HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN
(On the win over Carolina)
"Again I'd like to say that was a big win. I was really proud of our team. They played with great effort and beat a good team yesterday. We have a tough opponent this week."
(On if he would consider using Earnest Graham at fullback again)
"You know what? Earnest is a heck of a tailback. We possibly could be looking for a fullback. Obviously moving a tight end into that position has always been a part of our contingency plan.”
(On what the team will do with Cadillac Williams now that he's eligible to come off the PUP list)
"We're going to keep looking at him. We've said it time and time again: He's getting better and better and better. We're going to continue to work with him privately without activating him onto the 53-man roster immediately. But we really like what we've seen. It's been over a year now since he's had the injury. All of his hard work is going to pay off but it won't be this week that he's activated, but it could be coming soon."
(On if it would be difficult to work Williams into the backfield)
"We're going to keep you updated on Cadillac. Warrick Dunn's pretty good. He's a heck of a football player. And Earnest Graham, he made my Pro Bowl yesterday as a back. He played fullback, halfback, played in space. But we'll update you on Cadillac and keep you posted there."
(On if that was as complete a game as he's seen from his team)
"We're pretty good. We've played six pretty good games. We've won four and lost two. We've got a tough schedule. We've got a tough schedule here in the next 10 weeks. But I'm proud of our guys. The effort's outstanding. Someone's gone down, someone's stepped up. That goes at quarterback, that goes at linebacker, that goes across the board on our football team. That's one of the reasons why we're still hanging around."
(On the rush defense)
“Well I think the big thing is we played much better red zone defense, that was a goal of ours coming in to the season. We struggled there in ’07 and at this point in ’08 we’ve played really good red zone defense. That’s a credit to our coaches and our players. We made some subtle changes in our scheme and we’re pretty good. We got a pretty good defensive football team and we’re tackling well. That was probably our best tackling game yesterday and we hit and collectively so. If you get 11 guys running and hitting and being disciplined in terms of their run entry, we’re going to be hard to run against. It always helps when your defense is on the field six plays in the third quarter. If we can continue to get time of possession, keep our guys fresh, it works in a team fashion also. We’re good against the run. We’re getting better and better, I think. Barrett Ruud sucked it up yesterday, played through a very difficult physical situation. Our guys are playing confidently.”
(On the offense)
“They’re impressive. Every film you pick up, not a lot of teams score touchdowns on them. We felt good about our performance. We had some good drives. We sustained some drives by converting some third downs. We still had some penalties that hurt us, but our guys are pretty good too upfront. Our offensive line, we said before, is the strength of our team. We do have two pretty good backs. Jeff helped us. His maneuverability in the pocket was a factor for us. All things considered we like the effort we got from our offense.”
(On WR Joey Galloway)
“He had a good pregame workout. He goes out there before the game and my brother, Jay, threw him about a hundred balls, ran on different routes. I thought he felt better. There’s a chance he’ll give it a go on Wednesday. I would say he is questionable at this point for Seattle. It’s his former team, the team that drafted him. It’s probably a little incentive for him to go up against his former team, but I don’t know. I really don’t know. We will have to update you when we see him for real Wednesday.”
(On the fullback situation)
“We’re going to have to do something. We are a two back team. Mike Alstott will be celebrated Sunday night. I might talk him in to playing. It’s going to be a great reunion with our former captain and given our circumstances we can talk to him about giving us one more shot.”
(On having a healthy Jeff Garcia)
“Yeah, he’s a good quarterback. I think mobility is big in anybody’s offense given the fact that the pockets never going to be perfect. The blitzes you might have numbers to pick them up but there not going to be flush pick up’s. You got to be able to slide. We made a key first down with his legs running for it on our final touchdown. That’s his game. His legs are a weapon. His creativity is his alley. He does a great job playing the game. I think what you saw yesterday is what our fans are accustom to seeing, vintage Jeff Garcia. He finds a way to make a first down, finds a way to get a completion and he can push it when he wants to. We get him some good looks down the field, he’ll hit them.”
(On the first down run by Garcia)
“Yeah, that’s just the way he is. He’s aggressive. He loves to compete and he knew that was a huge play in the game and he sold out to get us the first down. It’s a credit to him.”
(On the NFC South)
“In spite of what all the analysts said before the season. Again, [Ryan] in Atlanta is for real. He’s a great, blossoming superstar in this game. Everybody seems to be good. I just hope we keep winning and take care of our business.”
(On G Jeremy Zuttah being one of the more unheralded guys on the team)
“Absolutely. He’s been active, honestly, as a swing tackle, the backup to right tackle if anything happened to Blood [Jeremy Trueblood], the backup over there if anything were to happen to Donald [Penn]. [Sean] Mahan has been the swing guard, backup center, but we do feel like Zuttah, as we said during training camp, has a rare ability to play a lot of positions. For him to go in there yesterday against the likes of those guys and play as well as he did is a real credit to him as a rookie to have played well at right guard and left guard. He’s a big reason why we’re running the ball good and pass protecting well.”
(On the team’s unselfishness)
“This is a team that cares about the team. They’re a group of guys that want to win, first and foremost. They’ll put their egos at the door. Whatever they feel is going to help us win, they’re all for that. I’ve seen Kevin Carter, I’ve seen all our defensive linemen rotating. Our receiving corps has really picked it up in Joey’s absence. We’ve moved those guys around. We’ve had some guys inactive. I’m sure there’s been some disappointment, but the guys have really hung together and they’re a really enthusiastic bunch. They love to play and you saw that yesterday – extremely so at times.”
(On the team’s enthusiasm)
“I try not to temper enthusiasm. I try to coach enthusiasm. Our coaches try to stimulate the players to be enthusiastic. You only live once. There’s no sense walking around like a dull boy. We want guys to be excited about being alive and playing. They’ve got these airplanes flying over your head right before kickoff, you’ve got the fans going crazy, what are you supposed to do? Stand there like a dull boy? I don’t know how you do that. Our guys are just naturally fired up and they’re excited about the win yesterday. I’ll do my best to talk to them about what rules there are.”
(On the Seattle Seahawks)
“[Matt] Hasselbeck’s been hurt. He’s been hurt, the receiving corps has been hurt. We’ve been through that a little bit here. It’s hard, really hard. They’re talented. Defensively, they’re very talented. I believe, although they only had 170 yards of offense yesterday and turned the ball over, they were in that game. [Lofa] Tatupu and Julian Peterson are great players. [Marcus] Trufant is a top-shelf corner. They’ve got a very good defensive team. [Patrick] Kerney is still a force. I think he led the league in sacks a year ago. They’ve got a very good defense. Mike Holmgren is a tremendous coach. Their back is against the wall. They’re still alive in their conference. Their conference right now is up for grabs, although Arizona got a big win yesterday. We’ll get everything they have and they’ve been a real handful for us to deal with.”
(On coaching against Mike Holmgren for possibly the last time)
“He means a lot to me and he knows that. He has a lot to do with the opportunities that I’ve been given and a lot of the philosophies that I have, and things of that nature have come from him. He’s been a great role model, not just to me, but to a lot of people in the league. He’s as well-respected a man as there is in football. I believe he’ll be back. I believe he’ll finish strong with Seattle. Hopefully he gets out of the NFC, that’s all I can say.”
