brown keeping warm that was on the front of ESPN.com. Not exactly sure why, but it is somewhat amusing.

(On Green Bay’s pass protection…) “They don’t keep the same emphasis on max-protect as Washington did. I think man-to-man they are good protectors, that’s the challenge. And what we talked about with Brett (Favre) and his escape-ability and his quick release.”

(On winning in Green Bay in the playoffs before…) “It’s possible. Certainly, the team that they have this year is much better than the team that we beat up there in Lambeau about six years ago, it was a long time ago. It’s a much better team, and it’s a huge challenge. But it is possible.”

=> Read more!

The Seahawks last game of the season will also be the last for receivers Nolan Cromwell, who will become the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M as soon as the season’s over.

“It was a great opportunity for me. At Texas A&M they have a lot of tradition, a lot of pride,” Cromwell said. “It’s an exciting place to go.”

Cromwell, who has coached in Seattle since 1999 and under Mike Holmgren in Green Bay from 1992-98, said he’s not thinking too much about the possibility that Saturday game could be his last with the Seahawks.

“Each game is exciting, each game is it’s own game and when it’s over, it will all be over,” he said.

This report from Green Bay on the Packers injuries:

* Right guard Jason Spitz (quadriceps) has been cleared to play.
* Cornerback Will Blacmon (foot) has not been cleared.
* Running back Brandon Jackson (illness) missed practice.
* Receiver Koren Robionsn (knee) and tight end Bubba Franks (knee) were limited.

Niko Koutouvides, Walter Jones, Rocky Bernard, Patrick Kerney, Mike Green and Deion Branch did not practice. Kerney said he was getting a day off. Walter and Rocky are standard operating procedure for two old vets. Niko hurt his knee a few weeks ago in practice and missed the last game of the regular season, but he played against Washington. And Mike Holmgren said Branch was going to practice lightly this week and then try to play.

Not a lot of details from practice, other than to say that Joe Newton made an incredible one-handed grab of a wobbly Seneca Wallace pass that drew a large round of oohs and ahhs from everyone watching; and that Craig Terrill had an interception to end the practice. For some reason, Terrill also was the one pulling together the huddle instead of rookie Brandon Mebane doing his customary dog/seal bark. Terrill was not as funny as Mebane. We'll all miss when he is no longer a rookie.

=> Read more!

Brett Favre met with Seattle reporters for almost half an hour and was tremendous. He talked at length about his decision to retire at some point, admitting that while he has played in all those consecutive games, he certainly has felt the affect. "I feel like I have played for 17 seasons, put it that way," Favre said. "Sometimes I wake up and I can't touch my toes." He spoke of the difficulty of living away from his oldest daughter, who is a freshman at the College of Charleston, and the hardship of going back and forth between Green Bay and his offseason home for his daughter in third grade. He spoke glowingly of Matt Hasselbeck, saying he knew right away that he would make a good NFL quarterback. In fact, Favre said, he one day told Hasselbeck that Mike Holmgren was going to trade for him. "Nobody told me anything," Favre said. "I just knew. It made sense. Matt thought I was crazy."

=> Read more!

News Tribune photographer Dean Koepfler will be in Green Bay beginning Friday. He'd like to hook up with Seahawks fans who are making the trip. If you are going to the game, contact Dean at dean.koepfler@thenewstribune.com.

Mike Holmgren:

“I think the first thing, in this day of age of corporate thought, it’s the only team like it, in existence. You could not have a team in a little city like that, typically, now, anymore. I wouldn’t think. Owned by the people, and the city, and when they run out of money, or get low in the treasury, the last three times in their history, they appeal to the people, and everybody buys shares. I bought a share for each one of my children. It’s a very unique place, and I think the fans, the support that they give you, for a lot of years they were struggling and the stadium was always full. The tickets get passed down, you’ve heard the stories. They’re willed to people, they get passed down from generation to generation. It’s just different. You think of all the mill-towns in the Great Lakes region of the country, there’s a lot of cities, little towns, kind of like that. That rely on the paper mills or whatever, and what sets Green Bay apart is the football team. It really does change the whole thing.”

“It was a very unusual year. I look at the guys interviewing now, I interviewed at six places. It’s hard to believe. I’m not exactly sure, now, why I did that. Other than, I was a relatively short-term in the NFL. I really wanted to get a little taste of what organizations were like. As long as they wanted to talk to me, absolutely I was going to go talk to them. It was eye opening, it was interesting. So, to answer your question, there was something about me that I’ve learned about myself, about the challenge of building something up. It helps, it gets me going a little bit. They had been down for a while, so that was appealing to me. I didn’t think about how cold it was going to be, I didn’t think about much really. I really thought the world of Ron Wolf, who interviewed me and who was going to be my boss. Bob Harlan, who was president, I liked the people there, I really liked the people there. Call it ego, cockiness, whatever, you always think you can go in and fix anything. I really had no idea the difficulty of something like that. But I didn’t really care, I was going to get a chance to be head coach, and everything was good. Our time there was great, it really was. It was very unique place, it’s small, no owner really, no one owner. Wonderful atmosphere to coach in. Looking back on it, as I think about the other teams I talked to, it really was the absolute best decision I ever made.”

