| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009 6:27 am |
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Transcript of Ruskell's press conference with Seahawks' beat writers The full transcript of Seahawks president Tim Ruskell's 45-minute session with the media Thursday afternoon:TIM RUSKELL: Scott Johnson, The Herald: How are you doing? Ruskell: “I’ve been good. It’s been tough, to tell you the truth. It’s been a tough year. To quote a modern political phrase, it’ll be tough to put lipstick on that piggy. That was a hard one. A lot of blame to go around: the front office, the players and the coaches. But I think if you asked me how it got that way, the injuries, I think, are the No. 1 deal. When you have a Mike Holmgren-coached offense, and you lose the quarterback for the bulk of the season, that’s really your engine. Talk to Mike; he would say that. Then you couple that with what happened at the receiver position and then the offensive line, that’s really … And then when the second engine came in, he wasn’t ready to go, in Seneca. With his injuries, he really wasn’t Seneca until the end of the year. And there are other things. I think Coach (Holmgren) said it great in his (end-of-the-year) press conference: To think this is just about injuries, you’re not paying proper attention. Guys that we counted on and count on to play well for us didn’t have great years. There were a lot of guys who fit into that category. The encouraging thing was that, in the exit interviews with the players, there wasn’t pointing of fingers. It wasn’t: ‘That guy didn’t do this,’ or, ‘That guy didn’t do that.’ It was: ‘I need to do better.’ That was a constant them throughout: ‘I have to get better.’ We all do.” Clare Farnsworth, Seattle P-I: Do you believe the non-injury issues will force the front office to take a hard look at the team this offseason? Ruskell: “Yes, I do. And I think the 4-12 will absolutely be the motivation, certainly on the players’ part, to say: ‘We are better than that, and we know that. We will have to do everything that we possibly can, starting immediately, to make sure that doesn’t happen again.’ Everybody’s pride was hurt. It’s a prideful group, and that group has played a lot better, obviously. So I think that will be a springboard.” Gregg Bell, Associated Press: Do you think 2008 was an aberration? Ruskell: “Yes, I do, for the most part. But you can’t just say that and then just think it’s going to happen. ‘Well, I’ll just do just like I did last year.’ No, we have to have a total recommitment and dedication from everybody in this building. It does not happen just because we show up and everybody’s healthy. I think Mike (Holmgren) made that point in his press conference too. You have to really look at yourself, everybody does, and come together as a team. Although I will say this: if there’s a silver lining on the season, it’s how we stuck together. I was proud of the group, of the coaches, players. It never got divisive. It never got to that point. I’ve been with teams, early in my career, where that year would’ve really rocked the locker room and we would’ve had some problems. But that did not happen. We thought they played hard all year long, we thought they were together, the preparation. All those things you look for, where you might say, ‘Oh, we’re pulling back here,’ we never saw that. And I think that bodes well.” Farnsworth: Were you worried about the team unraveling because of all the losses? Ruskell: “You know, we put so much emphasis on the type of guy that we bring in to this team that I was pretty sure it wouldn’t happen. But that’s hard, when you have that many losses and everybody’s against you. I was pretty sure. But it didn’t happen. I think that also will bode well and help us as we go forward.” Danny O’Neil, Seattle Times: Was there anything that surprised you about 2008 in terms of the way you had made up the team? Ruskell: “Sure. We all felt good about the defense -- not so much about how it was assembled, but we just felt like that group, based on what we’d seen the year before. Now, there was inconsistency, but at times we played really well during the season, but we were like: OK, you played well at home but not as well on the road. So the theme in the offseason and training camp was: we shore that up, and we’re going to have a … And we all felt that. And that did not happen, with any kind of a consistent manner. Our (pass) rush wasn’t what we thought it would be. Obviously, (Patrick) Kerney wasn’t there (because of injury), but that’s not fair. If it’s just one guy, then we’re going to be poor, there’s just more to it than that. Our rush just wasn’t there. Whether it was four-man or our blitz package, we just weren’t getting to the quarterback. Quarterbacks were getting way too comfortable running the offense, and we got hurt that way. So that, to me, was disappointing. And that’s really where we have to … I don’t think it’s an overhaul, I really don’t. I think we’ve got good players. I just think that the attitude, the thinking of that defense, really honing in on the pass rush: what are we going to do to make that happen? It’s basically the same guys as the year before, and we were competitive. Now, we