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."
(On what he likes seeing from Shaun Alexander…) "He’s moving. He is really moving well. He has no pain and he wants to play. I’m probably going to play Mo (Maurice Morris) too. We’re going to play them both. Mo will probably play a little bit more than before Shaun (Alexander) was hurt. I think understands that. He’s handling it like a real professional."
(On if Shaun Alexander is on a snap count due to inactivity…) "No. When I’ve tried that it usually doesn’t work out. We’ll just do what we have to do."
(On if Maurice Morris and Shaun Alexander will split time evenly…) "I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s going to come down. Like I’ve said, anything I would say it’s probably not going to be the way it is so we’ll just have to play it and see how it goes."
(On how much it helps having Shaun Alexander back…) "It always helps. Think of this now. We’re getting back the MVP of the league. Last year when he was hurt we struggled just a little bit. He came back and gave us a little bit of burst at the end there, remember. I’m hopeful it will be the same thing this year."
Game balls went to Matt Hasselbeck, Patrick Kerney and Mike Green.
Hopefully Shaun saw how hard Mo was hitting the holes and gets motivated to pound the ball. The holes are closing fast, he’s going to need to get there quick.
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This is just great news. I’ll sleep so much better now knowing #37 looked great in practice. He has the pain threashold of a 12 year old. Farve on the other hand seperated his shoulder and is good to go this Sunday.
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Smart move to start him on the road. He can make as many mistakes as he wants and the crowd will just cheer him on.
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cram, dude, wrong Sunday. maybe your bell got rung on that Plack play too.
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dang your right.. wondered what all the ringing was about… kept opening the front door. should have known the dag wasn’t barking.
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Damnit!! I thought we were going to win 4 straight. There goes that thought out the window with Shauna starting.
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i cant wait to see his genius explanation for the press conference after the eagles game responding to a 10 carry, 25 yard effort:
“well, i feel i played pretty good. i picked up a key 1st down and to tell you the truth, i kinda felt like the wind out there today.”
btw hawks win.
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Give the guy another chance, guys. He’s talking differently than he was before missing those three games. Maybe he finally feels like there is something to play for with Mo putting up decent numbers?
I’m calling a huge game for Shaun.
…at least 40 yards!
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That’s 40 yrds with a big #37 smile.
We still win if our Dee plays their A game. Westbrook scares me. Imagine if Shaun could catch. He’d be knocking on the Hall of Fame door.
Kerney is an animal. Great job picking up Mebane also.
Hawks win 27-17
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Shaun isn’t knocking on the hall door, he has already pretty much knocked it down. Say what you will about his injury plagued last two seasons but the numbers he put up over the previous five years are nearly unrivaled. the first player in NFL HISTORY with 5 consecutive years of 15+ TD’s. enough said right there.
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Yes, give Mr Alexander a chance. I don’t care who starts or who does what, I just want to see us continue to win games. If Shaun is motivated he can be a force to deal with and he deserves the opportunity to show that. But I think this game will down more on whether our D can stop Westbrook. This will be a good test of whether the Hawks are contenders or pretenders.
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We had better not try to throw any passes to him, period.
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If he leaves his clanky hands, fraidy cat pass protection and “pooch” running style at home, perhaps he can revive his career.
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If he gets 1 yard and the winning TD that will be fine with me : )
There is only 1 Stat that matters. That’s a W
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I just hope he doesn’t tackle himself. Go Shaun! If he plays like he did at the end of last year, we will all be praising him on Monday. Let’s just hope this isn’t too early in the season for him to be coming back. No matter who is playing RB, I hope we stick with the pass first offense.
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i hope shaun plays well hell i hope he plays great however he can’t hold the ball in his left hand can’t catch and can’t block leading with the broken hand.doesnt sound good does it when you look at it that way does it?
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If the hawks lose by golly I would fired Holmgren for fact he gone give cry baby alexander another chance. If I was holmgren I would never start Alexander another game. He had his chance during first half of season. I dont give crap if he has broken hand. If he cant play with that hand than we should have put him on the IR. Morris is doing great at RB. He can block and catch the ball unlike cry baby alexander.
If it not broke you dont fix it. Well it wasnt broke with morris so let morris start untill he proves otherwise. Now let go watch a game and watch the press conference of Alexander acting like baby about how it has to be him to win the game. I remember certain play where he mess it up because he couldnt hear the call when he think it was change. He not a leader on the field Matt Hasselback is because QB and LB are the ones who get to change play no one else. So Alexander goodbye because your over the hill as RB.