Mere quotes don't capture the humor of this exchange when Mike Holmgren was asked about Matt Hasselbeck getting hit by Fred Smoot and his thigh pad bending in half. It was apparent that Holmgren didn't believe that the thigh pad broke and thought Matt was putting one over on the media for dramatic purposes. He thought it was humorous. There were some eye rolls and some smiles. When you see where he is asking a question, it is asked in some disbelief. The funny part is, though, he did change thigh pads. Ryan Divish was watching what happened through his binoculars during the game and saw the thigh pad and Charlie Frye give him his.

“I’m just curious. How do you know, how does anyone know he snapped his pad? He said that? Charlie Frye? Matt (Hasselbeck) did? You know what I’ve told you about Matt. I’ve told you this before. You ask him what time it is and he’ll tell you how the watch was made. He’s okay. His thigh pad was snapped in half? He’s going to be fine. I don’t know what they call it now. He has a ‘charlie horse’. I’m old though but that’s what they used to call it. It’s a thigh contusion, whatever. He played the rest of the game. It’s sore. I went down and he’s in one of these, I don’t even like to go in the training room anymore. He’s in this thing that you would swear, well it’s the best thing you could be in probably, it’s covered in air, everything. I didn’t even know it was him. His arm came out and, ‘I’m going to be okay. Don’t worry.’”

Kenny Albert
Daryl Johnston
Tony Siragusa

Mike Holmgren spoke today for more than 50 minutes, much of which was philosophical and his memories of being in Green Bay, of Brett Favre, of Lambeau, of why he chose to go there when he interviewed in six different places.

First, we'll take care of some housekeeping stuff. He said that while some guys are dinged up from the Washington game, including Matt Hasselbeck's thigh from that hit he took, everybody, including Deion Branch, is expected to play. He said he was never told by anybody that Branch would be durable enough to last the entire Washington game, and because Branch is undersized he needs his speed an athleticism to be effective. Branch going half speed to protect his injury is not going to be good for anybody, so he decided to sit him. He will practice lightly this week and then hopefully play. Holmgren said he didn't even recognize Hasselbeck in the training room because he was getting so much work done on him, but while sore he is OK. I asked the Rocky Bernard question and Holmgren said it was a regular rotation and Bernard did not see any less time than he normally would have.

=> Read more!

Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney finished second in the defensive player of the year balloting to Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders, who received 31 of the 50 first-place votes by media who cover the NFL. Here is the link.

Kerney, in his first year with the Seahawks, finished second in the NFL with 14.5 sacks.

Sanders was a a key figure for the Colts, who allowed a league-low 262 points this season.

Also receiving votes were defensive back Antonio Cromartie of San Diego with three; linebackers Mike Vrabel of New England and DeMarcus Ware of Dallas (2); and cornerback Ronde Barber of Tampa Bay, linebacker James Harrison of Pittsburgh, rookie linebacker Patrick Willis of San Francisco, and end Mario Williams of Houston, each with one vote.

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren has a 2:15 news conference today to review the game against the Redskins and look ahead to Saturday's divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. I'll ask about the Rocky Bernard situation, where several people thought he did not play as much as he normally does. Deion Branch's status also will be addressed, among many other things, which I'll have for you as soon as the news conference ends.

Also:

This week’s NFL Replay will highlight all four Wild Card Playoff games exclusively on NFL Network. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, January 8, 2008:

5:00 PM PT: Jacksonville Jaguars at Pittsburgh Steelers

7:30 PM PT: Washington Redskins at Seattle Seahawks

Wednesday, January 9, 2008:

5:00 PM PT: New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

7:30 PM PT: Tennessee Titans at San Diego Chargers

NEW YORK – Jan 6, 2008 – NBC Sports scored the best overnight rating for an NFL Wild Card Saturday in four years. NBC's Wild Card Saturday, featuring Washington-Seattle in the afternoon and Jacksonville-Pittsburgh in primetime, averaged a 16.1 overnight rating and 28 share – the best overnight rating for an NFL Wild Card Saturday in four years (2005 on ABC: St. Louis-Seattle in afternoon and NY Jets-San Diego in primetime, 16.5/28).

The 16.1 overnight rating is also a three percent improvement over the 15.6/28 average for the two Wild Card Saturday games last year (Kansas City-Indianapolis in afternoon and Dallas-Seattle in primetime).

