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

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

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

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

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SEAHAWKS

OUT

WR D.J. Hackett (ankle)

DID NOT PRACTICE

DT Rocky Bernard (groin)

S Mike Green (knee)

LB Will Herring (hamstring)

LB Lofa Tatupu (oblique)

FULL PARTICIPATION

RB Shaun Alexander (knee/wrist)

QB Matt Hasselbeck (leg)

DE Darryl Tapp (shoulder)

RB Maurice Morris (ankle)

C Chris Spencer (shoulder)

EAGLES

DID NOT PRACTICE

QB Donovan McNabb (ankle/thumb)

S Quintin Mikell (knee)

RB Brian Westbrook (knee)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

DT Brodrick Bunkley (knee/hamstring)

FULL PARTICIPATION

CB William James (foot)

WR Greg

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

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

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

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

"There’s nothing you can do about it. Sometimes they do a good job of that. Sometimes, it’s not so good. Again, one quick story. When we played in Green Bay, we played Carolina for the NFC Championship Game in 1996. We had played, I want to say maybe San Francisco. I don’t remember exactly. We played somebody the week before and Lambeau Field, there

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Here is the link.

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

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

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

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

On

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