Monday, October 6, 2008

Holmgren Press Conference

by: Michael Steffes

Highlights of Mike's Monday Presser

To see the play by play . . .

  • Coach Mike says that big plays are the big problem. That and not being able to stop the run.
  • Offensively, the team got away from what they wanted to do because they fell behind so quickly.
  • He talked to the team, and they are trying to get the guys thinking properly, to have confidence in themselves and one another.
  • Branch has a bruised heel. It is a pain issue. If he can gut the pain out he might be able to play. Matt is OK. He got tweaked a bit, but he should be fine.
  • Branch's knee held up fine, and of all the things the training staff thought could be wrong with Branch's heel, the bruise was the best news we could get.
  • Holmgren is not excited about our pass rush or our blitz packages. They are not being executed properly.
  • He had a long meeting with the defensive staff today. He wants them to instill some confidence in the players.
  • There is hope for the defense. It is the same group who he felt played very good defensive football last year. He knows they can do it, and is disappointed they haven't played well.
  • He went over 5 things with the coaching staff: personnel, scheme, play calling, leadership, and practice habits.
  • He mentioned that he expects more from Patrick Kerney.
  • He assured the media there is no division in this team. They are in it together, and they will be in it together to the end. "That is the good thing about this group."
  • Holmgren says "there is a lot of football left." It is a 16 game season, and we have only played 4.
  • Jennings and Wilson are getting picked on because Marcus has graded out very well so far this year. It is a challenge and they need to be up to the task.
  • He talked about the penalties called on the secondary. He emphasized to the coaches to not let them get away with those mistakes in practice. There have been too many in games so far this year.
  • Coach said that after Matt got banged up, he kind of went with a more conservative approach. He second-guessed himself on that choice this morning.
  • He took responsibility for not getting Carlson more involved, calling him a good offensive player.
  • There's a big emphasis on continuing to get better at running the football. He said he felt we ran pretty well yesterday, but it is clearly something this team will need to excell at with the situation in the passing game.
  • He said in general that teams with big power running attacks are the teams that give this defense the most problems.
  • Holmgren brought up the two Bears games in 2006. He said that yesterday reminded him of the first meeting--same style of football, same poor fundamental performance in the first game. (Hopefully we get to play them again like in '06, right?)
  • Holmgren is very happy for Jim Zorn. He chatted with him last week. His players are responding to him, and management is supporting him.
  • Mo and Koren should be ready to go for the Green Bay game. We will find out for sure on Wednesday.