Gm 1: BEST OVERNIGHT RATING IN 3 YEARS
The afternoon Wild Card Saturday game (Redskins-Seahawks) was the best overnight rating for that game in three years. The Seahawks 35-14 home victory over the Redskins earned a 15.4 overnight rating and 29 share, the best for an afternoon Wild Card Saturday game in three years (2006 on ABC: Redskins-Buccaneers, 15.7/30). The 15.4 overnight rating was also a 12 percent improvement over last year's afternoon Wild Card game (Chiefs-Colts on NBC,13.8/27). The overnight rating peaked with a 17.5/31 from 7-7:30 p.m. ET as the Seahawks sealed their victory.

Gm. 1 Top 10 Markets:
1. Seattle: 35.8/70
2. Washington DC: 33.8/58
3. Richmond: 23.8/36
4. Jacksonville: 22.4/35
5. Portland: 19.9/42
6. Milwaukee: 19.2/32
7. Indianapolis: 18.8/33
8. Fort Meyers: 18.1/30
9. Charlotte: 17.6/31
10. Nashville: 17.0/27

The Seahawks have today off, though now they can ponder that with New York's beating of Tampa Bay, a win in Green Bay next Saturday and a New York win over Dallas means that Seattle would get one more home playoff game. Now wouldn't that be an unexpected gift?

Mike Holmgren will have a press conference tomorrow afternoon. Players also will be available. Then the Seahawks will practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and depart for Green Bay on Friday morning.

=> Read more!

Because the last links post was pretty large, I decided to put the links from the Washington D.C. papers in a separate post.

From the Washington Post, here's the game story by Jason La Canfora. Here's a story about Suisham's missed field goal that drained the Redskins momentum. Former Seattle Times columnist Les Carpenter wrote about the Redskins improbable run coming to an end. Here's a story about the Redskins inability to keep pressure off of Todd Collins. Here's a story on Matt Hasselbeck and his postgame comments. Here's the game notebook that leads with Clinton Portis contract talk.

Here's Dan Steinberg's story about the 12th man, that includes a sweet picture of two Hawk fans in Mike Sellers' T-shirts. Steinberg writes the DC Sports Bog, which has a few posts on the game and Marcus Pollard's hair.

Here's an interesting story about the treatment of Redskins fans at Qwest.

From the Post columnists...
Michael Wilbon writes that the Redskins blew it. Thomas Boswell writes about the "magical ride" coming to an end. Mike Wise writes about the Redskins keeping the loss in perspective.

From the Washington Times.... Here's the game story that ran with the headling, "It's over" Here's a story on rookie safety LaRon Landry and his performance. He's going to be a stud player. Here's a story on the pressure on Todd Collins. Here's a story about the Collins magic disappearing.

Here's the game notebook leading with Antwaan Randle El's solid season. A few observations about the Qwest experience. Here's their "Monday Morning QB" piece.

Here's a column from Bob Cohn and another from Dan Daly who believes the better team won.

Nothing better than posting links after a win. I'm sure many of you are still suffering from a victory hangover and still wearing your jersey from yesterday. Anyway, let's get to the links so I can get back to doing nothing for the rest of the day.

From the News Tribune, the newspaper for the South Sound, and the provider of this award-winning blog....

We had a few photographers up there. Here's a photo gallery with some cool shots from the game. Check out the photo of Lofa coming out of the tunnel by Drew Perine, it's pretty sweet. And here's another photo gallery of the crazy fans at Qwest (most of them I'm certain are Seahawks Insider readers).

Here's Frank's game story ...

Darren wrote about the constant pressure that the defensive line put on quarterback Todd Collins.

Newbie Doug Pacey wrote about Tacoma native Marcus Trufant's "pick six."

I had Redskins duty and wrote about the magic ride of Todd Collins ending in Seattle.

Here's the game notebook that leads with the news that wide receivers coach Nolan Cromwell is leaving after the season for Texas A&M. It also has the Redskins reaction about the noise at Qwest Field. Disappointingly, Mike Sellers wouldn't comment about it or anything after the game.

From our columnists ...
Dave wrote about the Hawks making the plays when the absolutely needed to.

John McGrath wrote about the Redskins failing to capitalize on the botched kick return, which ultimately cost them the game.

Also, we had our "man on the street" reporter Scott Fontaine up at Qwest talking to fans. Here's his story.... and he also blogged a bunch of different items from the game experience, including a view photos from the press box, you can find it here.

From ESPN.com
Both the Professor John Clayton and our boy Mike Sando were up at Qwest writing. Clayton wrote about Mike Holmgren's calm play calling when the Hawks were struggling. Sando wrote about the Redskins keeping the loss in perspective.

QB TODD COLLINS

(On the game overall…) “We are extremely disappointed. We thought over the last few weeks that things might be in the cards for us. I thought that they were turning that way early in the fourth quarter when we took the lead 14-13 but then things started to turn the other way. It is very disappointing that things can turn so quickly like that.”

=> Read more!

