Hawks move practice inside

Hawks move practice inside
Team dodges rain, but not coach's wrath
By CLARE FARNSWORTH
P-I REPORTER

RENTON -- With November-like storm clouds building over Lake Washington -- not to mention a lightning scare also in the forecast -- Mother Nature was threatening to dump on the parade that was the Seahawks taking up full-time residence in their new state-of-the-art headquarters Monday morning.

No problem, they simply moved practice indoors.

Getting a real indoor practice field was a driving force in the club's moving to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center and saying goodbye to the Kirkland site that had been its headquarters since 1986 -- with its bubble-covered, shortened field that was available only from late October until the end of the season.

"That's the beauty of this place," coach Mike Holmgren said. "I don't think we could have blown up the bubble that fast in Kirkland."

Offered wide receiver Nate Burleson, "In Kirkland, we would have been out there with thunderstorms grazing over our helmets."

The players might have escaped the rain, but lightning did strike -- several times -- in the guise of Holmgren's rumbling eruptions of frustration and irritation over the team's christening the new place with a sloppy practice.

"Our attention to detail, I don't think it's very good right now," he said. "There's a trickle-down effect here. So I start with my coaching staff, and hopefully they listen and carry it on to the players."

On a few occasions, however, Holmgren eliminated the middlemen and went right to the source of his irritation.

"We've got to be better than this," he said. "And the players need to know that."

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck couldn't argue with Holmgren's abrasive assessment.

"All of this stuff is great; it is awesome," he said. "At the same time, we can't take the football aspect for granted. It takes a lot of focus and a lot of hard work to execute one play.

"I just felt the focus wasn't as good as it usually is. We are in a transition right now and have to figure out a way to get focused and not take the football aspect for granted."

That transition spilled over to the players' off-the-field situation, because the team vacated the dorms at Northwest University last week at the same time it left its old headquarters.

"It was a weird day," Hasselbeck said. "Half the guys are staying at home and the other half in the hotel. Starting practice outside, and then moving inside. It is a good lesson for us not to take the football side for granted."

It didn't help that the mistake-marred practice followed an even sloppier, albeit victorious, performance Saturday night in the team's preseason home opener at Qwest Field.

"We played a horribly sloppy game -- horribly sloppy," Holmgren said. "We gain 500 yards. The other team gains 200 yards. And you're in an overtime game. How does that compute?

"Well, it computes because you had six turnovers, 12 penalties, you got a couple of blocked punts. I mean, it's horrible. I won't stand for it.

"We've got to get cranking again. It was too much of a playground the other night."

That's why Holmgren was expecting more -- and needing more -- than the players showed him Monday morning.

The players were somewhat in awe of their new digs, and it's difficult to blame them. They had practiced here once, two weeks ago. Before that, most hadn't seen the place. Everything they heard was secondhand on how spacious and, yes, luxurious the $60 million facility was. Especially their areas -- the locker room, the weight room, the training room and the indoor practice field.

They were not disappointed.

"We have more than we need here. I feel honored to be on the team that was able to practice here the first time," Burleson said. "We have all the amenities we need. It's a beautiful place."

But a new place, after 32 years in Kirkland and the past 22 in the same building.

FOCUS ON: RAY WILLIS

Ray Willis always has looked the part: 6 feet 6, 315 solid pounds; wide at the shoulders, narrower at the hips.

Now, the Seahawks' fourth-year offensive lineman finally is getting his chance to play the part -- at least while right tackle Sean Locklear is sidelined with a sprained left knee.

Locklear was injured Saturday night, on the Seahawks' first series in their overtime victory against the Chicago Bears at Qwest Field. Additional tests Sunday showed he has a sprained ligament, but it's not the anterior cruciate -- which will shorten the length of time he will be sidelined.

Coach Mike Holmgren said Monday that he is hopeful Locklear will be ready for the Sept. 7 regular-season opener against the Bills in Buffalo. However, he quickly added, "But it's going to be close."

Enter Willis, a fourth-round draft choice in 2005 who has played in only 12 games the past three seasons -- primarily on special teams. At one point, the coaches tried moving Willis to guard, just to get him on the field. But his natural position is tackle.

"He played pretty well," Holmgren said of Willis' performance Saturday night after stepping in for Locklear. "Of all the guys up front, he was as consistent as anyone we had. So that was encouraging."





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