STEELERS VS. SEAHAWKS
Sunday, October 7,  2007
at Heinz Field

SEAHAWKS CONFERENCE CALLS

 

Head Coach Mike Holmgren

Are they talking about a Super Bowl XL rematch?

No. It’s not a Super Bowl rematch. I think the Super Bowl is such an awesome thing and that it stands by itself. This is a new team and a new year. It is a different game.

Do you think both teams having a lot of the same personnel has any impact?

Pittsburgh has a little more than we do. If you look at our offensive team as an example, we are quite different from the guys that started in that game. We still have the quarterback and we still have the running back and fullback, but there are a lot of different people in there. I don’t think there is any carry over from that game. We have so many young guys on this team that weren’t even here when we played that game.

Are you happy with your start?

Yes we are. I still think our best football is ahead of us. We have done some things pretty well and there are some things where we still have a lot of work to do. I haven’t been particularly pleased with how we have run the ball early on in this season, but we have thrown the ball okay. Our defense is coming. We changed the defense and brought in some new people during the offseason and I think they have done well. They are starting to feel a little bit better and they are coming together, because there were a lot of new faces over there.

Who has made the biggest impact on defense?

It is hard to single out. We have two new safeties. I think they have solidified the defense to a point where we’re not making mistakes. I think that hurt us a little bit. I know it did last year, where we were out of position and maybe had to guess a little too much and stuff like that, particularly in the secondary. Those guys are doing a good job of getting us lined up right and being pretty solid and are disciplined. Patrick Kerney was our new edition to the defensive line. He is a really good player. I think we are better as a group than we are as individuals.

Does Brett Keisel moving around cause problems?

I think it does. I think how they play defense really challenges an offensive team. Their zone blitzing package has always given teams problems and they’re so active. Their movement causes problems for you and there is no other way to say it.

Is it possible to exploit that?

Sometimes I suppose. I think when you do exploit it, most of the times I would have to say it’s by accident, because it is pretty hard to read. You have to catch them. They are coming from one side and you’re going the other way or something like that. Then all of a sudden you have a chance for a play.

How different will it be facing a team that isn’t coached by Bill Cowher?

I’ll look across there. Bill and I are good friends. We came in at the same time and it is going to be different. Clearly Mike (Tomlin) has grabbed a hold of this team and they are off to a great start. We know we have our work cut out for us coming into Pittsburgh. It is fun to play in games like this. It is early in the football season and it is a big football game for both teams. I have tremendous respect for that whole organization. I think Dan Rooney has always been very kind to me since I came into the league and like I said, Bill and I were friends. They have been good for a long time.

Is there anything that shows that this is a different team than any of Bill Cowher’s?

I think it is a little early to say that. They have played with what was one of Bill’s trademarks, which was emotion and toughness. You see both of those things early on. Mike (Tomlin) has definitely stamped his own name and signature on his football team. I think it is a little early to say exactly what that is.

How has Lofa Tatupu played over the last couple years?

I think he is a young man still and has only played three years. He is really a fine player. He was a good player as a rookie. You guys know that the longer you play and the more you play, that the experience factor is huge. Particularly at middle linebacker, where you are running the defense and getting people lined up and all those things. He is one of our solid players. He usually does the right things and he is a good tackler. He has good hands if they throw the ball in his area. He is the leader of our defense.

How much has Shaun Alexander’s injury hurt the running game?

I think he would say that it doesn’t bother him too much and I think he is being honest. I think a running back, receiver or any of those skilled guys that have to wear a cast; it is going to change your program someway or somehow. He is playing. That is not the issue. He doesn’t switch the ball. He is carrying it in one hand. Even though he has caught a couple passes, it does make it a little problematic. I would think it would have to be a little different. We have blocked very well for him and his numbers are okay. He is going to have a great year. He is a little frustrated. I just think it is a little different.

What has been the best part of the passing game?

I think getting to (Deion) Branch after the first game, when he didn’t catch any passes, but that was my fault. He is now doing what we would like him to do and what he would like to do. Matt (Hasselbeck) is spreading the ball around and making pretty good decisions for the most part. I think our experience at quarterback and the fact that our receiving group is pretty unselfish, which is really healthy for your football team.

Is there still bitterness about how the Seahawks lost Super Bowl XL?

I was asked that in my own press conference. I think I bump into people on the street and they will talk about it and I say, “Listen, it really is time for us to move on.” We played the game, Pittsburgh won. Getting to the Super Bowl is special and hopefully we can get back there one day. It really is time to move on.

Do you think this year’s team can get back there?

I think we have a good football team. I think it is awful early in the season, but we set our goals high, not unlike a bunch of other teams. You need breaks with injuries. You need your best players to play their very best. You need the ball to bounce your way a little bit. You need to get a little lucky and then you have a chance to be there. It is tough to get to that game and to win it is special. I talked to Bill Cowher right after the game and you all remember how happy he was and the whole Steeler organization. Winning that game is a very special thing.

Is it tough for a West Coast to play on the East Coast?

I think there is a little more to it going there than coming in this direction, because of the time change. That is why we come out a day early and try to get acclimated a little bit. If you coach in Seattle, for the 49ers, San Diego, Oakland or any of those teams on the West Coast, you are going to log some miles. This particular year, we play a lot of teams out East. It’s just one of the challenges. I love living in Seattle and Seattle is a great city, so you deal with the challenges.

