Hey folks, The News Tribune's Joe Barrentine and Darrin Beene put together a pretty cool slide show commemorating Shaun Alexander's career in Seattle. There are some great photos from his time as a Seahawk, and that soothing, sultry voice you hear narrating is none other than my man Darrin. Take a look and enjoy.

Updated at 1:15 p.m.

The Seahawks have announced that Lofa Tatupu has signed a contract extension through the 2015 season. ESPN.com is reporting that the six-year extension is worth $40 million, with $16 million guaranteed. The deal includes the remaining two years on his original contract, plus six additional years.

The Seahawks restructured the contracts of Patrick Kerney, Deon Grant, Craig Terrill and Jordan Babineaux to make Tatupu's deal work. Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell said Tatupu's extension did not "free up any cap space."

The contract is essentially an eight-year deal, which is nearly unheard of in the NFL, and all but ensures that Tatupu will be a Seahawk for the rest of his pro football career.

"I couldn't picture myself in any other uniform," Tatupu said, "and now I don't have to."

Seattle general manager Tim Ruskell said the team and Tatupu's agent, Fletcher Smith, began talking about a contract extension in the summer, but the talks heated up after the playoffs.

The third-year middle linebacker has made Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell and head coach Mike Holmgren look awfully smart after they traded up to select the Southern Cal linebacker in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Since then, Tatupu has made three straight trips to the Pro Bowl and averaged 112 tackles per season.

As for running back Shaun Alexander, Ruskell said there has been no movement on that front. Ruskell did say that the team is still looking at what players are available in the free agent market, but said none of the signings will be a "big deal." The Seahawks are still in need of a kicker after Josh Brown signed with St. Louis earlier in the off-season.

(On the touchdown reception…) It’s kind of funny, Floyd Womack wanted to play on the beginning of that drive. I said I would try to say something to Mike, and I did, but Mike calls the play and I come out there, and I see him running downfield, so I have to make this one really count, and it was just a good play.

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RB Shaun Alexander

On scoring a touchdown in the first series in his first game back from injury:

“It’s been a long time, so it’s exciting. I was telling all the boys before the game started, ‘You don’t know how much you miss playing,’ let alone touchdowns or whatever. Just being with the boys and giving everything you’ve got out there, it was just a good feeling. It wasn’t even about the touchdown, it really wasn’t. I was just excited to be there. If you just go back a week, I’m calling [QB] Matt [Hasselbeck] right after the game’s over, and I’m asking, ‘Is he ok?’ I was sweating bullets the whole game with them when they were in St. Louis, and it was good to just be a part of the guys, and go out there and just do my part. It was exciting.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RB SHAUN ALEXANDER

(On his game today…) I felt better. I think that I definitely could come into the game and do some of the stuff I like to do, and playing with the passion, and do some good things out there.

(On not wanting to come out of the game…) Every time we get a lead I always have to get pulled, and I’m always fighting to stay in. He did that two years ago when we are on that big run, and I said “Mike, come on.” He usually gives me a warning, like hey if we score again, you’re coming out. And, it happened again. I think I am just one of those people that I like to play the whole game, and keep it going, and see what happens. That’s just how I am.

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In a rather confusing interview after the Seahawks' 95-minute, indoor practice, Shaun Alexander said that he is changing his running style this week from hitting the hole TOO hard to reading what the linemen are doing and being more patient. Here is the audiolink of some of his comments. They are actually answers to two questions, and you can hear the second question begin to be asked before I cut it off for time purposes. (Remember, we can only play 45 seconds of audio.) Most everybody walked away from the interview thinking, "Huh?" primarily because the criticism of Alexander this year, including from Mike Holmgren, is that Alexander is dancing around too much and not hitting the hole hard enough. In any case, take a listen and make your own judgment.

RB SHAUN ALEXANDER

(On the game today…) It was frustrating, confusing and disappointing. Any time that you get to play in a game like that where you can take leading the division and you can establish some things, it’s rough.

(On the offense…) I know we watched lots more film this week. I think after a while, we are going to have to just pop loose. We have to just keep working hard. We have a bunch of guys that like playing the game, they like playing with each other. We keep on playing and we will figure it out.

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“I just think the biggest thing with the cast is, especially the first couple weeks, it was heavier so I was just kind of off balance a lot. Getting used to that and then also learning how to get hit, it’s just different. It’s hard to explain until you have one on you. I’m falling on the ball. Most times you carry the ball in one hand, you fall on the other side. Learning how to fall on the same side and learning how to also take the hits from the same side, it’s just different.”