From the Radish's Garden: 8/14 Pictures & Report!

Our own Les "PithyRadish" Norton was back in Cheney today for the Seahawks' first training camp session following their 34-15 win over the Saints on Friday. Les got some stellar shots and filed his own in-depth report after observing a new intensity in Sunday's morning practice.

THE NORTON REPORT

Today was really different. Different passing drills, and different coaching attitudes. But first...

Lofa Tatupu not in pads again today. We spoke briefly about it and the team decided to wait a little longer on his return.

Michael Harden also with no pads after Friday's concussion.

Andre Dyson was dressed and practiced after his Friday "stinger" at New Orleans.

Saw D.D. Lewis and said "good morning" as he trotted out to warm up without pads. That usually means they go back inside instead of staying on the field.

The first receiver practice was something brand new to me. They were practicing catching one handed - what a hoot! You would be amazed how many catches there were. Only about 2 or 3 balls dropped in 20-30 minutes. And no laughing either, they were paying attention to every throw. Joe Jurevicius missed one that would have put him out of bounds but he still was furious at himself. I like his attitude.

Even the normal practice was intense. And one of the reasons was Mike Holmgren himself. When he came out he was laughing and joking, he stopped and talked a minute with all of us fans and seemed in good spirits. But when he hit the field, Mr. Hyde came out. Everywhere you looked he was standing with his playcard in his hand watching every move.

They did a long time of 11-on-11 rotating players on almost every play. There was no tackling allowed, but hitting? You could hear it 30 yards away. You will see in some of the pictures how hard they were going at each other. On short distances like 3rd and 1, whoever had the ball got knocked back on his knickers more than once.

Something happened during the start of 11-on-11s that caught my attention from 40 yards away. When Holmgren starts gesturing a lot and his voice gets loud, you'd better pay attention. Everyone on that field stopped what they were doing and stood at attention so they wouldn't miss a word. As it got louder more and more fans funneled down to hear what was going on.

On one occasion when it was 3rd and 1, Leonard Weaver headed off to the right side and never looked back at Matt. I would guess that he had missed the read because he never turned his head. But that's one flat pass I'll bet he never forgets because every offensive coach on the field was in his face.

The tolerance level from the coaches was not very high. I know that they hadn't seen the game films yet, as several players told me that they were doing that this afternoon.

FB Leonard "The Hydrant" Weaver (43), G Chris Gray (62) and MLB Lofa Tatupu walk to the practice field.	CB Michael Harden, who suffered a concussion in the New Orleans game, walks to practice.
Safety Junior Rosegreen (7) and CB Andre Dyson (22) walk to practice. Dyson practiced today after suffering a "stinger" in the New Orleans game.	Mike Holmgren walks to the practice field.
WR Bobby Shaw during one-handed drills in morning practice.	WR Darrell Jackson gets his hand on the ball during drills.
Eleven-on-eleven drills (offense vs. offense) on Sunday morning. The Seahawks' first training camp practce following their 34-15 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Friday was marked by a new intensity.
Head coach Mike Holmgren (r.) charts the course as the team moves through the preseason.	Holmgren and new assistant Keith Gilbertson (l) review their notes.
Holmgren addresses the offense.	Holmgren is known for being hard on his offensive line.
Seattle's regular-season opener in Jacksonville is only 27 days away - now is the time to get serious about gameplanning.
Seattle's second-team offense and first-team defense face off.
Tough blocking and aggressive pursuit will be standard operating procedure from now on.
QB Seneca Wallace (15) starts to drop back, having failed to receive the snap from center, as Seattle's first-team defense intends to make things a bit tougher for the second-string QB than New Orleans did!
Matt Hasselbeck takes the snap as the first-team offense takes the field.
First-on-first...OLB Tracy White (59) and CB Kelly Herndon (31) backpedal and keep their eyes on Matt Hasselbeck.
LDE Bryce Fisher (94), CB Kelly Herndon (31) and OLB Jamie Sharper (55) personify the intensity of the Seahawks' new defense.