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their my rant for shaun alexander. Go hawks and I hope that Shaun has terrible game so he can cry like he always do than his fans would notice he just being big baby and not team player which he never was.
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If it looks like a wimp and runs like a wimp… then it must be a Shaun Alexander.
Alright, I’ll give him another chance to start because we all have no say in the matter. But if the fans boos don’t motivate him then Mo playing and the team winning shouldn’t either.
One way or another, I think Shaun Alexander has had a chance to show his quality and he is definitely not a Faramir.
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Eagles fans rejoice at hearing Westbrook and Alexander will start this Sunday.
bigmike04 reading your comments is worse than watching SA tackle himself.
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like holmey is going to say we had a bad bad practice… this is just a pre game chess match between coachs. BTW was SA wearing a red shirt? just curious.
“I’m probably going to play Mo (Maurice Morris) too” this doesnt sound to promising.
“On if Shaun Alexander is on a snap count due to inactivity…) "No. When I’ve tried that it usually doesn’t work out. We’ll just do what we have to do."
(On if Maurice Morris and Shaun Alexander will split time evenly…) "I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s going to come down. Like I’ve said, anything I would say it’s probably not going to be the way it is so we’ll just have to play it and see how it goes."
so pretty much we have no game plan for the running game… or this is yet another chess match comment.
“(On how much it helps having Shaun Alexander back…) "It always helps. Think of this now. We’re getting back the MVP of the league. Last year when he was hurt we struggled just a little bit. He came back and gave us a little bit of burst at the end there, remember. I’m hopeful it will be the same thing this year."
I remember, first game back he had less then 70 yards but the second game back he had 201 yards. He posted two 90 yard games and one 140 yard game after he came back. He didnt get a TD until his third game back. He totaled 5 TD’s after his break last year. He came back for week 11.
This year he’s 24th amongst rushers with yards per game at 61yards.
Last year he had 89 yards per game season average.
Last year he had 2 TD’s leading up to week 13 (he sat out 6 games plus a bye week).
This year he has 2 TD’s leading up to week 13.
Last year he had a 3.14ypc in 5 games leading up to week 13.
This year he has a 3.3ypc in 8 games leading up to week 13.
Last year he didnt have a cast, This year he does.
One more stat, that’s somewhat surprising… last year he totaled with just 48 yards receiving on 12 catches.
This year he has already received 56 yards on 12 catches.
I dont expect a strong performance this week, but if history repeats itself, he should have a good rest of the season performance.
I personally dont see a repeat of last year as long as SA has only one arm…. but… i for the teams sake, i hope im wrong.
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gotta love those self tackles. Makes you wonder if it’s a weiner dog that causes those or himself.
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A bit ironic to hear a fan call a player “not a team player” and wish for him to have a bad game. Not a team fan, perhaps?
One thing Alexander brings that Morris does not, is that teams plan for Alexander, and that occupies some of their planning time.
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oldslow… exactly how much time does it really take to plan for someone that’s injured and probably about 75% (or lower) healthy? Here’s a plan.. took me two seconds to come up with it… let him run left, get no yards and tackle him.
What you neglect to realize is, planning for dual backs or just planning for MOMO takes more time. How many games has momo started/played in compared to SA? not that many. Can you tell me which way MOMO is going to run, how many yards he normally gets when the guards block? when will he be used in the draw? When will he be used as a receiver? I can’t tell you either
ANd yes this is ironic, a fan of the HAWKS as a football team and a good one at that giving stats on SA’s tendencies baised on history. Weird.
BTW, SA has missed 9 games in the last 2 years. That’s just over a half of a season. Isnt it a safe bet to say he’s injury proned now? How well do injury proned players (players that get injuried and have to miss games) really perform?
I understand if this is way over your head. I’ll give you a pass.
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Navy -
I agree, Morris presents a more diverse threat because of his skill set. Also, there is no really enoug tape on the O with Mo/Weaver fo Defenses to successfully game plan against which gives us another slight advantage. In this league, any small advantage can mean the difference.
If we lose and I See a happy grinning SA ( like after the Pittsburg game) and a 40 yard performance I am going to lose my mind.
My guess is Holmy is no dummy and we probably won’t see as much SA as we fear.
As for SA injury proneness,I will repeat what I said awhile ago (just because it was so brilliant!) :SA runs scared to avoind contact. In my experience people who play a contact came scared attract injury. I don’t know why, it just happens.
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very true stumptownhawk (i wont quote what im agreeing with they dont like that here).
