Here's the full transcript of the Seattle Seahawks president Tim Ruskell's conversation with reporters this afternoon, courtesy of the team's public relations staff. It's pretty long, but certainly worth a read and hopefully will answer many of the questions some of you have had over the last several months.

[More:]

On how he’s been holding up through the season: “Oh, I’ve been good. Well, it’s been tough, to tell you the truth. It’s been a tough year. To quote a modern political phrase, it would be hard to put lipstick on that piggy. That was a hard one.

There’s a lot of blame to go around: the front office, players, and coaches. But, I think if you asked me, ‘How did it get that way?’—the injuries, I think, was the number one deal. When you have a Mike Holmgren-coached offense and you lose your quarterback for the bulk of the season, that’s really your engine. Mike, he would say that.

And then couple that with what happened at the receiver position, and then the offensive line, and then when the second engine came in, it wasn’t ready to go—in Seneca [Wallace]—with his injury. He really wasn’t Seneca, I thought, until the end of the year.

There’s other things. I think Coach said it great in his press conference: if you just think this is about the injuries, then you’re not paying proper attention, you know? Guys that we counted on—and count on—to play well for us didn’t have great years. There’s a lot of people in that category. I think the encouraging news about that is, in our exit interviews with the players, it wasn’t the pointing of fingers. It wasn’t, ‘They didn’t do good,’ or ‘That side didn’t…’ It was, ‘I have to do better.’ That was a constant theme throughout the interviews with the players: ‘I have to do better.’ We all do. We were 4-12.”

On how much this past season impacts the program moving forward and whether he shares Coach Holmgren’s opinion that it’s not as bad as it seems: “I do. Yes, I do. I think 4-12 will be the absolute motivation, certainly on the players’ part, to say, ‘We are better than that, and we know that, and we will have to do everything that we possibly can starting immediately to make sure that doesn’t happen again.’ Everybody’s pride was hurt. It’s a prideful group. That group has played a lot better, obviously. I think that’s a springboard into next season.”

On whether he sees this season as an aberration and not as a deep-rooted problem in the organization: “Yes. For the most part, I do. But you can’t just say that and then think it’s going to happen [differently. You can’t say,] ‘Well, it was that, so I’ll just do just like I did last year.’ No. We have to have a total recommitment and dedication from everybody in this building. It does not happen just because we show up and everybody’s healthy. I think Mike made that point, and it’s very true.

You have to really look at yourself—everybody does—and we have to come together as a team. Although, I will say this: if there’s a silver lining in last year’s season, it was how we stuck together. I was proud of the group for that. Coaches, players, it never got divisive, it never got to the finger-pointing stage. I’ve been with teams early in my career [where] that year would have really rocked the locker room, and you would’ve had some problems. But that did not happen. We thought they played hard all year long. We thought they were together. The preparation, all those things that you look for and say, ‘Oh, we’re pulling back here, we’re not the same,’—never saw that. I think that bodes well.”

On whether he was worried that the team would unravel in the face of such a tough season: “You know, we put so much emphasis on the type of guy that we bring into this team that I was pretty sure it wouldn’t happen. But you know, it’s hard when you have that many losses and you know everybody’s against you. I was pretty sure [it wouldn’t happen]. It didn’t happen. I think that also bodes well and will help us as we go forward, the type of guy that’s here.”

On whether there were any pieces he thought were well in place that didn’t perform the way he expected them to this year: “Sure. We all felt good about the defense, right? Not so much how it was assembled, but we just felt like that group, based on what we’d seen the year before—and there was inconsistency in the year before—but at times we played really well and the coaches’ charge in the offseason was, ‘Okay, you played well, you did really good at home, but not as consistent on the road.’

So, really, the theme in the offseason and in training camp was, we shore that up, [and we’re okay]. We all felt that, and that did not happen to any kind of consistent manner. Our rush wasn’t what we thought it would be. Obviously [Patrick] Kerney getting hurt [didn’t help], but you know, that’s not fair [to put it on one guy]. There’s more to it than that.