(On his team…) “I told our footbaall team that I was extremely proud of them. I haven’t been part of a group that took more pride in the way that they played. Obviously to come back during the season like that and be able to put four together like that at the end of the year and get themselves in to the playoffs and overcome everything that they have this year I told them I was extremely proud of them. I think that they have great heart and great character. I think that the Lord has blessed us with guys that have great character in that room. I think that today’s game is a little bit like our season in that nothing seemed to go right for us early and then this team has a way. They kept fighting and found a way to get us back in it. I wish that we could have made some more plays there at the end but we didn’t. I think that you to give Coach Holgrem and the Seahawks a lot of credit. I think they are a extremely hard fighting football team. They are well prepared and well coached. It is an extremely tough place to come and play. I think it is a tough environment and I know it bothered us a lot early in the game. When you are hesistant coming off the line of scrimmage it is extremely hard to get a good smooth operation going. Having said that you have to give them all the credit in the world. It is a heck of an organization and I told Mike (Holmgren) that he has done a great job. For our guys hate it, wish that we could have continued on for our fans, but in general I just told them how proud I was of them and I really respect them. They have great heart, great pride. We have a lot of guys in that locker room, we lost a lot of guys during the year and a lot of young guys got a chance to play a lot and hopefully that will mean a lot for them and their future here.”

=> Read more!

DE PATRICK KERNEY

(On getting the pass rush today…) I always say that any pressure I get, any sacks I get, is a product of my team doing a great job. My d-line mates rushed very well. Our coverage did a great job of holding up. Certainly, our offense building a lead like that makes things real easy for us.

=> Read more!

CB MARCUS TRUFANT

(On the win today….) Playoff time, teams are so good, teams are going to be so close, I think that’s how the games are going to be. There are not going to be many blowouts. You just have to keep playing. Some things are going to happen good for you, and some things are going to happen bad, and you just have to keep fighting.

=> Read more!

(opening…) I want to just say right now that we want the ball and we’re going to score. [laughter] Is that OK. I said it, I mean it, thank you. [laughter]

=> Read more!

(opening…) I think everyone was right, it was a very emotional football game for both teams. It was a very momentum-oriented game. We had it going early, and then in the third quarter they got it. Then, they missed the field goal, and we got it back. It was two teams that cared a lot and slugged it out, and we won it. We did some of the things that I hoped we could do. I wanted to do a good job vs. their running game, and our defense did a really fine job that way. I wanted to protect our quarterback just a little bit, and I think for the most part we did that. Then, the two big plays on defense. You can’t say enough about Trufant’s interception return, that was really the nail, I think, and our defense all day played pretty well.

=> Read more!

Matt Hasselbeck came to the podium and the first thing he said was, "We want the ball and we're going to score." Pretty funny.

Actually, the postgame was more business than celebratory. Not necessarily that they expected to win this game, but that it is a part of something bigger that they are trying to accomplish. As Matt said, "We are not popping champagne in there, that's for sure."

=> Read more!

I'm heading down but the Seahawks hold a 28-14 lead and are heading to Green Bay for a second-round game against the Packers. I'll be back up with postgame stuff later.

Marcus Trufant intercepted a ball at about his own 22, juked Santana Moss, juked Chris Cooley, got a huge block from Brandon Mebane and returned it 78 yards for a TD that likely clinched the game. The Seahawks lead 28-14.

Matt Hasselbeck looked right, then went back left to DJ Hackett running a post pattern. He made the catch for a 20-yard TD pass. Hasselbeck then hit Marcus Pollard for the two-point conversion to take a 21-14 lead. Nate Burleson made a great catch to keep the drive alive.

The wire just moved a story that said Seahawks receivers coach Nolan Cromwell is heading to Texas A&M as offensive coordinator. Here is the link to the story.

With the Seahawks driving, Matt Hasselbeck threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by LaRon Landry, his second INT of the game.

Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham pulled his 30-yard attempt left, keeping the score at 14-13.

Washington's kickoff after their touchdown was short, and it fell between Nate Burleson and Josh Wilson, both of whom let it go. Anthony Mix recovered and returned it to the end zone, but it was dead where it was touched. The Redskins got the ball on Seattle's 14.

Todd Collins threw a 30-yard TD pass to Santana Moss, beating both Kelly Jennings and Deon Grant on the play. That was a quick turnaround.

Matt HAsselbeck just threw an interception to LaRon Landry, though it appears that Bobby Engram stopped running on the pattern. The Redskins have the ball in Seattle territory.

Todd Collins threw a seven-yard TD pass to Antwaan Randle El to trim the lead to 13-7. That drive was aided by a pass interference call on Brian Russell.

After being examined, Deon Grant went back in the game. He nearly intercepted that pass in the back of the end zone.

