Holmgren on Wallace

I thought yesterday, all in all he did okay, given how the team was functioning around him. When given time he completed passes, he made a couple athletic plays that not everyone could make, and with very little practice on the field in preparation. So it is what it is. Everyone else will have to just crank it up a notch...

I think you probably have to guard against overloading (Seneca). It's a very fine line. At the same time I don't want to insult his abilities, or his preparation... I want him to be confident when he plays and feel good about stuff, the same way I want Matt to be... It doesn't matter how smart my coaches are. What matters is how the player can function and how we teach him... but I believe he'll handle most things pretty well.

I think (Seneca) passes the ball very well. I think when he has time to do normal stuff he does very well... He's got a good arm, a strong arm.

I've mentioned this before: He has a learning disability -- reading situation. He was willing to go into a school that helped him with that. That to me is a special thing... It probably was a little embarrassing and made it difficult to learn at times in the classroom -- the football classroom -- but he worked hard to improve his skills. I applaud him for that. I like him a lot, as you can imagine. Now he gets his chance, and we're all counting on him...

It's been my experience with athletes that learn differently, that sometimes you don't know -- they have learned over the years to compensate to get the job done. I've always told my coaches, get to know your players well enough... There's lots of ways to teach.

Every athlete reaches this point at some point in his career. This isn't the only chance he's gonna have. (But) he can't play the game by himself if our offensive line doesn't block for him -- they have to play well too. (The offensive line should) worry about (their) job, and how (they're) doing to allow us to function.

We'll get through this... It's very much a measure of what your team is really like, down at its core. When you have stuff like this happen, it will tell us a lot about who we are, when you miss a few of your real fine football players.

(Seneca) is really a fine quarterback. I've said that from the get-go... When I talked to the color guys, you know, on the broadcast... the one thing they tell me most often after watching our practices, is they had no idea he could pass the ball the way he passed the ball.