Our rush was just never consistent all year long, whether it was from the four-man or in our blitz packages. We were not getting to the quarterback. The quarterbacks were having way too much time and were way too comfortable running their pass offense, and we got hurt that way. That, to me, was disappointing. That’s really where we have to…I don’t think it’s an overhaul. I do not. I think we’ve got good players. I just think that the attitude, the sinking of that defense, and then really honing in on pass-rushing: what do we have to do there to make that work? It’s basically the same guys that, the year before, had done a good job. Now, we lost the 14 and a half sacks from Kerney, but there’s more to it than that. It’s not just the one man.”

On whether there’s something he would’ve done differently with the defensive personnel: “You know, we weren’t thinking that way. No. We weren’t. Drafting a [Lawrence] Jackson, and bringing in Red [Bryant] in the fourth round, we loved the way they looked in training camp. I thought Lawrence had an especially good preseason, and then started off the year well, and then—as rookies sometimes do—flattened out, plateaued. So you were hoping to get more juice there, but that didn’t happen. But I just think as a group, as we talked to the guys, they just didn’t have the kind of year they were expecting. It hit a lot of guys at the same time. It was disappointing. They’re disappointed, we’re all disappointed in that aspect. That is really what drives your defense; it’s a pressure game, especially the way we play defense. And it wasn’t getting there.”

On whether the problems on defense were scheme-related: “Hard to answer. It was a catch-22. At times, when we were trying to get pressure and we didn’t get there, then you had man-coverage, and we all know that the big plays increased dramatically from the year before. So that’s the game you play every week. That’s the chess match, and you either win or lose that. Too often this year, we lost.”

On how much he thinks the defense needs to increase in size this offseason: “No, I’m not a believer in the size. We have some small players, but do we get rid of Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill? That’s not it. It’s the coordination, the synchronization of the defense, everybody doing their job and putting guys in the positions—based on their skills—to be productive. We’ve got to do a better job of that, and we will do a better job. And then there’s attitude. When there’s one or two guys making the tackle on an outside screen play as opposed to four or five, then you’re not going to get the job done, so there’s that as well. It’s an attitude thing.”

On whether he believes Coach Mora will be more aggressive with the defense: “Yes. The Jim that I knew in the year that I was with him in Atlanta—very much, that is his philosophy. He’s an attacking predator-type guy. It wasn’t that we were so much of a big defense in Atlanta, and the same with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: that is not a big defense. But their pressure and attacking, they’re very successful, and they’ve been ranked highly. That is his M.O.”

On whether there have been any other definite coaching changes besides Greg Knapp taking over as offensive coordinator: “That’s the only one that we’ve done so far.”

On whether anyone on the current coaching staff has been told that they won’t be coming back: “No. It’s a process, and we’re going through it, and we want to do it right and be fair. So, this is the hard time. This is the hard time for everybody. We’re going to put together the best possible staff we possibly can.”

On whether right now, all he’s doing is seeing if anyone out there is better than the staff he already has in place: “Basically, that’s fair to say.”

On how different the offensive coordinator’s job will be with a defensive mind like Coach Mora’s as the head coach: “They were together in Atlanta, with Jim as the head coach. Greg will call the plays, but Jim will have a lot of influence. He goes into the offensive meeting rooms. He’s one of those guys that will float the building, and has ideas, and very much is into a game plan that incorporates not just the offensive team. If the offense is going to do this, then this is what we have to do on defense, and this is what the special teams have to do. A total game plan. I know that was something they worked on very hard in Atlanta. I know he’ll bring that to our team as well.”

On whether Greg Knapp’s emphasis is more on the run game than the passing game: “It could. You know, what they’re going to do a really good job of is based on the personnel. What can we do based on our personnel? [It’s] not so much, ‘Okay, just get the guys that fit our scheme.’ [It’s more about,] ‘Who do we have here, and what are we going to best be able to do?’ Obviously, with some of the things that we’ve done with the people we’ve brought in with the run game, with the addition of Mike Solari and Greg Knapp—those two guys worked together as well in San Francisco—I think we continue to improve our run game. I’m very much a believer in the run game, as is Jim, and if you get the run game going, and the defense, you look at a lot of these playoff teams, that’s a formula that works.”

