Mike Holmgren Hard Quotations

I did realize how hard it was. I think coaches realize it a little bit sooner than players do. I had hoped that we would have been able to do it a little sooner than we have done it, but you know things happen along the way.

He is as hard of a working lineman as I've been around. Offensive linemen are usually that way, but he kind of goes over the edge in his work ethic. He is tremendously strong, very bright and he really wants it every play, every down. His ability to focus in is really very amazing.

He has probably been our most consistently good player inside. I tease Rock about it. When he is going, concentrating and pushing himself really hard he is a very, very good player.

I was afraid I was going to break furniture and throw the monitor out the window. It's just hard because we had our chances and we didn't capitalize.

That was very distasteful to me, to retaliate so to speak like that (against the Vikings). I do believe the commissioner should look into these kind of clauses. We work so hard on trying to gain labor peace and a new collective bargaining agreement and then we as clubs allow agents to get cute and circumvent it. On the playing field there are rules and there are unwritten rules about how the game should be played in the spirit and the fairness of it all. It doesn't make sense to me that we had to lose such a fine football player this way. I was surprised by the ruling.

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.

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.

You see a guy like Marquand get thrust into a role and you're not sure what's going to happen, but then you see how hard he works because he wants it so bad and he doesn't want to let people down. It's a really incredibly satisfying thing to see as a coach.

I'm hard on Sean at practice, ... He is kind of a stoic guy but he responds well when he plays. I don't see much expression, but I'm very, very comfortable with him playing.

It's a great story. He has come in this year and done a marvelous job. He is one of 18 children. He has had to battle for his place his whole life. He appreciates everything. He works hard for everything. He doesn't expect anything to be given to him, and I can't say enough about the young guy. Do we miss Ken Hamlin? Certainly we do. But Marquand Manuel has been better than good this season.

I am very, very happy for Matt. He has been through a fair amount and emerged as a very fine player and a leader of this team. He has done it the old fashioned way. He has worked hard to develop his skill.