Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren
(opening) "Well, it was a good game, and a good win for us, and I was very happy with how we rushed the ball. The Texans had made it difficult on other teams to run the football, and I think our offensive line did a great job. Obviously, Shaun and Mo ran the ball with authority, as did Leonard. We needed to do that, and to control the ball with our running game, and obviously that was one of the keys to the game tonight."
(on pulling the team aside on the Texans' first drive…) "We had been called three times in a row for lining up offsides. I can take certain penalties, but that one I struggle with just a little bit. I figured with John in the game, I usually like to save my timeouts, but I had to talk to that group. That was just flat—it can't happen. And then we got called again, so we got called 4 times for lining up offsides, and that was something we had to clean up, and then they started doing it properly, and that is why I called them together."
(On lining up offside…) "I don't think there is any excuse for lining up offside, that one boggles my mind. I thought they were focused, they had a very good warmup, they were good in the locker room, but I couldn't let those things slide by, so that is why I used the time out, and I called them over and talked to them."
(On Shaun Alexander's game…) "He likes Sunday Night games, he likes Monday Night games, and he played very
well. He scored some touchdowns, he likes to score, and I'm glad he's on our
football team, and I thought he ran hard. I think he is on track to have his
best season with us, if he keeps this going, and there is no reason to think he
won't."
Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander
(On the game…) "It's weird isn't it. I can't even explain it. Everybody gets excited for this game. I've been telling everybody our time is now. We just played together and when everbody is focused and everybody is all excited you can't help but match their intensity, I'm talking about my offensive line and Mack (Strong), they did it today and it was good."
(on if he was feeling it coming in…) "Yes, I was. Even from the beginning they were. You walk in the locker room, even for the meal, guys were giggling but no one else can laugh with them, and you're like 'ha, ha' and they kind of give you that look and you're like 'oh, you guys are ready to go'. So I knew at breakfast this morning that the line was ready. It's one of those things that you wish that every game could be on national television because you see how our guys are going to perform. I'm proud of them."
(on if he had more room today…)"I don't know if it was more room, but it was just that everything was intense. Every block was with a little more aggression, every run the steps were a little bit harder and every play was focused and I think that's what caused us to get going faster."
(on Maurice Morris…) "Everybody knows that Mo is just a super talented player. It's one of those
things where once he gets reps he's going to do what he does. It was awesome.
I was running down the sideline with him, and they were like 'Shaun get off the
field'. I wanted to go in there and get that last block for him and let it be
a 90 yarder. I'm just excited for Mo. Mo knows I'm his biggest fan and I was
just pumped for him."
Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck
(On what it was like to put a team away…) "That was fun. This is one of those games where you hope you bring your A Game, and guys really get focused, and not get distracted with other things, and really come at it and approach the game the proper way. I think people did. I was really proud of the way we started the game offensively. We said we wanted to score every time we got the ball, and I think we did early on. The guys up front did a great job blocking, and our runners ran great, and it felt good. It was really good."
(On playing behind the Seattle offensive line…) "I don't know if I know anything different, really. I know when you have good pass protection, it makes your job so much easier, and those guys did a really good job. Walt and Hutch get all the credit, and I don't know if you can count them as offensive linemen, because they get so much credit. Usually offensive linemen don't get much credit and are under appreciated, and I think the other three guys who don't get the credit are playing great also. As a unit, they have been working real hard, and they work well together."
(On thinking before the game that they would have success running the ball…) "This was a weird game, because we didn't know very much about them, and they
didn't know very much about us. There are things that we do that you can't tell
on film until you play us. Part of that is mixing up personnel groupings, tempo,
that kind of stuff. There is stuff that they do, that we didn't know much about.
It was a challenge that way, and you weren't really sure how the game was going
to go. They looked much better on film, defensively, than their record shows.
They really have played some good teams this year, and have had some opportunities,
but for whatever reason they haven't been able to get a win."