On whether there are any assistant coaches that will definitely return next season: “Yes, there will be. We’ll figure all that out. Like I said, as anything gets changed or added, we’ll make sure you know.”

On whether Coach Solari will definitely be around for another season: “He will be here, that’s correct.”

On whether he and Coach Mora have a timeline for when they’d like to be finished building the coaching staff: “No. We’d like to do it as quickly as possible, but we’re not going to make a silly decision. Jim’s very thorough in his interviews. Some would say way beyond. [Laughs.] There’s a lot of late nights going on. He really wants to get to know these guys that he’s not as familiar with. So, I can’t really put a timeline on it. But we’d like to get that in place—ideally, you’d say, ‘It’d be nice to have it by the Senior Bowl,’ but I don’t know if that’s realistic.”

On whether he’s helping Coach Mora build the staff: “It’s a collaborative effort. It absolutely it. That’s the way we worked together before, and that’s the way we’ll continue to work. Obviously he knows a lot of coaches. He’s a coaches’ coach, and he’s been in this league a long time, as I have, so we run names by each other and then we decide, ‘Is that a fit?’ And then we make a decision.”

On the plusses and minuses of announcing that Coach Mora will be the head coach in 2009 last year: “Well, the plus is that I’m not in the middle of a head coaching search. Whew! [Laughs.] That’s a good one. You know, I look back and I don’t know that we would change anything that we did. Obviously we would all change how the season came out, but Coach [Holmgren] was very adamant when he made his decision that this was going to happen and we needed to get on with looking for our next coach.

Jim was in the building and we liked what he did for us in terms of what we asked him to do with the secondary. He was a good fit for us, and we all felt good about that. We thought, ‘Let’s minimize the distractions and the controversy by just going ahead and naming him the next coach. Then that’s out of the way and we can concentrate on the season ahead.’ By and large, I thought that worked perfectly.

And then you have a coach now who has been with the team. He’s not coming in here trying to assess the players; he knows these players! And he has an idea of what he wants to do with them. So you don’t get that chaos of, ‘Is this guy going to wipe out one side of the ball because they don’t fit his scheme?’ which a lot of these teams are going to get with these new coaches. So, many more plusses than minuses, the minus being that it was tried to be made [out] as a controversy and I don’t think it was. You guys talked to the players all year: ‘Is this a problem?’ But I don’t think it was a distraction. There’s really no other real minuses.”

On whether having Coach Mora already in place worked to the team’s advantage during a poor year: “Right. [The coaches and players would have said,] ‘Not only do we not know who the next guy is, when is that going to happen?’ It would’ve been distracting for Mike, ‘Jeez, what am I going to do?’ So I just think that that was the right thing to do. I’m not saying it’s a blueprint for the rest of the NFL. Everything has to be in place. You have to have a guy you feel really good about, and the coach has to decide, ‘My time is near,’ but it worked for us.”

On the current speculation that the team might let Matt Hasselbeck go: “Do I have to address that one? Matt’s our quarterback. We’re very happy that he is.”

On whether there will be any major personnel or scheme changes with the new coaches: “You know, I think the fair thing to do is get the staff together [first]. I don’t anticipate that. I really don’t, because Jim has looked at this and he knows that the players we have fit that. Obviously, you don’t want to make too much of a dramatic shift in terminology, where the guys are starting from ground zero with their learning. I think we have that with Greg. Now, will Greg Knapp’s offense be different? Absolutely. It comes from a base, and they branch off. He’s got new ideas and different ways of doing things, so if that’s dramatic, then yes, you’ll see that. But certainly no real overhaul in the players. We like our players, and they fit what we try to do.”

On how, in previous years, he’s redone a few different position groups, like the linebackers and running backs, and whether that is in the cards this year: “I don’t think to that scale. I know this: we don’t want to get caught with the situation we had at receiver going into this year. That was more driven by the health deals, and we’ve got some guys that are recovering. But I wouldn’t put it to that level. That would be a point of emphasis.”

