There's been a lot of talk about Matt Hasselbeck's thigh contusion, from Holmgren's surprise yesterday that Matt had revealed the information (Matthew told reporters that his thigh pad broke during the spinning hit in the Redskins game), to local newspapers (the PI has an article about his health today), to some of your comments wondering about No. 8's condition.

"He’s going to be fine," Holmgren said, when asked of the bruise. The coach has always been vague when it comes to reporting severity of injuries, has been since Green Bay. There's no way to really know how bad the bruise is. But second to the military, the NFL has some of the best doctors around. This season, Matt has had the following injuries: oblique, bruised ribs, hip, sprained right wrist, and now a charley horse. The docs and trainers have gotten Matt ready to play every week.

A bigger concern is Deion Branch. For the WR not to take the field during the playoffs means the guy is hurt. We'll see how much this week. Whether or not his reappearance hurts the wide-out rotation is different matter. The Seahawks offense is a better team when Branch takes the field. It just means another good player, as Holmgren pointed out last week, has to watch from the sidelines.