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
The tough thing in this league about playing the linebacker position is that as a rookie you are seeing many things for the first time and you are going against athletes that you didn't always play against when you were in college. The physical part of it is tough, but they have handled that beautifully. Then it was just a matter if they could handle the volumes of material that are expanded a little bit when you get into our league.
Michael has good instincts and good breaks on the ball. He's not undisciplined. Some of those guys who seem to be where the action is all the time are a little bit undisciplined.
Whoever is playing, I expect them to play well. We want to win the football game. Every time we suit up, we're going after a win. But it is different because you do have certain things wrapped up now.
I expected more from him. We had a nice visit. I think the world of him. I think he is a really good player. I set the bar very high for him. My expectation level for him is high. Any time he falls short of that, fair or not fair, I want to talk to him about it.
We had a couple of chances to gain some yards and we ran laterally instead of up the field. At the same time I want it to improve, and I have to see some improvement.
I think that has always stuck with me. I put the ball in the hands of the best player in the world, in a fairly safe pass and I almost lost the game for our team. That stuck with me a long time in that situation.
I think any time you can achieve some balance on offense, it creates problems for the defense. As soon as you become one-dimensional, then any defense can focus in and get you stopped.
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 certainly had a great season, and I think he is the perfect fit for what we ask the quarterback to do. It just takes a little time to feel comfortable in the offense, and now he is at the point he's very comfortable.
I've very, very proud of the job he has done. He is stronger and better because of some of the tough things he had to go through. He and I kind of banged around a little bit, but we're in a good place now.
It would be an understatement to say I'm not happy about this.
It was uncharacteristic of my team to have that many penalties. We had a touchdown called back, a pass to the 1 called back and a punt return called back. That's tough. That's hard to overcome.
It was a nice second half. The team played very, very well, especially in the second half.
The Seattle football fans have probably gone through some stuff in their history, ... and now we want to give our fans a team they can be proud of, where they can be excited about it, talk about it and have hope.