On Coach Holmgren hinting at the fact that he might want to return, and whether he ever said that to him: “No, he didn’t. But it makes sense. The way he put it in the press conference, I thought, was perfect. You’ve made this decision, and now you think that we’re going to have a really good year, and there’s no distractions, and here we go, and we like our football team. And then boom, it’s not going well. And you say, ‘I don’t want to go out like this.’ That’s how he explained it, and that’s how I took it. He never expressed that to me or Tod [Leiweke], but I can understand that. Jeez. This is not how this was supposed to be written! But I don’t think it was anything more than that. He said, in his quiet moments and in his time of reflection, that he knew absolutely it was the right decision.”

On whether Leroy Hill might get a franchise tag: “Sure. He’s an absolute priority.”

On where Bobby Engram fits into the organization going forward: “We like Bobby. As a matter of fact, we had a conversation last week. We have great respect for each other, and he wants to be here, and who wouldn’t want him to be a part of it? What I told Bobby was, let’s get the staff together and just see where the fit is for him and for us. He said, ‘You know what? That’s the right thing.’ And we’ll talk again.”

On whether he’s open to signing Engram to a multiple-year contract: “I don’t want to get into any of that. We had our disagreements last year about how to do that. The same arguments will come up. But the bottom line is, he would like to be a Seahawk and finish his career a Seahawk, and we would like that as well.”

On whether there are any surgeries coming up in the offseason that haven’t yet been disclosed: “You’ve seen the bulk of them. All those that you just mentioned [Walter Jones, Nate Burleson, Patrick Kerney] are going well, and ahead of schedule. What we would like to have happen is, as many guys that were injured during the season, have them back for the minicamps so they don’t miss anything. I don’t know that we’ll get there with Kerney and Walter, but I think most of the rest of the guys, we will. That’s a good thing.”

On whether Coach Mora will hold the new extra minicamp: “Jim’s very focused on doing that. You can do that in early April, I think as early as the first weekend in April. It’s generally a voluntary deal, but you have that one to play with.”

On whether Tatupu will require surgery: “They’re assessing that right now, with his thumb. Is that what you’re talking about? They’re talking about the thumb, [not the knee].”

On how Deon Grant is: “He’s fine, yes.”

On whether he believes that the pieces are, for the most part, in place to have another championship season next year: “I do. When I say that, I’m also counting that we have a pretty high draft pick, and we’re going to get an influx of some really young energy, and guys that we think can play for us. We’ll have strategic use of free-agency as well, and re-signing our own players. So I incorporate all that when I say, we’re pretty much there in terms of the people we have right now staying with us on the roster. You’re not going to see a major overhaul.”

On whether the organization thinks, financially, that it’s in good shape to build the roster and make moves: “We do.”

On whether there are some high-paid players who will need to be let go or at least have their contracts restructured: “Everybody around the league is going through the economic crisis that we all are, so we’re looking at that hard. But in terms of the question that you’re asking: is that going to force us to get rid of a player, or restructure? I don’t anticipate anything like that. We can do what we need to do. But everybody, you’ll see moves being made around the league because it’s tight for everybody. It puts pressure on all your revenue streams. We’re all going to be cognizant of that.”

On when he expects Walter Jones to be back: “We expect him for training camp. I’m very encouraged by how that went. It went very well.”

On having such a high draft pick and whether they might use it for a replacement for Jones: “Well, you’re not going to find a Walter Jones, that’s for sure. [Laughs.] I can say that right now. Sure. As I look at it, there’s really no position that we can really rule out. We like what we’re seeing in the draft, so we’ll have to see past January 20th to see who got added, and we have not had those meetings to really nail that down. Certainly, you want input from the new staff, but we like what we’re seeing in the draft, and we will help this football team. But there’s really no position that’s out or in yet. We haven’t done that yet. But we have to look at, sure. You always have to look at that group and say, ‘Where are we at? Are we getting too old?’ Same with the defensive line. You don’t want to let those slip because they drive the train behind it.”

On whether it’s becoming more common for teams, like Miami this year, to go from a dreadful season to suddenly being a championship contender: “I think what it shows is that the teams are pretty close in their personnel. Maybe you take two or three off the top and two or three off the bottom, and you look at those 26, 27 [ranked] teams, you say, ‘You know what? They’re kind of close personnel.’