lost 14 ½ sacks when Kerney got hurt, but there’s more to it than that. There’s more to it than that.” Johnson: In hindsight, would you have addressed the defense in the 2008 offseason by bringing in a veteran or two? Ruskell: “You know, that is hindsight. We weren’t thinking that way. Drafting a (Lawrence) Jackson and bringing in a Red (Bryant) in the fourth round, we loved the way they looked in training camp. We thought Lawrence had an especially good preseason, and he started off the year well. And as rookies sometimes do, he flattened out; he plateaued. You were hoping to get more juice there, but it just didn’t happen. As a group, you talk to the guys, and they didn’t have the kind of year they would have expected. It happened to a lot of guys at the same time. It was disappointing. They were disappointed; we were all disappointed in that aspect. And that’s really what drives your defense, the pressure game, for the way we play defense.” Eric Williams, Tacoma News Tribune: Do you think the lack of pressure was scheme-related? Ruskell: “You know, hard to answer. It was sort of a Catch-22. At times, when we were trying to get pressure, and it didn’t get there, then you had man coverage. And we all know that the big plays increased dramatically from the year before. So that’s the game you play every week. That is the chess match. And you either win or lose that. Too often this year, we lost.” Bell: How much emphasis will you put on getting bigger on defense this offseason? Ruskell: “I’m not a believer in size. We have some small players, but do we get rid of Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill? That’s not it. It’s the coordination and everybody doing their job, putting guys in the positions, based on their skills, to be productive. We’ve got to do a better job of that. And we will do a better job. And then it’s attitude. When one or two guys make a tackle on an outside screen play, as opposed to four or five guys, it’s just not getting the job done. So there’s that as well.” Farnsworth: Could Jim Mora taking over as head coach help in terms of generating more defensive pressure? Ruskell: “Yes. The Jim that I knew in Atlanta, very much that is his philosophy. He is an attacking, pressure type of guy. It wasn’t so much that we were a big defense in Atlanta. And same when he was in San Francisco. That is not a big defense, but their pressure and attacking has been successful and ranked highly. But that is his deal.” Johnson: After Greg Knapp’s hiring as offensive coordinator, will there be any more changes on the coaching staff? Ruskell: “That is the only one we’ve done so far, Greg Knapp. Farnsworth: Have any of the assistants been told they won’t be back? Ruskell: “No. It’s a process, we’re going through it, and we want to do it right and fair. This is the hard time, a hard time for everybody. But we want to put together the best possible staff we possibly can.” Johnson: How does the position of offensive coordinator change now that Mora is head coach? Ruskell: “Based on, they were together in Atlanta, Greg will call the plays. But Jim will have a lot of influence. He goes into the offensive meeting rooms. He’s one of those guys that will float the building and have ideas. He’s very much into a game plan that includes not just the offensive team: ‘The offense is going to do this, but this is what we have to do on defense and this is what we have to do on special teams.’ It’s a total game plan. I know that’s something they worked on very in Atlanta. I know he’ll bring that to the organization.” Bell: Based on Knapp’s experience, will the run game be more of a focus? Ruskell: “It could be. You know what they do a really good job of is, it’s based on personnel. What can we do based on our personnel? It’s not so much: get the guys who fit our scheme. It’s: who do we have here, and what are we going to best be able to do? Obviously, with some of the things we’ve done and some the people we’ve brought in to the run game -- (offensive line coach Mike) Solari and Greg Knapp, those two guys worked together in San Francisco as well – I think we’ve continued to improve our run game. I’m very much a believer in the run game, as is Jim. If you’ve got the run game going, and the defense, if you look at a lot of these playoff games, that’s the scheme that works.” Farnsworth: Are there any assistant coaches that will definitely come back? Ruskell: “Yes, there will. We’ll figure all that out. As anything gets changed or added, we’ll make sure and let you know.” Farnsworth: But Solari will be back? Ruskell: “He will be back, yes.” Farnsworth: Unless you’ve lost your mind. Ruskell: (Laughs) “Well, that can happen.” O’Neil: Is there a timetable within which the coaching staff will be assembled? Ruskell: “No. We would like to do it as quickly as possible, but we’re not going to make a silly decision. Jim’s very thorough in his interviews – some would say way beyond. There’s a lot of late nights going on; he really wants to get to know these guys. I can’t put a timeline on it. We’d like to get that in place, ideally we’d like to say we’d have it done by the Super Bowl, but I don’t know if that’s realistic.” Farnsworth: Who is making up