GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Corey Linsley can admit it now: Bruce Irvin got in his head a little bit.

But you would have never known it by how Linsley, the Green Bay Packers rookie center, played in his first start against Irvin's Seattle Seahawks. Of all the things that went wrong for the Packers in their 36-16 loss last Thursday night, Linsley's play was not one of the issues.

Other than one miscommunication with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, in which the Packers had to burn a timeout during which Rodgers chastised his new center, Linsley's first start ended up being a non-story.

But anyone who was around the rookie on the evening of the game, when he read Irvin's comments that he would pray for Linsley because it's going to be a long night, might have had their doubts about how he would play.

"At the time when I first read it, I was sitting in my hotel and it kind of got me aggravated," Linsley said Monday. "I had just gotten past the anxiety of everything and I felt comfortable and confident going into the game. Then I was like, 'Man, these guys are after my head. I'm going to have the best defense in the league after my head.' I had to get over it; it took me a couple hours to get over it."

A call to his girlfriend helped.

"She didn't really bring it up but it just helped me," Linsley said. "We didn't talk about it at all, but it helped me to calm me down. It was intense there for a little bit."

During the game, in which Linsley was not responsible for a sack or a quarterback hit and performed his run-blocking duties well, Linsley said he did not hear any trash-talking from Irvin or any other Seattle defenders. Perhaps it was his play that shut them up.

"He did very well," Packers offensive coordinator Tom Clements said Monday. "He was good with his calls, he was good with his snaps, he blocked well both in the run and the pass. It was a very good debut for him."

After the game, Irvin praised Linsley for playing a good game.

"I noticed that there was a comment where he said, 'My hat's off to him' or something," Linsley said. "Obviously, I didn't prove myself totally but I gained a little bit of respect."

And then Linsley joked: "Everybody deserves a good prayer."