So really, what it comes down to is just attitude. Those teams changed their attitudes. That came out via the coaching staff, or whatever changes they made they made in the front office or what have you. So yes, our league, because of the stress of parody over the last ten or 15 years, it can happen. You’re absolutely right. And the personnel is pretty darn close team to team, so if you get an attitude shift, or a team’s gone through something really horrible in terms of a bad season, and all the players are upset and want to change that, you get that commitment and the chemistry going. You can do it.

That’ll be part of what we have to do. We have to change the attitude. [In Miami,] really, other than the quarterback, a lot of those players were on that team. Porter was there. But the way they played compared with the year before in terms of being physical and aggressive and taking on the personalities of their head coach, I think that’s where you saw the change. It wasn’t so much the overhaul of the roster.

It really wasn’t an overhaul of the roster. [There were more] personnel changes in Atlanta, when you’ve got the running back who came in and the quarterback, obviously, just played fantastic. But attitude—Coach Smith’s attitude, what Mularkey brought to the offense in terms of putting the right touches with guys playing their natural positions, and the scheme, that all contributed. But you know, was it still 80% of the roster from the year before? Yes, it was. It was. So, you can do it, more so probably than in the NBA or Major League Baseball, in the NFL you can make the change quickly.”

On the Rams being terrible and then winning the Super Bowl the next year, and whether that could happen for the Seahawks: “That was a biggie. I’m sure there were other ones, they’re just not coming to mind right now. In the advent of free-agency, obviously that’s been easier to do. Back in the 70s and 80s, you never saw that. You always heard about the three-year plan and the five-year plan, and those were real. A new coach was not expected to come in one year and turn it around. Now, you better get it done right now! It’s hard. That’s why you see so much turnover in our league; the impatience of that. But it can be done. There are many examples, maybe starting with the Rams, on through this year.”

On whether he felt targeted by the fans and media this year for the first time because of the losing season: “You know, I don’t think that way. I love what I do. This is a great job. That’s something I can’t control. I know I’ve been accused of being silent this year, but that’s really been a philosophy that we’ve had since I got here. I kind of learned from Rich McKay and the way he handled it in Tampa and the way he handled it in Atlanta, in that, during the season, you let the coach be the spokesman for the team. The players should know that any talk about the team’s coming from the head coach. And then in the offseason, he would take over. I thought that was the right way to do it. That’s always been my philosophy and we’ll always do it that way. No, I haven’t felt like a target. I’ve heard the criticism, but it just doesn’t really affect me.”

On the criticism that he took credit for winning seasons but then was silent during this season: “I don’t remember taking all the credit when we were winning. I’m all about team guys; everybody in building is all about team. When we do poorly we should all own up to it, and if we do well then there is plenty to go around. I don’t think about it being about me. Jim is not like that, and that is not the way we think. Football is the ultimate team sport and it can’t just be the players, it has to be the front office and it has to be the coaching staff. Those departments are just as important as the players. If the players look upstairs and see our group is tight and connected, then it puts the players at ease. That is the way you have to do it, and that is the way we do it here.”

On making moves this past season to try to salvage it: “Sure, many talks that way. I think we ended up making the move for Keary Colbert and that was a move out of desperation. If we would have sat and thought and said, ‘Let’s just give these young players some more time…’ We thought we needed another veteran and we did that move and it didn’t pan out. I regret that move, and that was born out of desperation. With the guys we had here who were with us all through camp and knew the offense…It was hard to incorporate someone new into the offense and it really wasn’t fair for Keary.”

On the play of Koren Robinson this past season: “I’m proud of him. He convinced us when we started doing research on him and found out that he had changed in terms of what he has done with his family and rehab. The trigger sometimes for people who have an addiction or a problem is pressure. It’s a good story, and I’m glad we did the deal. And he helped us. It made him feel good, and he was able to come back and conquer a demon and finish what he started. I know he really appreciated coming back and Coach Holmgren giving him another opportunity to play. Not everybody gets a second chance. He did a nice job for us; the way Koren blocked for us this year was great. The problem is, it never made the highlight film! On most of our big runs, he was involved and did a heck of a job. We told him that. Almost every week he had a couple of nice catches that helped us out.”