 

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck

We are hearing from Ben Roethlisberger who was on a conference call with the Seattle reporters that people still carry a grudge out there from the Super Bowl?

 

Not us, maybe the reporters here.  Do you think?  I don’t think.

 

Do you see this as a re-match?

 

No, our roster is almost totally different, and the Steelers have a new head coach and some new players.  Guys like Jerome Bettis and Joey Porter are not there anymore, so if it was a year later, I think maybe it would be a bigger thing, but two years in the NFL changes a lot of things.   If you look at our defense, half the guys on our defense weren’t even around for that.  Our offense, Rob Tobeck is gone, Steve Hutchinson and Jerramy Stevens is gone Joe Jurevicius is gone, Darrell Jackson is gone, and those were our starters.  I don’t feel that way necessarily.

 

Nobody seems to find success running against the same old Steelers defense?

 

It is a very good defense and it starts up front with Casey Hampton.  He is one of the best in the game.  He is just a great, great player against the run and their two inside backers James Farrior and Larry Foote are studs.  They are great players.  Clark Haggans is a great player, as well.  James Harrison is having a good year.  He is a good pass rusher.  That is quite a front seven there.  Then you throw in the great, great player in Troy Polamalu and that is a recipe for a great defense and they have a very good defensive-minded head coach and a great defensive coordinator.  So it is nothing new from the Steelers defense.  It is just a good solid defense every year.

 

How do you come in here and beat them?

I don’t know. That is not my job.  That is Mike Holmgren’s job.  He just tells me what to do and I’ll do it.  It is going to be tough, though.  We are going to have to play our best football obviously playing a team like this on the road, a west coast team like we are, we haven’t had much success at all playing that early game on the east coast.  It is going to be a challenge for us and hopefully we can play our best.  Anything less than our best isn’t going to be good enough.

 

Can you talk about Deion Branch?

 

It is his second year with our team.  We got him in time for mini-camp and training camp this year, I think that has been the biggest difference.  Last year he wasn’t around for the mini-camps, he wasn’t around for training camp and it made it tough to get him acclimated to our team and to what we like to do offensively.  He had to learn a lot on the fly in terms of terminology and route adjustments and all that kind of stuff.  He has done a real good job.  He is a hard worker and great player and he is probably even better as a teammate.

 

What kind of year are you having?

 

I don’t know, you tell me.

 

You have a nice passer rating?

 

Those are overrated, though.  Those don’t always tell the full story.  I am happy with how things have gone so far.  Every game, there are mistakes and every game there are things I need to correct and work on.  I am just trying to do that.  Like all my teammates, we are just trying to improve with each and every week and get better as we go.  All in all, I think the mistakes we had last year, the things that I came into this season wanting to correct, I feel like I have done a good job of correcting a lot of that stuff sop far.  Hopefully, we can keep it going.

 

What can you borrow from Arizona’s success last week against the Steelers defense?

 

It was probably a big game for both teams just because of the familiarity with the coaching staffs and the history with Coach Whisenhunt and his staff with Russ Grimm and those guys had with the Steelers organization.  That game as you watched in on film seemed like it had a lot more intensity than a normal game would have.  It was a game that came down to the wire.  Arizona made some plays and Kurt Warner came in and did a nice job and at the end of the day, it is just going to be our players have to make plays like that.  Unfortunately, this game is on the road for us.  It is going to be tougher.  When you watch Pittsburgh on film, they are very good and usually they make those plays.  They were hurt, they lost a couple of guys, Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, and guys that weren’t on the field. 

 

You said a couple years ago that one of the reasons for offensive success was that you guys were able to run the ball when you were supposed to be throwing it and throwing it when you were supposed to be running it.  Have you been able to maintain that kind of balance?

 

Not really, but I think what I was talking about was that some teams like to come out and be real aggressive with their blitz schemes and try to bring a corner in and another guy outside or they just try to bring defensive backs up to the box and you see teams in the league trying to figure out how to pick up these blitzes and we have a mechanism to pick up blitzes like that, but we also have the opportunity to just run it.  If you are going to put defensive backs over our guards, we are going to run right at you and just try to slam it down your throat basically. Teams have given us that opportunity.  Pittsburgh doesn’t do that too much.  They are pretty sound defensively.  I don’t know if it will come up at all this game but I think that’s what I was talking about. 

 

How different are the Steelers blitz packages from some of the others that you might face?

 

They are a little bit different.  I don’t think they are that different, though.  The difference is probably just the skill level of the players.  You have a guy like Troy Polamalu who is just a playmaker.  The guy is great.  He is just a great player.  Sometimes you see him make great plays and he is not doing what he probably was supposed to do.  He just had an instinct and went with it.  You look at a guy like Clark Haggans who is a great pass rusher, but he can also be a coverage guy, or James Farrior, these guys are talented, talented guys that can rush the passer but also be very, very stout against the run and also not be a liability in coverage.  They are good in coverage.  That is probably the biggest thing that you notice up front.  That tends to be where your focus is.  You don’t even get to the corners just because you are focused so much on Casey Hampton and guys like that.