Q: How is your mouth?
TB: It is fine. I will be ready to go.
Q: Are eager are you to get back out on the field after a seven-for-19 and 76-yard performance, but it was a win?
TB: We are all anxious to get back out there. We are playing a very tough team. Seattle was tough last year and they are tough this year. They lost last week, but they were in that game and Iâ??m sure they felt like they should have won that game. We are playing a team that is basically undefeated. It is a great challenge for us.
Q: How difficult or different is it to prepare for a team that you havenâ??t seen?
TB: You have a week to prepare and I think that they are in the same situation. They really donâ??t know us very well. We are going to try to take advantage of all the time we have and get to know their personnel and schemes. It is a very good defense with very good players. They are all very talented guys. We have to use every free minute we have trying to get ready for them. That is what it is going to take to beat them.
Q: Does the more consistent lineup on the offensive line make a major difference?
TB: Whoever has been in there has been doing a really good job. I know we try to rotate a little bit and get some guys in there. Overall for the depth of our team, it always helps to know that guys can step in and play. Whoever is in there, Iâ??m always confident that they are going to do the right thing and do their job. They have been doing a great job all year.
Q: There have been a lot of blitzes the last two weeks. Do you expect more of that this week?
TB: They are a team that likes to blitz, so probably. They do like to blitz and it is in their package and in their scheme. Their coach isnâ??t afraid to call it. Last week at the end of the game the final play that ended it there was an all-out blitz and Marc Bulger made a great throw to the receiver who beat the safety and went 55 yards for a touchdown. They have everything in their package. They bring the safeties, they bring the corners, and they bring all the linebackers. They have blitz-man and blitz-zone. They do it all.
Q: You know they are going to be ticked off coming of the loss they just had.
TB: Yeah. Iâ??m sure they will be. We like playing teams that are ticked off though. We have faced them all. They are tough. They are very good.
Q: Talk about the receiver situation. You enter the game last Sunday with a depleted receiving corps. How difficult is that to adjust to?
TB: Those guys are all going to need to step in there and play well. David Givens is going to have to step it up. David Patten is going to have to. Iâ??m going to have to play a lot better too. The running backs are going to have to pull the extra load because when you lose Troy Brown and Deion Branch, you are losing a significant part of your offense. We all have to pick up a little bit of the load that they left behind. Iâ??m very confident in those guys. They can all do it. David [Givens] and David Patten have done it. Dan Graham is going to have to do it. That is just the way that it has to be. As we move further along into the season, every team is going to have depleted players. The depth of the team really shows.
Q: Have you seen the progression from week to week that you have wanted to with this club?
TB: We are continuing to make improvements. There are some games that we havenâ??t played particularly well on offense. We are trying to be more consistent in the running game. Last week we were very consistent in the running game. This past game fell off a little bit. Each week it seems like something different. Things that have been consistent are that we are turning the ball over too much and we are committing too many penalties. Those are the things that we have to try to eliminate.
Q: When do you get the stitches out?
TB: Hopefully soon. They arenâ??t very comfortable in there.
Q: You are on the cover of two magazines, Sports Illustrated, which is expected and Menâ??s Journal, where they list a survey where your job is the one most people would like to have in the world. Any comments on that?
TB: Come wake up on Monday morning and tell me if that is the job you want. That is pretty neat actually. You can see why a lot of people would want to play quarterback. It is a fun position. Even with stitches and bumps and bruises and everything that goes along with it.
Q: When you look at Seattleâ??s defense prior to last week they had been dominating. What can you learn from what St. Louis did?
TB: St. Louis made some big plays and they had some great execution. Marc Bulger was threading the needle on all those passes and the receivers were making so great plays. There was a touchdown pass that the St. Louis tight end caught in the end zone that was one of the best catches I have ever seen. Three guys were draped on him. I think that is what it is going to take. They really have some players that can make some plays defensively. They had three picks against them last week. Their secondary has eight interceptions on the year. [Marcus] Trufant is playing excellent. [Ken] Lucas is a very good corner on the other side. [Terreal] Bierria and [Ken] Hamlin can play too. They have a very active group of linebackers. When they swarm around the ball, they are a ballhawking defense and they strip that ball and pick it off. We have to be very conscious of taking care of the ball this week.