On whether Koren Robinson will be coming back next season: “We have not made that decision. I want to get the coaching staff together and we will make the decision on guys like him.”

On whether any assistant coaches have decided to retire: “Yes: Jim Lind and John Jamison.”

On a possible role for Gill Haskell next season: “There are consulting jobs around the league, offensive assistant positions. But that is something that he and Jim would have to talk about. It is actually pretty common for guys to go into those types of roles.”

On picking up another late round draft pick for the one Seattle lost in the Keary Colbert trade from Denver: “You can do that, especially on day-two of the draft. Guys call up and ask to trade their six for my two seven round spots. We are not worried about it and there are options open for us to get our fifth-rounder back, we are not focused on it right now. For us to go get another third or fourth round pick, then you’ll have to give up something. A fifth rounder is very doable.”

On having the fourth overall draft pick: “It really invigorates the scouts. So many times they like to scout the top players because they are the ones making all the plays and are on ESPN. We usually say, ‘Let’s forget about those guys,’ and give them a list of guys we wanted them to concentrate on. It invigorates the personnel staff and makes us work harder to know everything because the stakes are higher and the dollars are higher. Everybody gets involved and it brings the personnel and coaching staff together because we want everybody to be on the same page. The whole building is going to make sure whoever we choose is successful, and it’s fun.”

On not selecting an offensive lineman with their first-round pick: “I have never been fond of the high offensive lineman, but I don’t know if that is a correct way to look at it, with the increased importance placed on the left tackle. It’s not a sexy pick and you can’t really show the highlights. It is important, and it’s the nuts and bolts to the football team. The reality is, there are guys who warrant that pick and there have been guys who have been successful in our league. Just looking at it, the offensive linemen in this draft are pretty strong.”

On having two kickers all season: “We drafted [Brandon] Coutu and he was seven-for-seven during the preseason. There was a lot of talk about him and we thought we should hang onto him till at least the trade deadline. Olindo [Mare], coming off the year he had [last year], we wanted to make sure he was healthy. He had two down years prior to coming here. Obviously, as the season continued, Olindo was fantastic. After the trade deadline, there was never any pressure that we had to have another roster spot, so we kept Brandon as insurance. Is Brandon coming back for training camp? Right now he is. I understand why people would question why we would have two kickers. The deadline was over so we didn’t have the pressure to make a change at that spot on the roster.”

On bringing back Olindo Mare: “Yes, we would be crazy not to. All those years when he was with the Miami Dolphins—[that is] the Olindo I had always known. It is these last two years prior to last season that didn’t make sense to me. When we tested him out, the leg is still there. All credit to him for working hard during rehab and for having a fabulous year. I wish it was a year where we were winning games and going to the playoffs, because he deserved it.”

On the situation at running back: “I feel good about it. Obviously we have a couple of free agents that we have to make decisions on. We would like to have both [Leonard] Weaver and [Maurice] Morris back. Greg Knapp is looking at the position to see how he likes it. Julius started off the year good and had a couple of big games, but he got into the doghouse a little bit with the fumbling. Maurice was able to emerge and have a good second half. We increased our run per carry this past season, so I thought there was improvement, and I think you will see that more and more with [Mike] Solari getting comfortable with our offensive line. I thought we made improvement. Would I have liked it to be more dramatic? Sure, but it was pretty good.”

On the health of Chris Spencer and Rob Sims: “They are doing well and we need them to be doing well.”

On whether Spencer will need back surgery: “That has not been determined yet and everything we did was geared towards not having surgery. That has not been determined yet.”

On the play of the offensive line the last few games of the season: “It made us feel good. We think we have some depth there and just the way [Mansfield] Wrotto and [Steve] Vallos developed bodes well for the future. Those guys looked good in training camp, but you never know how they will do in the regular season—and they did a good job. They went toe-to-toe with some very good defensive lineman. Kyle Williams hung in there and those guys hung in there and showed they can play. This gives us the depth, and we will have some interesting battles this offseason and in training camp. Having guys we know that can play is very helpful for us going into next season.”

