What I Learned From... Removing Holmgren's Boot From My Hindparts

Even though Holmgren has been at this coaching gig for a while, It's good to know that the team still listens to him. It was John Madden that once said ten years was a good limit to a head coaching career in the NFL. After that, the players stop listening to you. (I wonder if that's true with NFL announcing, too? Hint, hint, Mr. Madden.)

It's very clear many of the players responded with greater focus and effort following Holmgren's threats/tirades/epithets from the Green Bay debacle. Not only was the score a little more favorable, but they played much better against the Vikings. But, of course, there still was much to learn:

• Hooray! Shaun Alexander actually caught a couple of passes. Sure, he was so intent on catching the ball that he cradled his whole body around it and immediately dropped to the ground. But it's a start. Maybe sometime soon he can take the next step and catch the ball on the on the run like he did years ago.


• Marcus Pollard finally got involved. This guy is going to work.


• Rocky Bernard had a great game, in the shadow of all the attention given to Brandon Mebane and Marcus Tubbs. He was tossing around interior linemen like pillows.


• On that note, much like the 2005 season, most of the pressure to the quarterback is coming from the devensive tackles, not from the edge. Which is friggin' awesome.


• Shaun Locklear is a billion times better at left tackle than Tom Ashworth. Holy Cow.


• This new, nifty little WR screen we saw several times last night has some potential. Now if only our receivers could work on their blocking (namely, DJ Hackett and Deion Branch) it might work in the regular season. But then again, expect some game planning against it. It may not work as well in a couple of weeks.


• I could watch Nate Burelson break the ankles of punters all day.


• Listening to Verne Lundquist give the Seahawks play-by-play is a bit like Lawrence Welk playing AC/DC covers.


• Josh Wilson is the man on kickoff returns. But he carries the ball a little like Tiki Barber, though, sort of like carrying a baby through a burning building that's about to collapse.


• Mo Morris broke 2 tackles last night. Time for him to call it a season.

• I have a whole new respect for Bobby Engram, now that he's really old and still productive. It reminds me of Largent's later years. Just don't let Bobby switch to a single-bar kicker's helmet. That was kind of gay when Steve did that. If I recall correctly, Charlie Joiner did the same thing. Nothing says, "I'm really fucking old. When you take the ball from me, please change my diaper," like a single-bar facemask.


• Speaking of surprising old farts, Chris Gray got off on Pat Williams on Alexander's 1-yard rushing TD, blowing him four yards into the end zone.


• Is that right? Did special teams go all night without a penalty?


• I'm not sure what happened to the defense at the start of the second half. Part of it seemed as though they just came out flat. The other part seems to be that Laury, Koutouvides, and Tapp got out of position routinely.


• Having said that, mark my words: Will Herring is here to stay.


• All this talk about Mike Holmgren threatening to cut Leonard Weaver is horseshit, in my opinion. Holmie needs him, with Mack Strong downing so much Geritol. My guess is that he's just trying to motivate. On the other hand, according to the TNT, when asked about Weaver after the game, Holmgren offed that he was going to look at film, and immediately talked about how some of the cuts were going to be tough. Not good.