(On his fine performance today…) “No matter how many catches you have—or don’t have, I guess—there’s always something to learn from the game. That’s why we watch film every week.”
(On whether he’s had more success than he expected at the beginning of the season…) “Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. No matter what happened, it would’ve been a surprise, and in some ways, a shock to me.”

(On how it feels to have the most catches for a tight end in a season…) “It’s just kind of a function of our situation. Obviously, when you have so many receivers hurt, and I was the only guy that’s stayed healthy for quite a while on the receiving corps, the numbers are going to happen.”

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(On whether he was the intended receiver on the Seahawks’ last offensive play… ) I wish he had had the time to throw it. It didn’t work out. We had just spoken right before, they had lined up in the same defense, they gave us what we wanted, but we just couldn’t block it up.

(On having a great day against his own team, but end up losing…) The biggest thing is that I would rather take one catch and win the game, then to have 4 catches and all of the other stuff that went on in the game. It’s a sad thing for me with these guys fighting so hard, each and every day at practice, and then for us to go out and pretty much win the game for 3 quarters, and then we lose the game in the end. You almost would rather lose by three touchdowns than to lose that way.

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(On his play today… ) It felt good. Everybody played well. The offense; we did what we are capable of doing. We had some guys out, and some guys stepped in and played well. I think it was one of our best outings so far this year on the offensive side of the ball. Like I said, everybody played well. I felt like there was a couple of times out there, that I probably could have done a little bit more to help us out. It has been one of the years, and unfortunately we came up a little short today.

(On the last offensive play…) They just made a good play. They actually came out with that defense three times in the game. I called time out twice. It’s tough, because we don’t have an answer for it. We go up there and try to make something up and try to protect, and they just made a good play down there in the stretch. Mo tried to make a block, but [Meriweather] made a good play. I tried to hold on to the ball, but unfortunately I fumbled the ball.

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(Opening… ) The easy thing to write I suppose, or to say, is that we lost another close ball game. That is what has happened the last few times we have been at home, with an ending like that, where we have turned the ball over when we had the ball and we had to go down and score. I personally feel, that this game is a lot different than that, this particular game today. Without singling out any one person, I think the players played a good football game against a good team. But, we fell short. In some ways it is the same, but I think today was quite different in a lot of ways. I was proud of how they played.

(On the play of Seneca Wallace…) Seneca is the obvious. Quarterback is usually the obvious, and I think played well. He played within himself, he made special plays, I think. He threw 3 touchdown passes, no interceptions. It is the type of game you would like to have a quarterback play.

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Mike Holmgren seemed very different in this postgame news conference than in the past ones, when he seemed resigned to the fact that he did not have the horsepower to stay with opponents.

Today, he seemed almost melancholy that they lost this game. More than one guy said they would almost rather lose like they did in Dallas than lose this heartbreaker because having it in your hands and then letting it slip away is more difficult to take emotionally. Holmgren made a very odd remark about the guys playing well but he was not going to be specific about anyone. Usually that remark is made when a team doesn't play well. He didn't elaborate, but he clearly is not very happy that the defense can't get off the field on third downs in crucial situations. He said there will have to be some changes made there next year because that has been the team's downfall all year. That is the first time I have heard him say that is the team's downfall rather than injuries or a lack of pass rush, but he clearly is frustrated.

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THe Patriots just put together a 16-play drive that included three third-down conversions. New England scored on a 1-yard dive by Sammy Morris and then converted the two-point conversion with a pass from Matt Cassel to Wes Welker. Welker by the way has 12 catches for 134 yards. The Patriots hold a 24-21 lead with just over two minutes to go.

I am heading down to the field but will be back up with postgame in a while.

New England did not fold after Seattle's big plays and Branch's TD. On the strength of a 33-yard pass to Randy Moss that beat Josh Wilson, New England then kicked a 27-yard field goal to pull to within 21-16 with 12:19 left in the game. If nothing else, this is a good, competitive, fun game to watch.

Deion Branch made a huge 63-yard gain, which set up his second TD of the game, a one-handed four-yard fade pattern to the corner, beating Ellis Hobbs. The Seahawks have taken a 21-13 lead.