Q: What do you know about Matt Hasselbeck?
TB: I have hung out with him a few times. He is an awesome player. I watch him play. He has a very strong arm. He doesnâ??t get a lot of credit for that, but I watch him and he is firing that ball all over the place. He throws well on the run. He is a perfect West Coast quarterback. That is what you look for in a quarterback in the West Coast. He looks like how Steve Young and Joe Montana used to run it. He throws it very efficiently and he has a great group of receivers. They can run the ball. That is a very dangerous offense. He kind of leads the way.
Q: How about Michigan on Saturday?
TB: It is going to be a great game.
Q: Did you watch last week?
TB: I sure did. Iâ??m always watching. It is always a nail-biter, especially against Minnesota. They always give us a hard time.
Q: Talk about your shoulder and how it went through that game last week.
TB: You just get sore from the bumps and bruises. You get landed on, but you just have to get up and get treatment. Hopefully it feels better by Wednesday. It does feel better today.
Q: Are you having trouble talking?
TB: It is a little sore. You get hit in the mouth and you get sore.
Q: Did you watch the Red Sox last night?
TB: I did. They showed a lot of heart. They came back. I would have thought that they would have been left for dead, but they fought back. It was a great game. That is the way that it is going to be. You put two great teams together and it is going to come down to the end like that. In football it is the same way. If you put two good teams together, it may be one-sided for a little bit, but ultimately it is going to even out.
Q: What would you tell those guys?
TB: They donâ??t need help from me. Pedro [Martinez] doesnâ??t need my help. He is going to do fine. They are going to do fine. We have Seattle. That is who I want to talk about.
Q: Playcalling in the second half when you have a lead, how do you balance trying to milk the clock with wanting to stay aggressive?
TB: That is always the fine line of what you are trying to do. You do want to run the clock when you have a defense as good as ours. You just want to try to end that game. We have done a good job of that since I have been here. We donâ??t give up a whole lot of leads. I think that is because we are very smart at what we do. At the same time, you come off the field in the second half and say we didnâ??t do much out there in the second half, but we had a 24-7 or 24-10 lead. I think coach has always played it pretty smart.
Q: Is it hard to get it started again once you have shut it down?
TB: Yeah. When you are playing against a good defense, it is not like you can just turn it on and shut it off. You wish you could, but that is not really what works. Usually when you have the momentum, you want to keep it on and keep pushing and keep trying to make those good plays. If those plays stop working, then you have to figure out new things to do. You really donâ??t turn it on and off against a good defense. You try to keep the pressure on them the whole game.
Q: Do performances like last week bug you?
TB: You always want to play really well. When it doesnâ??t you go back and re-evaluate what you are doing and try to get better. That is all of us. We are trying to get better and we are trying to be more consistent throwing the ball and running the ball and ultimately win football games. That is what it is all about. You get up 24-10, you are just concerned about winning at that point.
Q: Every week you are trying to get better and work on your mistakes. It doesnâ??t get in your head?
TB: You just try to keep getting better. Sometimes it doesnâ??t always go the way that you planned it, but that is life and that is being a quarterback. You just believe in what you are doing and try to keep going back out there and keep trying to get the job done and hopefully win some games.
Q: How critical is it that Pedro win tonight?
TB: You donâ??t want to get down 0-2. He will be fine. That is Pedro Martinez, one of the best in baseball.
Q: Can you talk about Daniel Graham? What is the difference this year?
TB: This year is doing a really good job of getting open and finding the holes. On the goal line, it was a good play last week that he did by trying to fight the guy who was trying to hold him and get off of him and get open. If you throw it to him, he catches it. Dan has done a great job. Christian [Fauria] has got a great job when he is in there. Ben [Watson] did a good job until he got hurt. Our tight ends have been a really good position this year.
