Seahawks land to get Rhodes to a hospital

KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks’ charter plane made an emergency landing early Monday morning to get medical care for Ray Rhodes, a special defensive assistant and former NFL head coach.

Coach Mike Holmgren said upon his return Monday from Seattle’s 37-6 loss at Chicago that the stop in Rapid City, S.D., was because Rhodes “felt faint.” The stop was made on the advice of team physicians on board. Rhodes was taken from the airport to a hospital in an ambulance.

Holmgren said dehydration and Rhodes not eating much Sunday apparently caused him to feel faint. Rhodes spent the night at a hospital and flew back to Seattle on a commercial jet Monday afternoon.

The former Green Bay and Philadelphia coach, who turns 56 this month, had two strokelike episodes last fall.

“Ray had a little episode on the plane, and given his history, our doctors were very conservative,” Holmgren said.

He emphasized Rhodes’ symptoms did not appear to be related to the Bears runaway that undoubtedly irked him.

Rhodes had a stroke in September 2005 and missed that season’s opener at Jacksonville. He then had what the team called a second “strokelike episode” on Nov. 4 and was hospitalized overnight. He was Seattle’s defensive coordinator at the time, but John Marshall took over Rhodes’ game-day duties in the wake of last fall’s incidents.

Rhodes finished last season on a limited schedule. Holmgren said last winter – half-jokingly – that he chased Rhodes out of team headquarters at 5 p.m. each day.

This season, Marshall is the team’s defensive coordinator while Rhodes is what Holmgren calls a “consultant.”

The 26-year coaching veteran and Marshall develop game plans and study opposing offenses during the week. On game days, they both coach from the press box, and players still say the Seahawks’ defense is Rhodes’ creation.