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Transcript: Postgame Seahawks Coach Mike Holmgren

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October 5, 2008

Well, that was what we call a good old-fashioned you-know-what.  I believe we're a better football team than that, but give the Giants credit.  They really took it to us today.  I think there's only one thing we can do now and that's lick our wounds a little bit and realize that it doesn't get any easier.  Green Bay, we have them next week, so we're going to go home and make every attempt to fix things that went wrong in the game today and then get this one behind us.  This was a bad one.  They got us pretty good.  They're a talented team, and they got rolling and we couldn't stop them.

What do you tell the team after a game like this?

Essentially that.  I believe we're better than we've played.  We're a good team that hasn't played up to its potential yet.  When you go up against a good team, they can make you look bad, and that's what the Giants did today.  Having said that, let's do our best.  Everyone has to fix it, coaches and players.  There are any number of statistical analyses of teams that have started this bad and still done okay, but those don't mean much unless you improve the product, and what you're doing on the field.  So that's our goal and then we'll get this one behind us rather quickly, I trust, and get on with Green Bay.  You don't have any choice because you have a really good football team coming in next week. 

With all the focus on your receivers being hurt and problems on the offensive side, were you surprised to see the Giants move the ball almost all day long?

I was surprised, yes.  That's one of the things we're going to have to take a hard look at to see if we can come up with some answers.  I believe we're capable and I don't think we've played our best football yet on that side of the ball.  Like I said, the Giants are a load, but we knew that, and we knew what we had to do.  That big guy, their running back (Jacobs) really had a day, and so did their quarterback.  We have to be real honest about stuff.  We can't sugarcoat this and we'll make every effort to do that when we get home to decide what happened.

It seems like when you brought pressure, he was able to beat that when he sat back.

Yeah, I don't think much good happened, ever.  But we've played four games now, and we have three quarters of the season left to play, but we've got to try to figure out what's going on rather quickly.

You talk about not sugarcoating, does it look like your defense is overmatched in the first couple games with the Buffalo game and now tonight?

I think those two games are different.  I would say really different.  Today we got pounded pretty good.  Against Buffalo you got to throw in a couple things there.  You got to throw in the special teams things and then the game.  But this team, they banged us pretty good.  They got after us pretty good.  I wouldn't say the games are the same really, being honest about it.  But today they shoved it at us pretty good.

Is that a testament to their defense as well, what they did to your offense, or is that you guys have struggled to get a consistent rotation?

I think we can do things in spurts offensively sometimes.  I think Matt, when he got tweaked just a little bit, that affected him a little bit.  And then the game became one of those games that I hate when the plan was to run it a little bit more.  We talked about it and I think that we can do that a little bit.  But when you get behind, you figure you can run it, but even if you run it well there's not enough time.  So you get into one of those things, and that's what happened today.

Is Matt Hasselbeck okay?

I think he's going to be fine.  The only one that appears to be out is Branch.

Do you know what's wrong with him?

It's a heel injury and that's all I know.  We'll know more tomorrow.

How about Jennings?

Jennings had a concussion.

The first two passes to Bobby and Deion, were you trying to get them into it?

Yeah, it was good to have them back.  They had a good week in practice.  They get some separation and they get open a little bit.  I could see a little rust out there, but they did some good things.  So little by little, I hope Branch isn't gone for too long.  Bobby made some plays like he always does.  You've just got to keep building on that. 

What will you look for Wednesday and Thursday, some things that you haven't seen, that will tell you things are going to be OK?

Actually that's a tough one, too.  Because coming in emotionally in our preparation for the week, I would not have guessed this would be this type of game.  What I have to see is the same enthusiasm, the same leadership, the same things our teams usually do even if you're in a tough spot.  If I don't see that, then there's going to be problems.  Then they're going to have to worry about me.  I don't think I'm going to have to bang it out that way, but we have to really honestly, players and coaches, look at what we're doing and how we're doing everything.  Give the Giants credit, but from our standpoint, today was unacceptable.  It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.