the staff? Is it all Mora’s decision? Ruskell: “It’s a collaborative effort. It absolutely is. We’ve worked together before, and that’s the way it will continue to work. Obviously, he knows a lot of coaches. He’s a coaches’ coach, and he’s been in this league a long time, as I have. So we run names by each other and we decide: is that a fit?” Bell: Looking back, what were the plusses and minuses to hiring a coaching successor before Holmgren’s final season? Ruskell: “Well, the plus is that I’m not in the middle of a coaching search. Phew. That’s a good one. You know, I look back, and I don’t know that I would change anything we did. Obviously, we would all change how the season went. But Coach (Holmgren) was very adamant when he made his decision that this was going to happen. So we moved on and started looking for our next coach. Jim was in the building. We liked what he did for us in terms of working with the secondary. He was a good fit for us. We all felt good about that. We thought: let’s minimize the distractions and the controversy by just going ahead and naming the next coach, and then that’s out of the way and we can concentrate on the season ahead. By and large, I think that worked perfectly. You have a coach now who has been with the team; he’s not coming in here and trying to assess the players. He knows who can play. He has an idea of what he wants to do with them. So you don’t get that chaos of: is this guy going to line up on this side of the ball because he doesn’t fit his scheme? A lot of teams get that with new coaches. So many more plusses than minuses. The minus being it was tried to be made a controversy, but I don’t think it was. You guys have talked to the players, and I don’t think it was a distraction. There were really no other minuses.” Farnsworth: Could that have been a distraction if you hadn’t named a coach? Ruskell: “Right. Guys are wondering who the next guy is, when is that going to happen? It can be distracting for Mike. I just think that was the right thing to do. I’m not saying it’s a blueprint for the rest of the NFL. Everything has to be in place. You have to have a guy you feel really good about, and the coach has to decide: my time is near. But it worked for us.” Farnsworth: There are rumors circulating about quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and whether he will be here next season. Can you address those? Ruskell: “Do I have to address that? Matt’s our quarterback. And we’re very happy to have him.” O’Neil: Do expect to make any changes in scheme when the new assistants come in? Ruskell: “The big thing is to get the new staff in place. I don’t anticipate that; I really don’t. Jim has looked at this, and he knows the players we have. Obviously, you don’t want to make too much of a dramatic shift in terminology because you’d have to start from ground zero in their learning with Greg. Now, will Greg’s offense be different? Absolutely. He comes from a base, and they branch off. He’s got new ideas and different ways of doing things. If that’s dramatic, then we’ll see that. But certainly, no real overhaul in the players. We like our players. They fit what we’re doing.” Farnsworth: You overhauled the secondary in 2007 and the running game in 2008. Is there a position that will be overhauled this year? Ruskell: “I don’t think to that scale. I know this: we don’t want to get caught with the situation we had at receiver going into this year. And that was more driven by the health and how guys are recovering. But I wouldn’t put it at that level. But it will be a point of emphasis.” Johnson: Coach Holmgren said numerous times during the 2008 season that he would’ve liked a chance to come back and coach another season because of how ’08 went. Did he ever express that to you? Ruskell: “No, he didn’t. But it makes sense. And the way he put it in the press conference was perfect. You’ve made this decision, and now you think we’re going to have a really good year – no distractions and we like our football team. And then, boom, it’s not going well. And you say: I don’t want to go out like this. That’s how he explained it, and that’s how I took it. He never expressed that to me or Tod (Leiweke, the team CEO), but I could understand that. ‘Geez, this is not how this was supposed to be written.’ But I don’t think it was anything more than that. He said in his quiet moments, and in his time of reflection, that he knew it was absolutely the right decision.” Bell: Is free agent linebacker Leroy Hill an offseason priority? Ruskell: “Sure. Sure.” Bell: Where does wide receiver Bobby Engram, also slated to become a free agent, fit in? Ruskell: “As a matter of fact, we had a conversation last week. We have great respect for each other, and he wants to be here. And who wouldn’t want him to be a part of this? What I told Bobby was: ‘Listen, let’s get the staff together and see where the fit is – for him and for us.’ That’s the right thing to do.” Bell: Are you open to a multi-year deal? Ruskell: “I don’t want to get into any of that. We had our disagreements last year about how to do that. The arguments will come up, but the bottom line is that he wants to be a Seahawk and finish his career a Seahawk, and we would like that as well.” O’Neil: Walter Jones and Nate Burleson are among the guys who’ve undergone surgery. Are there others scheduled for the offseason? Ruskell: “Well, you’ve seen the bulk of them. Kerney’s in the middle of (rehab). All those that you just mentioned are going well. What we would like to have is any guys who were injured during the season to have them back for the minicamps so they don’t miss anything. I don’t know that we’ll get there with Kerney and Walter, but for most of the rest of the guys, we will. And that’s a good thing.” Farnsworth: Will you hold the extra April minicamp now that Mora is coach? Ruskell: “Jim is very focused on doing that. It’s generally a voluntary deal, but you have that one you can play with.” O’Neil: What is the health status of Lofa Tatupu? Ruskell: “They’re monitoring that right now. With his thumb, is that what you’re talking about?” O’Neil: Isn’t there a knee problem too? Ruskell: “No. They’re talking about his thumb.” Farnsworth: What about Deon Grant’s knee? Is that OK? Ruskell: “He’s fine.” Williams: You talked about not making a major overhaul. Do you feel like, for the most part, the pieces are in place to compete for a championship next season? Ruskell: “I think so. And when I say that, we’re counting on a pretty high draft pick and we’re going to get an influx of some real, young energy and guys who can come in and play for us. And we’ll have strategic moves in free agency as well, and signing our own players. Incorporate all that, and I say we’re pretty much there in terms of the players we have right now.” Williams: Financially, are you in a place where you can make those moves? Ruskell: “Yeah.” Johnson: Speaking of finances, there are several players with big cap numbers coming up next season. Will you need to make some cuts? Ruskell: “Everybody around the league is going through the economic crisis that we all are. So, yeah, we’re looking at that hard. But in terms of the question that you’re asking, is that going to force us to get rid of a player or restructure? We don’t anticipate any. We can do what we need to do. But everybody, you can see it around the league, it’s just tight for everybody. There’s pressure on all the revenue streams. We’re all going to be cognizant of that.” Bell: When do you expect Walter Jones back? Ruskell: “We expect him back for training camp.” Bell: Mike Holmgren made it sound like training camp was iffy for Walter? Ruskell: “No. I’m very excited about how that’s gone.” Bell: Because of the high draft pick, No. 4 overall, does that mean you might address the future of the left tackle position in this draft? Ruskell: “Well, you’re not going to find a Walter Jones. (Laughs) Sure, there’s really no position that we can really rule out. We’ll have to see past Jan. 20 who gets added (to the draft-eligible list). We have not had those meetings to really nail that down. But, certainly, we like what we’re seeing in the draft to really help this football team. There’s really no position that’s out, or in, yet. We haven’t done that yet. But we’ll have to look at that, sure. You always have to look at that group: what can we add? Are we getting too old? Same with the defensive line. You never want to let those slip because they drive the train.” O’Neil: Does the success of Miami and Atlanta bring optimism that things can get turned around in a year? Ruskell: What it shows is that teams are pretty close in your personnel. Maybe you take two or three off the top and two or three off the bottom, and you look at those 26 or 27 teams and you say, You know what? They’re pretty close. Really what it comes down to is just attitude. Those teams changed their attitude. That came from the coaching staff and whatever changes they had in the front office or what have you. And so, yes, partly because of the stress of parity over the last 10, 15 years, it can happen. You’re absolutely right: it can happen. Teams are pretty close. You get an attitude shift – ‘our team has gone through something really horrible in terms of a bad season, and all the players are upset and want to change that’ -- and you make a commitment and get the chemistry going pretty good. That’ll be part of what we have to do. We have to change that attitude.” O’Neil: Is that the biggest thing about making a quick turnaround? Ruskell: “Yes, you have to do that. In Miami, really, other than the quarterback, a lot of those players were on that team. (Joey) Porter was there. But the way they played, from the year before in terms of being physical, aggressive and taking the personality of their head coach, I think that’s where you saw the change. It wasn’t so much the overhaul of the roster. There really wasn’t an overhaul of the roster.” Farnsworth: Was that the same thing that happened in Atlanta, or was it because of rookie quarterback Matt Ryan? Ruskell: “Yeah, I thought it was moreso a personnel change in Atlanta. You’ve got the running back (Michael Turner) too. The quarterback just played fantastic. But attitude, Coach (Mike) Smith’s attitude and what (Mike) Mularkey brought to the offense in terms of guys playing their natural position and the scheme, that was part of it. But was it 80 percent of the roster? It