It looks to be pretty painful. Boling thinks it is his left shoulder. I'll update when I have more information. Mike Green is in the game for him

After a long drive that was highlighted by a 35-yard pass from Matt Hasselbeck to DJ Hackett, the Seahawks got in range to allow Brown to put them ahead, 13-0, with a field goal. At the end of the drive, Hasselbeck scrambled and was hit very hard in the right thigh by the helmet of Fred Smoot. Apparently, on the sideline, he took his thigh pad out and it was bent in a concave shape. They made Charlie Frye take out his thigh pad and give it to Matt.

This has been, as expected, something of a defensive game, Seattle leading 10-0 with neither offense able to generate a great deal. You have to wonder how the same defense that gave up 44 points to Atlanta last week can be the same one that is limiting Washington today. The pass rush has been very effective, hitting Todd Collins on almost every passing play. Patrick Kerney, Leroy Hill and Julian Peterson have sacks, and Kerney and Howard Green have their facemask imprints on Collins' chest. The run defense has homed in on Clinton Portis and kept him in check. Matt Hasselbeck looks a little off to me. I wonder how much his wrist is bothering him. He has it wrapped in flesh-colored tape. He has missed an open downfield pass to Ben Obomanu, and three easy passes on screen plays that he either was off-target on or came up short on the throw. Still, he has done enough to allow the Seahawks to score twice, once on a 17-yard touchdown run by Leonard Weaver and the other on a 50-yard field goal by Josh Brown. If the defense can play as well in the second half as it did in the first, the Seahawks will have a date in Green Bay next week.

Josh Brown hit a 50-yarder to give Seattle a 10-0 lead. I thought there was no way he makes that field goal. Before the game both kickers were practicing in that direction and could not hit 45-yarders because the wind was so strong. The wind must have shifted or died down, though at the top of the stadium the 12th Man flag is still blowing pretty wildly.

Seattle's pass rush is having a field day with Todd Collins. They are hitting Collins on almost every play. He is clearly getting frustrated, and the noise at the stadium is having an affect, as well.

The officials ruled that it was an incomplete pass, not a fumble. Mike Holmgren is going nuts on the refs.

Kerney sacked Todd Collins and hit his arm, causing a fumble on the 13. The Redskins are challenging. Not sure which way this one will go. Kerney is manhandling Stephon Heyer.

Kerney has been held once and chopped twice by the Redskins, which led to that massive tackle of Todd Collins. Kerney is talking to the refs right now though about the blocking against him, which I don't think he appreciates.

A draw play to Leonard Weaver went up the middle, then to the right corner of the end zone. Seattle holds a 7-0 lead.

It was ruled the both Shaun's knees were down. First and 10 on the 17 and no timeout for the challenge.

It appears on the big screen that his knee was down on the fumble. Seahawks should be getting back the ball.

He is up, but he is not officiating the game. He is off to the side with some medical personnel.

Lance Laury fell into one of the officials on NAte Burleson's punt return. He is down on the sideline and looks to be seriously injured. Not sure which official it is, there are too many people around him.

Matt Hasselbeck missed a wide-open Ben Obomanu that may have been a TD had they connected. There was nothing between Obomanu and the end zone. Ryan Plackemeier dropped the ball on the 4, though.

The former Mariners and current Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer had the honor this week.

Skins win the coin toss and are taking the ball.

Here's a photo of the short-lived Matt Hasselbeck playoff mustache. I think he should have kept it.

14 minutes to game time .... who's ready?

QB Jason Campbell
S Omar Stoutmire
TE Brian Kozlowski
DT Ryan Boschetti
OL Kevin Sampson
WR James Thrash
DE Alex Buzbee

QB Sam Hollenbach

WR Logan Payne
CB Kevin Hobbs
TE Ben Joppru
DE Jason Babin
G Mansfield Wrotto
T Ray Willis
WR Deion Branch
QB Charlie Frye

Bobby Engram will start at WR for Deion Branch

For those of you not in Seattle, the weather is unpredictable today. I went for a run this morning and it was sunny when I started, the wind picked up, it started raining, and then it was sunny again by the time I was done. So who knows what it will be like at game time? Right now it is dry but that can change at any moment. More than anything, the Seahawks need to be concerned about the wind, which aversely affected them in Carolina a few weeks ago. There is some wind today, though not nearly as strong as that weekend in Charlotte.

Referee Walt Coleman
Umpire Bruce Stritesky
Head linesman Tony Veteri
Line judge Mark Steinkerchner
Field judge Greg Gautreaux
Side judge Michael Banks
Back judge Steve Freeman
Replay Bob McGrath
Video Clayton Judge

I spoke with one of the most beleaguered members of the offensive line, left guard Rob Sims, on his growth, where the line is and some of the things he has gone through this year. Here is the interview:

"One of my big problems is that I am one of those guys who gets fired up. I get so fired up that I can’t function. It is one of those things where I go out there and there is something real easy and I get pissed off and just miss it. I got to calm down and just look at it. Walter and those guys, they are very methodical. They go up there and see it and go play. I have kind of learned how to do that, mixing my style in. This is my second year, and sometimes you have to grow up and learn from other people. It has been a hard year as far as that it concerned, but no one said it was going to be easy."

