Seahawks Blog

I didn't watch the broadcast on Sunday night, but apparently NBC showed a very tightly focused shot of the playsheet coach Mike Holmgren carries with him on the sidelines. You know, that laminated thing he is either looking at or holding over his mouth to keep opponents from reading his lips.

The playcard was shown for no more than a second, according to an NBC spokesman and it was not intentional.

Boy, didn't this the sort of the thing that had the Patriots coughing up a draft choice(s) and stick coach Bill Belichick get a big, fat, ugly fine. Oh wait. They were filming the signals of opposing defensive coaches. This was part of the telecast, shown unintentionally and while someone could conceivable capture the screen and freeze it -- say like this on Seth Kolloen's blog -- well, Holmgren said it would be tough for another coach to make much sense of it and it doesn't have much carryover to the next week.

Holmgren was asked about it on Monday ... by someone wearing the jacket of the local NBC affiliate.

"Yeah, I don't even know how they do that," Holmgren said. "Was that that camera that almost hit Matt and killed him?"

Nope. Different camera. That one was suspended above the field and it appeared one of the cables broke.

As for the up-close shot of the playcard?

"There are not a lot of secrets, but I think those things probably, they should probably tell you if they're going to try and do that," Holmgren said. "Or ask you, and if you say no, they should honor that request. I would rather they didn't do that."

Is it the sort of thing that could linger around down the road, giving opponents a key into the Seahawks' offensive philosophy?

"Oh, I don't know," Holmgren said. "I don't think so. The guys that have worked with me and for me over the years, have a very similar type of set-up. The plays change weekly. That whole sheet is different now."

The sheet is more like a cue card for Holmgren. It lets him know the plays he thinks will be effective, broken down by the situation such as third-and-short or second-and-long. He also uses it as a reminder to keep from forgetting certain plays that he thinks will be effective in the game.

"Every coach has a card," Holmgren said. "It's really for the coach. So very quickly, I know where things are on the card. If you were to hand me someone else's card with the same plays on it, they might set them up differently."