A great player once said, if you play football with fear, your not going to successful. This could be said for alot of things… like going to war for example (not to bring up another subject but i know someone will be dumb and comment on the war thing lol).
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Anyone saying “give SA a chance” is doesn’t watch enough games. He has a caste on his hand still right?. If it aint broke don’t fix it right? MoMo and the past-first offense is doing great with out SA, let’s keep it that way.
The only way this can work out is to use MoMo in the first half and SA in second once everyone knows were going to waste all of our possessions running the ball up the middle instead of keeping the pressure on and scoring points. Maybe SA can spring one then. In the first half though, his lack of receiving and blocking skills make him a liability.
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On the bright side: maybe we will lose out finally and get a good draft pick instead of being a middle of the pack team who keeps getting shafted in the draft cause we are in a weak division.
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careful blackhalobender, some of the people that post on here are very sensitive of what you say about SA.
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It’s wierd navy. Sometimes I feel like football fans celebrate ignorance. Like blind faith is somehow better then winning.
For example: if SA somehow regains form from a few years ago and busts out a 100 yard night and converts LOADS of 3rd and shorts I will gladly be very wrong and admit it. I just want to win.
But if Holmgren dials up a game plan revolving around a team he doesn’t have, and ignores our strengths and weaknesses I’m going to be ticked.
The eagles blitz EVERY down. Seriously – EVERY down. If it was me, I’d rather have someone who can punish aggressive defenses with screens, draws and some timely blocks in the backfield then an injured/aging cutback runner with great vision who claims to need the ball 30 times a game to get going.
I just don’t see why he’s starting.
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I know Morris will probably get in alot of reps as blocking and catching the ball out of the pocket.
But if say Alexander has to block how the heck he gone do that with broken arm? I mean he would just be blocking with one arm and anybody can just push him away like they done before.
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Jeez everyone! You loved SA in 2005 but this year he is having a really hard year and you already want him to hang for it. Holmgren is smart and he knows what he is doing. It sounds like people who want SA gone and Holmgren fired don’t know how to play football and don’t know what good players are. SA may be having a hard year but i really think he will be a stong contributer to the end of the season. You also have to understand that most teams are going with 2 RB’s in the backfield and SA has always been the loner. It’s hard on injuries especially with a OL that is new and inexperienced.
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i dont blame you blackhalobender infact i dont understand why everyone who is a seahawk fan doesnt agree with you. He’s starting for one reason only imho. Mikey has always said a player doesnt lose his job due to injuries. It’s not often that he will pull a player that’s performing bad either. One of the things i’ve always been puzzled by. I’m a firm believer that every position is open to those that play it… through out the year. Only the players that earn that spot get to start… through out the year.
Injuries suck but hey it’s a fact of life when your 30+.
Idahoseahawksfan, actually if you read the stats up above he’s doing about the same as last year…. which first half of the season (before he went out due to injuries) it wasnt all that good. I truely hope he goes back to 2005 form as this team neads that HOWEVER we are realistic and understand getting older, slower.
We loved him on 2005 because we loved what the team was doing. playing pass happy smart football.
Would you agree though, if not 100% (or even 90%) healthy… why play? SA said people were saying he looks fresh. The seasons almost over so he only has really 1 game (2 games maybe) to prove that he is fresh. I do like your thinking though.
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I also know something that stinks a whole bunch when it’s fresh. I step in it accidentally in the park sometimes.
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navy-
In 2006 Shaun injured his foot in the first game, played a couple more games, THEN got pulled.
Guess you should read beyond the stats… or read all the stats… you forgot to mention that Shaun averaged 112 yards a game after he returned from the foot injury.
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wrong… he “sprained” his foot but was ok. In the Giants game thats when they discovered there was a fresh crack in a bone in his foot. Why would you let someone play on a cracked bone and not of done anything about it? Because it didnt happen till that giants game (and that’s what they said last year). He ended up not playing in the next game.
Quelly before you nitpick someone… read. I said he did really well starting with the second game back. any yahoo could of read what i stated and said… yeah he had really good ypc. Go re read what i said… better yet… dont read and dont comment unless you have something to say about the game.
I swear some of the people on here are a notch below the dung beetle.
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From http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/2006/09/29/league_slaps_rolle_with_5_000_fine#comments
I honestly believe it was the Rolle horsecollar that did the definitive damage.
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yes your right regis ty for bringing that here. It started out as a “sprain” or aggravation but turned into a cracked bone in a later game. it happens if you dont take care of things like that.
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in other words…. he was injured bfore he got pulled…
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