Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[wizard 87]

Holmgren honored, humbled by Hall induction

Mike Holmgren believes the term "changing the culture" is tossed around a little too liberally these days. In Green Bay, the former Packers coach had to do exactly that. Inheriting a team that reached the playoffs twice in 24 years, Holmgren faced a tall task.

Now, he's headed to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. In seven years as the Packers' head coach, Holmgren went 75-37. Green Bay reached the playoffs six times, won the NFC Central three times and brought the Lombardi Trophy back home in 1996.

"I’ve always said this and I really believe this," Holmgren said on a conference call Tuesday, "I was a high school history teacher who got lucky. Ron Wolf decided to take a chance on a guy who hadn’t been in the league very long. To be a part of and be mentioned in the same breath with the greats of the Green Bay Packers, that’s a special thing for anybody. It’s an honor and I’m humbled by it."

Holmgren will be inducted to the team's Hall of Fame on July 21 with Wolf serving as his presenter. He'll likely be remembered most for waking up a downtrodden franchise.

Now the president of the Cleveland Browns, Holmgren said he distinctly remembers the scene inside the Superdome after the Packers beat the New England Patriots, 35-21. Inside an office, he asked other coaches to leave.

"I was quiet and I had my own private thoughts," Holmgren said, "and I just thought of all the folks in the organization, not just players and coaches because we’re on the frontlines. But (I thought of) all the people in the organization that had been there for a long time and were able to share in the Super Bowl victory. I think that in itself is something very special. It’s a special organization and has been for a very long time. It got people feeling very, very good about the football team again and sharing in that victory was special to me.”

Of course, under Holmgren, quarterback Brett Favre won three MVP awards. The two shared a unique relationship that brought out the best in each other.

When asked Tuesday how long he would have stuck with Don Majkowski as quarterback if he didn't suffer an injury, Holmgren laughed and said "Excuse me. I'm going to get some water." His plan was to get Favre in eventually. The Packers didn't deal a first-round pick for him to sit on the bench.

Then, it was Holmgren's job to tame Favre's wild right arm.

"People thought at the time that Brett and I didn’t get along but actually we got along famously," Holmgren said. "It’s just that I kind of recognized the fact that he was a stallion and a racehorse and I had to kind of hold the reins all the time and at least to make sure we got some control on what was going on on the field and so on."

When interceptions -- often of the gunsling variety -- dogged Favre early in his career, Holmgren sat down with the quarterback.

"I said listen, your challenge next year I want you to try and, that these type of gambling type plays, let’s cut back on them because we’re going to be better," Holmgren said. "He goes, 'Mike that’s just the way I play.' And he was being honest. ... I said 'OK but if you play that way we’re a 9-7 team. That’s what we are. Now we want to be better than that and you want to be better than that.' And so to his credit he listened and he did that."

Of course, one loss still sticks with Holmgren to this day, a loss that ended up being his final game in Green Bay.

In a 1999 Wild Card classic at San Francisco, Terrell Owens' touchdown catch with three seconds left finished Holmgren's tenure in Green Bay. He moved on to the Seattle Seahawks to be the head coach and general manager. To many Packer fans, that 30-27 loss comes with an asterisk. On the 49ers' game-winning drive, Jerry Rice appeared to fumble on one reception. The game still bothers Holmgren.

"Now on a play like that, we can review that and we would have won the game," Holmgren said. "It’s funny. And (my wife) Kathy tells me this all the time. There are certain games that she finally says, 'You gotta let the thing go.' Twenty years or whatever. And the hard part is you can’t let some of them go. That was a tough game. At the time I thought our team was really peaking. You watch how the Giants are playing now, they had their moments during the season but now they seem to be peaking at the right time. You can look back historically on different  Super Bowl teams that do that. I felt we were kind of doing that."

Either way, this summer Holmgren's place in team history will be secured. He said he doesn't look back at 1999 and think about what would have happened if he stayed in Green Bay and waited for Wolf to retire.

"Look, it was a special, special time for me and my family but I made my decision and the Packers made theirs and Ron made his and all that kind of stuff, and you just move forward," Holmgren said. "Clearly, the team is going great guns right now with my old buddy Ted Thompson. I think things work out the way they’re supposed to."

Report: Moss, Capers out of running for Raiders job

Neither inside linebackers coach Winston Moss nor defensive coordinator Dom Capers will be the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders, according to an ESPN report.

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie, the former Packers director of football operations, is focusing in on Denver defensive coordinator Dennis Allen for the head coach position, ESPN reported today.

The report said that other candidates have been informed they are out of the running, although it did not specifically mention Moss or Capers.

Presumably, the Raiders are in contract negotiations with Allen and are waiting until those are complete to announce their decision. It's always possible those could break down, but it's pretty unlikely.

McKenzie interviewed both Moss and Capers for the head coaching position, along with several others, including Philadelphia offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and former Miami defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.

Capers, 61, has no reason to leave the Packers other than for a head coaching position, so it's likely he'll be back. He has said in the past that he has no thoughts of retiring.

Moss could try to go for a defensive coordinator's job somewhere, but those positions are dwindling quickly. Among the available job possibilities are: Miami, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.

SOURCE http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/packers.html