On whether they’ll re-sign Ray Willis and Floyd Womack: “I want us to get together as a group and look at them objectively. If we did lose one of these guys, are we okay? The good news is, we do like those guys and they did get a chance to play. Our guys have done a great job at drafting offensive lineman in the fourth round. We started with Ray Willis, then Rob Sims and finally Wrotto. That lends into my philosophy of not drafting a lineman so high in the draft. If they are well-coached and they work together and you have tough guys then they can work together. Everybody knows the offensive line is about continuity. Once you’re above the bar talent-wise, then it’s about continuity and working together.”

On whether he believes the offensive line is above the bar talent-wise: “I do, yes.”

On whether Vallos will become the starting center: “That is not for me to say. I like both those guys and when Chris [Spencer] was playing, he did a heck of a job. We didn’t know what we were going to get with Steve but he did a heck of a job too. You want competition and if you have two good centers, then you’re that much better off. Steve has played other positions; he played tackle in college, we drafted him as a guard and now he has played center. The versatility is really important.”

On the health of Matt Hasselbeck: “He just needs to rest and we’re making progress but it’s slow. That is the way backs work.”

On Seneca Wallace proving he can play in the league: “We have resigned him twice since I have been here. In ’06 when he had to play four games and we were 2-2, he did some nice things. The Seneca we saw earlier in the year was not Seneca Wallace. Even in the Miami game, he played well but from the third quarter on, he could barely move. I always felt good about him and do feel good about him and I’m glad we have him. Defenses know how good he is and they have to prepare a little more because of his running ability.”

On thinking about the next franchise quarterback: “Sure, you have to think about the future, and Matt [Hasselbeck] is not going to play forever. He is still playing at a high level and he is still our quarterback and we feel really good about that. At some point you will have to plan for the future and we are cognitive of that.”

On Seneca Wallace being mistaken that a clause in his contract deemed him to be a free agent this offseason: “I don’t like to discuss players’ contracts. All these guys have clauses in their contracts that if they hit certain numbers they get extra money. We are happy to oblige because that means they’re playing good.”

On having three players with back injuries last season: “We look at everything in terms of conditioning. You hear a lot of from teams of overtraining guys because it is a year-long process now. We don’t want to say luck or bad luck drives what we are going to do. We will look at everything. Part of it was things just not going our way with injuries towards certain positions and how many guys were hurt. I think you always have to keep looking at your offseason programs, training camp, and what you’re doing in the weight room. When you see you a trend you will make changes and it’s not like it has been this way every year.”

On franchising Leroy Hill: “All options will be open. Obviously we are starting talks again with his agent. Our priority is to have him back on the football team.”

On Leroy Hill coming back from the stinger injury: “Yes, he is good. Too bad we don’t have a game this week. He would be ready to go hit somebody!”

On having a large percent of the salary cap tied into the linebacker positions: “It’s unusual, but if that is one of the strengths of your team or your defense, then that is your identity. Maybe that means you can’t go with as many guys getting paid on the defensive line or in the secondary. Sometimes teams have three guys in their secondary getting paid. It’s something we have to think about because it’s not like we don’t have a salary cap, and every move affects every other move. We have those conversations every day.”

On looking back at the Deion Branch trade a few seasons ago: “Obviously it has been frustrating that Deion hasn’t had a stretch were he is completely healthy. Before he was hurt last year with the calf injury, he had a streak of about seven games where he was the man. To me, he finally figured out the offense and then he got hurt with the knee injury in Green Bay. He really hasn’t had a streak where we can see his full potential. When he is healthy and playing, I like him and I’m glad he is on the team, and he is a good player for us and will be going into the future. He is a guy the team can jump on his back and he’ll carry you for stretches at a time. He is guy who can make a lot of catches and score touchdowns and that is what’s frustrating for Deion and for us. I hope that is coming next season. I think he will finally have an offseason where he is here for the whole offseason and he will be incorporated into the new offense. My hope is, we will see Deion play 16 games and help us win.”