=> Read more!

One day left and it can't get here any sooner.

As if any of you need to get fired up, I offer this to get you a little more pumped up. Can't go wrong with that playing at earth-shattering decibels at Qwest Field.

From the News Tribune, your newspaper for the South Sound.
Darrin had our sports front centerpiece with a story on the importance of the additions of Patrick Kerney, Brian Russell and Deon Grant to the defense's success this season.

Frank wrote about the progress of offensive lineman Rob Sims and the offensive line this season.

Columnist John McGrath asks that people allow Sean Taylor to rest in peace instead of being a rallying cry every week.

AUDIO ALERT: This is must listen, KJR's Ian Furness called up 20 local media members for their thoughts and predictions on the game, including Dave and Frank.

Elsewhere...
Seahawks.net's Brian McIntyre writes a response column... to who the Seahawks are.

In this video breakdown from ESPN, the Hawks get the nod along with the comment "the Seahawks have the best 12th man advantage in the NFL."

Here's another story from the AP's Gregg Bell about the playing at Qwest.

Let's get to this to tomorrow's opponent, the Washington Redskins...

From the Washington Post, Jason La Canfora writes about a change in approach by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams that's led to more success from the Redskins defense. Even with Todd Collins' recent success, injured QB Jason Campbell will be the starter next season. La Canfora's blog offers a scouting report for the game.

Former Times writer, Les Carpenter writes about Shaun Alexander and his struggles this season.

Columnist Thomas Boswell writes about why the Redskins will win.

Dan Steinberg of the Post's DC Sports Bog was none too impressed with the 12th man flag atop the space needle.

From the Washington Times, here's a story on the pre-snap motion and formation changing from the Skins' offense.

Here's a story on the playoff experience of early season pickups Keenan McCardell and Randall Godfrey.

Yahoo Sports' Jason Cole writes about Todd Collins.

The Seahawks have no media availability today. They have a walk-through this morning and then -- don't know if you knew this -- a kind of big game tomorrow afternoon against Washington. In the absence of fresh material today, I will include the interview yesterday with Deion Branch, who is a game-time decision, to give you an idea of where his head is.

Branch:

"I am going to do everything I can do and then he is going to make the decision on Saturday. I felt better.

On he and Hackett: "It’s been weird, isn’t it? I told Hack he has a hex on me, man. We all know this game is a very physical game and there are going to be injuries. I would love for us to be on the field. He is playing. Now it is up to me to continue to get better in the next two days. Coach will make that decision."

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As always, these are courtesy of Bodog.com:

Odds to Win the Super Bowl

New England Patriots 2/5

Indianapolis Colts 4/1

Dallas Cowboys 6/1

San Diego Chargers 8/1

Green Bay Packers 10/1

Jacksonville Jaguars 10/1

Pittsburgh Steelers 35/1

Seattle Seahawks 40/1

Washington Redskins 50/1

New York Giants 60/1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 65/1

Tennessee Titans 100/1

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OUT

QB Jason Campbell (knee)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

WR James Thrash (ankle)

Everybody except for wide receiver Deion Branch practiced for Seattle, including Niko Koutouvides. Mike Holmgren said Branch is a game-time decision, and that Branch has to show him something before the game to get the nod to play. Branch worked out on the side, running sprints, trying to loosen up his calf strain. He said he felt good. Sometimes Branch is a bit curt, but he was very expansive today. He said he was joking with DJ Hackett that Hackett has a hex over him because every time Hackett plays, Branch is unable to play. He said they are looking forward to playing together, but that he really just wants to have everybody available for Matt Hasselbeck because it makes him that much more effective. Branch said he does not have much of a concern that he has not practiced in three weeks. He said he has been riding stationary bikes to improve his endurance, his only concern would be that he gets so ramped up that he loses his energy in the first half. He also said what you see is what you get from Washington's secondary. They are very vanilla. They are either going to blitz you or sit back in coverage, but there is not a lot of movement and not a lot of masking.

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On what about the Seattle defense pops out to him:
“Fast, quick on the outside, opportunistic, lots of turnovers, sacks, capitalizing on mistakes of the offense, creating turnovers.”

On the crowd noise in Seattle:
“I guess Minnesota was pretty loud- that’s indoors. I would think that an indoor facility would be louder than outdoor, but I hear that Seattle is louder. The last time I was out there in a game was in Kansas City in I think ’03 or ’04. It sure is pretty loud, but you just deal with it. You can’t do anything about it. Guys have to pay attention and listen and try to make plays in your favor to quiet them down.”