was. So you can do it. Moreso than the NBA or Major League Baseball, in the NFL you can make a change quickly.” O’Neil: Were the 1999 Rams the first team you remember making that dramatic turnaround? Ruskell: “That was a biggee. In terms of the other ones, they’re just not coming to mind. In the advent of free agency, obviously that’s been easier to do. Back in the 70s and 80s, you never really saw it. There was a three-year plan and a five-year plan, and those were real. A coach was not expected to come in right away and turn it around. Now, you’d better get it done right now. It’s hard. That’s why you see so much turnover, that impatience. But it can be done. There are many examples, starting with the Rams.” Johnson: After how things started in your tenure, with a Super Bowl in the first season, did you feel more like a target this season than ever before? Ruskell: “You know, I don’t think that way. I love what I do. This is a great job. That’s something I can’t control. I know people have accused me of being silent this year, but that’s really a philosophy that we’ve had since I got here. I kind of learned from Mr. (Rich) McKay and how he handled it in Tampa and how he handled it in Atlanta. During the season, you let the coach be the spokesman for the team. The players should know that any talk about the team is coming from the head coach. And then in the offseason, you can take over. I thought that was the right way to do it. That’s always been my philosophy, and it’s always been that way. No, I haven’t felt like a target. I’ve heard the criticism, but I don’t let it affect me.” Farnsworth: One of the criticisms is that you’ve taken credit when times are good but that you disappeared when times went bad. Ruskell: “I don’t remember taking all the credit. You know, I’m all about team guys. Coach Holmgren and I, and the personnel staff, everyone in this building, we’re all about team. If we do poorly, whatever comes. And if we do well, there’s plenty to go around. I don’t think about it. Jim’s not that way. That’s just not the way we think. Football, this is the ultimate team sport. It can’t just be the players. It has to be the front office and the coaching staff. Those people are just as important as the players. And the players look upstairs and go: ‘I hope that group’s getting along.’ It’s kind of like when you’re growing up and your parents. There was tension when your parents were arguing. There’s still that mentality. If that group is tight, the coaching staff and front office, then it puts the players at ease. They know what they’re doing; everything’s calm. That’s the way you have to do it.” Farnsworth: Did you ever think, when things were spinning out of control, what can I do to help? Ruskell: “Sure. I had many thoughts that way: is there another player we need to bring in? We ended up picking up Keary Colbert, and that was probably out of desperation more than anything: let’s just give these young guys more time here. It was like: gosh, should we bring in a veteran here? It was mostly born out of desperation. It wasn’t well-thought out. The other guys, they’re probably going to play better because they’re so used to the offense. It’s a difficult offense to pick up. Coach Holmgren’s offense is hard, and it was very hard for Colbert. It wasn’t fair to him.” Bell: How do you think the Koren Robinson signing went, on and off the field? Ruskell: “You know, I’m proud of him. He convinced us, when we did the research on him, that he had changed in terms of what he had done with his family and what he was asked to do. But you never know until you actually … One thing that’s a trigger at times when you have that type of problem is the pressure. The pressure can drive you. To his credit, it’s a good story. It is a good story, and I’m glad. He helped us, and it made him feel good, like: OK, I came back and I conquered that demon, because I didn’t like the way that ended. He really appreciated that we gave him another chance. Not everybody gets that. So I thought that was a good story. He did a nice job for us. The way Koren blocked this year, you probably didn’t see it. It didn’t make the highlights. Many of our bigger runs, and some of our touchdowns, he did a heck of a job. It was almost every week. He’d make a good block, and then he had a couple of nice catches that helped us. I think that was a good story.” Farnsworth: You sound like Robinson’s second career in Seattle is over. Ruskell: “We haven’t made that decision. Again, I want to get the group together and make those kinds of decisions.” O’Neil: Are there any coaches who have told you they don’t want to be back? Ruskell: “Yes, there is. Jim Lind (tight ends coach) and John Jamison (special teams assistant).” Bell: So is Gil Haskell finished here as offensive coordinator now that Greg Knapp was hired? Ruskell: “There are consultant jobs that you see around the league. Offensive assistants, and that’s something that might work out. It’s not unheard of, and it’s actually quite common for guys to do that if it’s out there.” Williams: Do you want to get back the draft pick that was surrendered in the Colbert trade? Ruskell: “The fifth-rounder? You know, you can do that. That’s one thing you can do the day of the draft; there’s so much trading going on: ‘Here’s a six for a couple sevens.’ We’re not afraid to do that if it comes that way. We’re not focused on it right now, no. It’s a little harder to get it. But if it presents itself, because you get calls all day long on the second day, it can be done.” Farnsworth: Now that you’ve got the No. 4 pick, are you excited about what you might get? Ruskell: “Yeah. It invigorates the scouts. Those are the most fun players to scout. They make all the plays and getting on ESPN. You tell the scouts: ‘Don’t worry about those 20 players. Here are the 20 you need to focus on.’ So, it invigorates the personnel staff. It makes you really want to get it right because the stakes are higher and the numbers are higher. It really helps bring your personnel and your coaching staff together. The whole building wants to make sure this guy is successful. So it’s fun that way. It’s more work, but it’s more fun as well. … But I’d still rather pick 32nd than where we are. But that’s just me.” Johnson: Are there any positions, philosophically, that you don’t want to address that high in a draft? Ruskell: “You know, I’ve never been a fan of the high offensive linemen. But I don’t know that that’s the correct way to look at it. There’s so much more importance placed on it, especially at left tackle. We know how hard that guy is to replace. We can’t show the highlights: ‘Yeah, great, he stiff-armed him.’ But it is important. That’s a big part of the football team. You have to say, ‘OK, he’s a good one.’ The reality is, there are guys that warrant that pick. If you look at the offensive linemen in this draft, it’s pretty darned strong.” Bell: After going with two kickers all season, where are you now? Ruskell: “We drafted (Brandon) Coutu and he was 7-for-7 during the preseason. There was a lot of talk about him and we thought we should hang onto him till at least the trade deadline. Olindo (Mare), coming off the year he had, we wanted to make sure he was healthy. He had two down years prior to coming here. Obviously, as the season continued, Olindo was fantastic. After the trade deadline, there was never any pressure that we had to have another roster spot, so we kept Brandon as insurance. Is Brandon coming back for training camp? Right now he is. I understand why people would question why we would have two kickers. The deadline was over so we didn’t have the pressure to make a change at that spot on the roster.” Farnsworth: Will you bring back Olindo Mare? Ruskell: “Yes, we would be crazy not to. All those years when he was with the Miami Dolphins— the Olindo I had always known. It is these last two years prior to last season that didn’t make sense to me. When we tested him out, the leg is still there. All credit to him for working hard during rehab and for having a fabulous year. I wish it was a year where we were winning games and going to the playoffs, because he deserved it.” Johnson: How do you feel about the situation at running back? Ruskell: “I feel good about it. Obviously we have a couple of free agents that we have to make decisions on. We would like to have both (Leonard) Weaver and (Maurice) Morris back. Greg Knapp is looking at the position to see how he likes it. Julius started off the year good and had a couple of big games, but he got into the doghouse a little bit with the fumbling. Maurice was able to emerge and have a good second half. We increased our run per carry this past season, so I thought there was improvement, and I think you will see that more and more with Solari getting comfortable with our offensive line. I thought we made improvement. Would I have liked it to be more dramatic? Sure, but it was pretty good.” Farnsworth: How is the health of Chris Spencer and Rob Sims? Ruskell: “They are doing well and we need them to be doing well.” Farnsworth: Will Spencer need back surgery? Ruskell: “That has not been determined yet and everything we did was geared towards not having surgery. That has not been determined yet.” Johnson: Did the play of the offensive line at the end of the season change your plans for the future at that position? Ruskell: “It made us feel good. We think we have some depth there and just the way (Mansfield) Wrotto and (Steve) Vallos developed bodes well for the future. Those guys looked good in training camp, but you never know how they will do in the regular season—and they did a good job. They went toe-to-toe with some very good defensive lineman. Kyle Williams hung in there and those guys hung in there and showed they can play. This gives us the depth, and we will have some interesting battles this offseason and in training camp. Having guys we know that can play is very helpful for us going into next season.” Farnsworth: Did the play of free agent linemen Ray Willis and Floyd Womack change their market value? Ruskell: “I want us to get together as a group and look at them objectively. If we did lose one of these guys, are we okay? The good news is, we do like those guys and they did get a chance to play. Our guys have done a great job at drafting offensive lineman in the fourth round. We started with Ray Willis, then Rob Sims and finally Wrotto. That lends