On the 63-yard play, Bill Belichick challenged that it was a catch. It was, after which Branch faked out Junior Seau, who looked every bit a 19-year veteran on the play. Branch then cut all the way across the field, got a couple big blocks, ran out of gas, deked a few more guys and finally was brought down at the 9.

If there was a game for Branch to play well, it was against his former team, which traded him to Seattle in 2006 after he did not get the contract he wanted.

The Patriots put together an 11-play drive but the defense held, forcing the Patriots to kick a 42-yard field goal to trim Seattle's lead to 14-13. The Seahawks continue to blitz, coming six times on that drive in eight pass attempts and getting some decent pressure on Matt Cassel.

I overheard (or was eavesdropping) on the NFL official in the press box just now and he is saying that the Seahawks actually recovered that fumble at the end of the half and should have been awarded the ball and been given at least one play with 11 seconds left.

The Seahawks look incredibly good given their injury situation, with a makeshift line and a backup quarterback. They have gotten good play from the interior of the line, Seneca Wallace looks good -- and healthy -- and the offense is clicking pretty well, enabling the Seahawks to take a 14-10 halftime lead over New England.

The defense, meanwhile, has done a pretty good job of containing the Patriots, limiting them to only 145 yards in the first half, including 98 by Matt Cassel. As promised, the defense has blitzed Cassel the majority of the time, and though it has only gotten to him once for a sack, he has not been able to find many of his receivers getting loose.

Seattle's running game looks productive, with 92 yards coming on the ground in the first half. Incidentally, T.J. Duckett came in off the bench to get carries in the second quarter rather than Julius Jones. Jones got very few carries in practice this week.

Ellis Hobbs' 55-yard kickoff return gave New England a very short field, which they converted into a TD when Matt Cassel hit Benjamin Watson for a two-yard TD pass to cur the lead to 14-10. A pass interference penalty on Marcus Trufant in the end zone set up the scoring pass. Trufant's PI on Randy Moss was a little questionable, I guess, he had his hand on Moss' shoulder but Moss also had a hand on Trufant.

Wow, the Seahawks look tremendous right now. Their offense is clicking. Their defense is holding up. They unexpectedly look very good against New England, staking themselves to a 14-3 after Seneca Wallace threw his second TD pass of the day, this one to tight end John Carlson. Carlson, the team's leading receiver, now has four catches for 50 yards.

And as Scott "Short Bus" Johnson pointed out, Mansfield Wrotto has never been on the field when the Seahawks have not put together a scoring drive.

The Patriots' nosetackle is out of the game with a shoulder injury he suffered on Seattle's first drive of the game.

It appears as if with Wilfork out they went to a 4-3 defense, but they are shifting around a lot.

The Patriots just cut the lead to 7-3 after Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 50-yard field goal. The defense actually held, but Craig Terrill was called for defensive holding that kept alive the drive. On the replay, it did not appear there was a hold, but Terrill's man went to the ground.

Oh, and the Seahawks blitzed on five of the six passes during the drive.

The Seahawks just put together a very impressive opening drive, culminating in a 14-yard TD pass from Seneca Wallace to Deion Branch, the former Patriots' first TD this season. It was a 13-play drive in which the offensive line looked very good, getting a good push, giving Wallace good protection. Seattle holds a 7-0 lead.

The Seahawks blitzed in three out of New England's first five plays, including a safety blitz on the third down pass where Jabar Gaffney was the intended receiver. On one play, they rushed only three, dropping Craig Terrill into coverage.

Seattle

K Brandon Coutu
S C.J. Wallace
LB Leroy Hill
T Na'Shan Goddard
T Walter Jones
DT Red Bryant
DE Brandon Miller
QB Matt Hasselbeck (will serve as the 3rd QB)

Sean Locklear will start at left tackle
Masfield Wrotto will start at right guard
Ray Willis will start at right tackle
D.D. Lewis will start for Leroy Hill

You might need this when Seattle’s game against the New England kicks off at 1:15 this afternoon.

The offensive line should look very different, particularly if left tackle Walter Jones does not play today, which is a distinct possibility.

If Jones can’t go, Sean Locklear will be the only player on the line that was a starter at the beginning of the season. Expect Locklear to play left tackle, Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack at left guard, Steve Vallos at center, Mansfield Wrotto at right guard and Ray Willis at right tackle.

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