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Saturday is one day closer. I'm sure Hawk fans are getting their jerseys ready, the face paint designs planned and using their voices as little as possible to save up for Saturday. I know players have pregame rituals, but do fans?

Anyway, lots of links to get to. As Frank posted earlier his the story from the Washington Times where Redskins players talk about the noise at Qwest Field, specifically fullback Mike Sellers, who believes the noise is fake and pumped in.

I have two questions. 1. Is it the best idea to poke and prod a pen full of already angry Wolverines with a stick before you have to let them out? 2. Should I know who the hell Mike Sellers is?

Here's the answers I came up with: 1. Umm, probably not. 2. 26 carries for 76 yards this season, probably not, but he is a Washington native.

Anyway let's get to today's News Tribune ... your newspaper for the South Sound ... and all things Hawks

Frank wrote about Matt Hasselbeck and his wrist, which is "just fine" thank you and how much his performance is vital to the Hawks success.

Dave wrote about Mike Holmgren answering questions about his career plans, including retirement.

Darren wrote about Shaun Alexander's diminished role in the offense and his willingness to accept it.

From Yahoo Sports, columnist Michael Silver also writes about the Hawks.

Let's get to this week's opponent, the Washington Redskins....

From the Washington Post, here's a story about Clinton Portis becoming a viable receiver out of the backfield. According to this notebook, the big key for the Redskins defense is to make Matt Hasselbeck uncomfortable in the pocket. Columnist Thomas Boswell writes about why quarterback Todd Collins has had so much success in recent games.

From the Washington Times, receiver Santana Moss hasn't had as productive year as in the past, but the Redskins believe he could be the X-factor.

Here's a story on the Hawks offense with some quotes from Shawn Springs.
Columnist Thom Loverro also writes about Todd Collins.

This is the transcript of Joe Gibbs from his teleconference with Seattle reporters on Wednesday:

(On getting into the playoffs…) “That’s the good news. The bad news is we’re going to Seattle. It’s not a good place to go for a playoff game. I’m going to need to congratulate Mike (Holmgren) and his group on four straight division titles. They earn it.”

(On the last four weeks…) “We’ve just played real solid, sound; a complete turn-around from the four weeks previous to that. We had four heart breaking losses in a row and our guys, we’ve been through a lot this year and I feel like we just played much better football, more solid; much better side of the give-away take-away ratio. I think you build up a little momentum may be a part of it but certainly I think our guys have overcome a lot this year and I think it’s probably had something to do with them being hungry here.”

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Matt Hasselbeck showed up for work Tuesday with a mustache. Wednesday it was gone -- after much razzing from teammates.

"You didn’t see it?" Hasselbeck answered when asked why he shaved it. "It was really bad. In fact, my two-year old son, he was trying to rip it off. He thought it was fake and he clawed me so I was bleeding all night last night. He and I, we actually shaved it off together. It wasn’t as popular at home as it was in the locker room so. They enjoyed laughing at me. I’ve had a few. I think the Reno 911 or even Jeff Hostettler, the Giants quarterback quite possibly.”

In a Washington Times story about crowd noise at Qwest, fullback Mike Sellers suggests that there is fake noise being generated by the home team. Here is the link.

Darrin Beene of the sports staff and Joe Barrentine of the photo desk have put together an audio slideshow review of the 2007 regular season.

“My mindset has not changed. How I’m approaching this is how I approached it last year. Probably the year before is the first time, and now in the future, at the end of each season Kathy and I will get away from here for a week and just kind of bang it around (the idea of retirement) a little bit and think about how we’re going to do this. I’ve mentioned this before. My whole thing is I have to have something to contribute, one; and that I still have the fire to do it. In fairness to everybody – the players, the owner, everybody – I think it’s important… you have to take some time and let thigns settle in. It’s an important decision and that’s what we’ll do.”

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The Washington Redskins did not practice today, holding a walk-through instead. We talked about this on KJR this morning, but the Skins have a very light week, their only real practice being held on Thursday. They fly Friday.

Deion Branch and Niko Koutouvides were the only players who did not practice today. Though Shaun Alexander was on the injured list as full participation, citing his wrist, Matt Hasselbeck was not placed on the report. He had the same amount of participation (full) on Wednesday as he did Tuesday.

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Healthwise, Mike Holmgren said the Seahawks are in good shape. Deion Branch was the only one he said he had concerns with, and that Branch would not practice today, if at all. He did say he thought Branch would be available to play, which would be only the third game that Branch and Hackett have played together. Holmgren said that having the two in the lineup gives them a lot of experience, while Jim Zorn said yesterday it gives them more flexibility in the sense that they can use their fully expanded play book. Holmgren didn't mention Niko Koutouvides, who he said last week may not be ready. We'll see who goes at practice today.

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Ashburn, VA - Washington Redskins' quarterback Todd Collins was namedthe NFC Offensive Player of the Month in December for his performance over the past four weeks.

