Seahawks Blog

The Seahawks new assistant coach repeatedly talked about how happy and focused he is on his current situation as he was asked about the situation with his former team, the Atlanta Falcons and the indictment of quarterback Michael Vick, whom Mora coached the past three season. He answered questions for reporters before lunch today. Here's a transcript of a session that lasted almost 4 minutes:

JIM MORA: I think it's a real unfortunate situation, and I hope for the best for him. You obviously hope the charges aren't true, but like I said, my focus has been on what's going on here. I've had a busy offseason getting my family here, getting settled in the house. I just haven't had a lot of time to think about that.

Q: Are you glad you didn't have to deal with it, though?

JIM MORA: Well, I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm a member of the Seahawks. We all have things we have to deal with, and I'm sure something will come up here with me, there's always things. But I'm just happy I'm here.

Q: Obviously, your mental focus is here. It's your job, it's your job, your profession. There's emotions involved on some of this stuff, too. On a personal level what kind of relationship did you have.

JIM MORA: We have a very good relationship. We had a very good relationship. He and I exchanged text messages on Wednesday. I just wanted him to know that I was thinking about him. And that's not to condone what he supposedly did at all. It's just on a human level, it's a guy I've known for three years and I wanted him to know that I was here. You know, as I was telling Dave, it's really tough for me to comment on what's going on with him because I don't know how I feel about it. I go back and forth. I think you can probably understand that because it was an emotional, has been an emotional six months or whatever I went through there. It's a tough call for me so I'm trying to keep my focus on my family and the Seattle Seahawks and hopefully things play out down there the way they're supposed to play out for everybody.

Q: How did you like what you saw out there today?

JIM MORA: I liked it. I thought it was a good start. Made some plays on the ball, and I think more than anything what I liked more than anything was the communication and the effort and the way we handled adjustments. It's a fun group to work with. I'm very fortunate to not only be here, but be working with the group I'm working with.

Q: Was it rough having a slick field to work with the first day?

JIM MORA: No. We're going to play on slick fields. It's gonna' rain here in Seattle every once in a while so we have to get used to it. And really, what you want to do is just teach your guys to just play through whatever circumstances there may be. And you don't make an excuse. You don't say it, 'Oh, it's raining. Watch it.' You just play through those circumstances and I thought our guys today in the secondary did a nice job with it.

Q: For how well you know Michael Vick, was it a surprise to even hear about this?

JIM MORA: Certainly. Just like Dan Reeves said, I never saw that side of him. What I saw was a real professional. A kid that cared about his teammates, cared about people in general, was a hard worker, was always there, was always on time. And once again, he's accused of these things. He hasn't been convicted so I didn't ever see anything that indicated that side of him.

Q: Some of his teammates seemed to say he kept to himself off the field.

JIM MORA: Well, he's a quiet person. He plays in a flamboyant manner, but he's not a flamboyant person. He doesn't dress flamboyant. He doesn't hit all the night spots. He's not out on the town all the time. He's kind of a quiet, reserved kid. But I just could tell you this that he always presented himself in a very professional manner when he was around the Atlanta Falcons.

Q: From a personal standpoint, is it a little bit of a relief you're not in Atlanta with all the distractions right now.

JIM MORA: No. I wouldn't say it's a relief. I would just say, and this is the God's honest truth ... I'm just excited as heck to be here and be a part of the Seahawks organization and be living back in the Seattle area. I've distanced myself from that as much as I can, and I'm just happy to be here.