Mike Holmgren
Mike Holmgren
Michael George Holmgrenis a former American football coach and executive, most recently serving as president of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. Holmgren began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowl XXIII and XXIV. He served as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 1998, appearing in two Super Bowls, and of the Seattle Seahawks from 1999 to...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1948
CitySan Francisco, CA
Our running back is, I think, pretty good. When I saw him at our meeting today, he said he feels good, he's fine, and unless something happens, I'm assuming he'll be ready to practice on Wednesday.
Our guys are ready to handle this (game) maybe better than they have handled it in the past. It's coming from the feeling I get when I go down in the locker room, and the feeling I get on the airplane and different things. They're having fun playing. The cynics aren't around here so much anymore.
Darrell was very much ready to play this football game. He came up big today.
Now our second season starts. Fortunately we have a first-round bye, so we can heal up a little bit and get ready to play in the playoffs.
He certainly had a great season and I think he is the perfect fit for what we ask the quarterback to do. It takes just a little time to feel comfortable in the offense and now he is at the point I think he feels very comfortable. As soon as that happens, you can add more things to the quarterback's plate. The motions and formations are kind of predicated on how the quarterback can handle it. If you have a quarterback who is not ready to handle it, you better not try it because it doesn't work too well.
He is much more confident. He sees things much better. I can put much more on his plate now and be confident in his handling it. He is ready to play a fine football game.
Where I am impressed even more with him this year is his pass protection,
Wow, great story. That's an area we have to look at, but he certainly has done everything we have asked him to do.
With the numbers he has put up, I think if you don't approach it at the start that way, you're making a huge mistake. He catches 14 balls, 12 balls, 13 balls, that's a lot of passes in a game. Clearly, they want him to be a big part of what they do. ... You better have some sort of answer for playing them or they can make you look pretty bad.
We are going to have to figure out how we're going to deal with a real strong receiver like that.
What we're asking him to do is difficult, ... A rookie middle linebacker calling the signals, there's nothing easy about that. His plate is full. But if anyone can handle it, of the young people I've seen in the last few years, he can.
We have played better than we did tonight. Unfortunately, it's the biggest game of the year.
We'll see, ... Joe, of course, has played, and Hackett hasn't played very much so we'll see. He has certainly worked hard to do this, and I have confidence in him. We'll see how it goes.
Our trainers thought it would be good to give him a rest throwing the ball today.