into my philosophy of not drafting a lineman so high in the draft. If they are well-coached and they work together and you have tough guys then they can work together. Everybody knows the offensive line is about continuity. Once you’re above the bar talent-wise, then it’s about continuity and working together.” O’Neil: Do you believe the offensive line is above the bar, talent-wise? Ruskell: “I do, yes.” Johnson: Could Vallos push Chris Spencer as the starting center? Ruskell: “That is not for me to say. I like both those guys and when Chris was playing, he did a heck of a job. We didn’t know what we were going to get with Steve but he did a heck of a job too. You want competition and if you have two good centers, then you’re that much better off. Steve has played other positions; he played tackle in college, we drafted him as a guard and now he has played center. The versatility is really important.” Bell: How is the health of Matt Hasselbeck? Ruskell: “He just needs to rest and we’re making progress but it’s slow. That is the way backs work.” Farnsworth: Did Seneca Wallace prove he can play in the league? Ruskell: “We have resigned him twice since I have been here. In ’06 when he had to play four games and we were 2-2, he did some nice things. The Seneca we saw earlier in the year was not Seneca Wallace. Even in the Miami game, he played well but from the third quarter on, he could barely move. I always felt good about him and do feel good about him and I’m glad we have him. Defenses know how good he is and they have to prepare a little more because of his running ability.” O’Neil: Are you worried about finding the next franchise quarterback? Ruskell: “Sure, you have to think about the future, and Matt is not going to play forever. He is still playing at a high level and he is still our quarterback and we feel really good about that. At some point you will have to plan for the future and we are cognitive of that.” O’Neil: Could Seneca’s play have changed the possibility that someone else will try to acquire him as a starter? Ruskell: “We’re not even thinking that way. He played well, and we can win with him.” Bell: Seneca Wallace said he had some clauses in his contract that he may have met. Ruskell: “I don’t like to discuss players’ contracts. All these guys have clauses in their contracts that if they hit certain numbers they get extra money. We are happy to oblige because that means they’re playing good.” Farnsworth: Seneca thought he might become a free agent after reaching the clauses. Ruskell: “I don’t know about that. That I would have remembered.” Johnson: Did the rash of injuries force you to take a look at why? Ruskell: “We look at everything in terms of conditioning. You hear a lot of from teams of overtraining guys because it is a year-long process now. We don’t want to say luck or bad luck drives what we are going to do. We will look at everything. Part of it was things just not going our way with injuries towards certain positions and how many guys were hurt. I think you always have to keep looking at your offseason programs, training camp, and what you’re doing in the weight room. When you see you a trend you will make changes and it’s not like it has been this way every year.” Williams: Will you franchise Leroy Hill? Ruskell: “All options will be open. Obviously we are starting talks again with his agent. Our priority is to have him back on the football team.” O’Neil: Where is Leroy in terms of the stinger injury? Ruskell: “Yes, he is good. Too bad we don’t have a game this week. He would be ready to go hit somebody!” Farnsworth: Is there a concern about tying up too much money in the linebacker position? Ruskell: “It’s unusual, but if that is one of the strengths of your team or your defense, then that is your identity. Maybe that means you can’t go with as many guys getting paid on the defensive line or in the secondary. Sometimes teams have three guys in their secondary getting paid. It’s something we have to think about because it’s not like we don’t have a salary cap, and every move affects every other move. We have those conversations every day.” Johnson: How would you evaluate the Deion Branch trade? Ruskell: “Obviously it has been frustrating that Deion hasn’t had a stretch were he is completely healthy. Before he was hurt last year with the calf injury, he had a streak of about seven games where he was the man. To me, he finally figured out the offense and then he got hurt with the knee injury in Green Bay. He really hasn’t had a streak where we can see his full potential. When he is healthy and playing, I like him and I’m glad he is on the team, and he is a good player for us and will be going into the future. He is a guy the team can jump on his back and he’ll carry you for stretches at a time. He is guy who can make a lot of catches and score touchdowns and that is what’s frustrating for Deion and for us. I hope that is coming next season. I think he will finally have an offseason where he is here for the whole offseason and he will be incorporated into the new offense. My hope is, we will see Deion play 16 games and help us win.” Scott M. Johnson, Herald Writer |
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