Collins, who entered the team's Week 14 game against Chicago in the
second quarter for an injured Jason Campbell has led the team to four straight victories and a spot in the playoffs. In three and one-half games, Collins has completed a total of 67 of 105 pass attempts (63.8%) with five touchdowns and no interceptions for a quarterback rating of 106.4. Although he does not have enough pass attempts to qualify in the League rankings, his quarterback rating would rank second in the NFL behind only New England's Tom Brady (117.2) and his 8.46 yards per attempt would lead the League.

Collins earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his
performance off the bench against Chicago, completing 15 of 20 passesfor 224 yards and two touchdowns for a quarterback rating of 144.6 on the night.

I'm sure for most of you, Saturday can't get here quick enough. So here's some links to help stoke your playoff intensity.

From today's News Tribune — the newspaper for the South Sound.

Darren wrote a nice feature on rookie Brandon Mebane and his quirky personality and quality on-field contributions this season.

Dave's column tackles Leroy Hill and his propensity to rack up tackles in the postseason.

Frank wrote about the Redskins' inspired play after the murder of teammate Sean Taylor.

On Tuesday, Frank wrote a story about the Hawks' circuitous path to the playoffs.

Our old friend Mike Sando has a nice story on Bobby Engram, but his latest column — a breakdown surrounding the myths of NFL playoff success is pretty interesting.

Let's get to this week's victim, err, opponent, the Washington Redskins ....

Washington Post beat writer Jason La Canfora, one of the best in the business, has this story on back-up turned hero quarterback Todd Collins, who will start Saturday. Here's a story on the Redskins depth being a key for the playoff push. Here's something on former Hawk Shawn Springs, I can't imagine the fans at Qwest will give him any grief on Saturday.

The Post has an army of columnists so let's check out what they had to say.... Michael Wilbon has an overall look at the playoff picture. Tom Boswell wrote about head coach Joe Gibbs. Mike Wise wrote about Clinton Portis playing for his fallen friend.

Here's a story from the Washington Times talking about the playoff game between the Hawks and Redskins two years ago. Here's another story about the key play of several Redskins rookies. Here's a column looking at the playoffs.

There were a few questions left over from the last post that I wanted to address. First, I think Logan Payne was probably activated so that he wouldn't be plucked by another team in the offseason. I don't know what contract he signed, but if they gave him a deal that locks him up for next season, then they can bring him back at a time that they don't know the future of D.J. Hackett. Also, he can play some special teams. As for the plays at defensive end left behind by the departure of Baraka Atkins, I think those will be filled by Ellis Wyms rather than Babin. When they signed him, they liked Wyms' versatility.

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I forgot to mention this in the previous post. The Seahawks placed Baraka Atkins on the injured reserve after he hurt his ankle in Sunday's game against Atlanta. They signed WR Logan Payne from the practice squad. And they signed defensive tackle Kelly Talavou to the practice squad. Talavou played at the University of Utah. Here is a bio of Talavou.

Matt Hasselbeck went through the entire Tuesday practice with his teammates and is expected to play against Washington on Saturday. Offensive tackle Walter Jones also practiced. Because it's the playoffs, there will be no details forthcoming from practice. Also, the Seahawks were not required to submit an injured list today, though there will be a more detailed injured list after tomorrow's practice.

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KIRKLAND, WASH. — The Seattle Seahawks invite fans to unite and demonstrate their spirit this week to support the team in preparation for their Wild Card Game on Saturday, January 5.

Wednesday, January 2

The Seahawks 12th Man® Flag will be raised atop Seattle’s Space Needle to salute Seahawks fans and the team during the NFL playoffs. World-renowned mountain climber and Port Townsend resident,
Jim Whittaker will raise the flag.

=> Read more!

Tom Hammond
Chris Collinsworth

Also, the Seahawks are not having Mike Holmgren's news conference today. That will be tomorrow at noon. They are holding a 1:30 practice this afternoon, after which Holmgren will be available. The biggest thing to watch is how Matt Hasselbeck looks in practice with his dinged-up wrist. Also, this will be only the second time this year that both Deion Branch and D.J. Hackett are both available to Hasselbeck. I'll have updates from practice as soon as it's over, as well as some stuff from the locker room.

This was Joe Gibbs from yesterday:

On the Redskins’ fans:
“I first want to start with our fans. We set an attendance record and it was on a night when it wasn’t very pretty. It was bad weather. It illustrates the fans that we do have regardless of weather, any kind of conditions and really any kind of record. The first part of the year I know we had four tough losses. Our fans just continued to support us. I mentioned some of the fans that see us off out here and some of the fans that welcome us back at four in the morning. I really appreciate them. To set the record on that kind of a night I felt like was a real testimony to them. We really appreciate them and the way they get us ready to play.”

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