IRVING, Texas — The William Booth Center in downtown Seattle will be missing one of its annual visitors today.
Mike Holmgren is halfway across the country, coaching a football game while most of his family participates in their holiday tradition of serving food to the homeless in Seattle.
Holmgren had to forgo taking part in that annual Thanksgiving event so his Seattle Seahawks could be part of another Turkey Day tradition. The 2-9 Seahawks play their first Thanksgiving Day NFL game in 22 years today, taking on a talented Dallas Cowboys team that is fighting to stay alive in the playoff race.
It might be tempting to feel sorry for Holmgren, whose final season as Seattle’s coach has been marred by injuries and the worst record of his 16-year career, but don’t weep for the 60-year-old future Hall of Famer. As the big guy himself pointed out earlier this week, today is not a day for self-pity.
“It’s OK for the athletes, and for all of us, to focus in a little bit on other people and really realize how fortunate and blessed we have been,” Holmgren said earlier this week. “Thanksgiving is a time when you can do that.”
When it comes to performing on the football field, the Seahawks don’t have a lot of reason for thanks this year. Seattle is currently mired in a four-game losing streak, its longest in nine years, and could be on the way to its worst season since the 2-14 year in 1992. Along the way, Seattle has lost 16 starting players for at least one game because of injury — and center Chris Spencer is likely to be the 17th today because of back soreness.
It certainly hasn’t been the kind of Seahawks season that the team wants to unveil in front of families prepping for a holiday feast. What television time the game’s announcers don’t devote to Terrell Owens, Jessica Simpson and Jerry Jones will undoubtedly be turned toward ongoing questions about what’s gone wrong in Seattle.
Holmgren is ready for it, saying: “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been hammered on national TV.”
What the Seahawks don’t want to happen is another hammering on the field. Five of Seattle’s losses have been by double-digit margins and with the Cowboys 12½-point favorites, you can bet many people expect the Seahawks to take another drubbing today.
The fact that the Cowboys (7-4) are chasing the New York Giants (10-1) in the NFC East, and are within a game of five other teams in the wild-card race, only adds to the possibility of a national embarrassment for Seattle.
But Dallas coach Wade Phillips is quick to point out that the Cowboys are taking nothing for granted.
“We lost to St. Louis, now,” he said in a conference call this week, referring to the Cowboys’ 34-14 loss to the lowly Rams in Week 7. “I mean, we lost to a team that hasn’t won many games. I don’t look at it and say we can look past anybody.”
The Seahawks are going to do everything in their power to make a statement this afternoon.
“People will look at our record and say: ‘Oh, they’re 2-9,’” said Seahawks defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, one of seven Texas natives on the team. “But we’ve been fighting all year long. It will be good just to go out and show what kind of a team we really are.”
Holmgren stopped short of saying that his team is on the verge of a breakout, but he did tell reporters that he has been somewhat encouraged by the Seahawks’ improved play in recent weeks.
“What I want to see — and what the organization (and) the fans would like to see — is obviously winning a couple of games here, but also an improvement to hopefully springboard into next year,” Holmgren said. “In the last two or three weeks, there were games when we had our chances.”
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has thrown interceptions on his final pass attempt in each of Seattle’s past two losses _ Arizona and Washington beat the Seahawks by a combined nine points — so he’s as eager as anyone to get another chance.
“It’s no secret the last two games didn’t end well because of game-ending interceptions,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get in that situation again and do a better job.”
Perhaps Hasselbeck would rather be eating turkey with his family this afternoon. And it’s a safe bet that he would much rather be playing for a team in the thick of the postseason race. But he’s not crying over spilt milk.
“It would be easy to feel sorry for ourselves,” the 33-year-old quarterback said. “But we have to remember how fortunate we really are … to live in this country and do what we are free to do.
“As professional athletes, things that seem devastating to us such as injury are, in the grand scheme of things, really nothing compared to a lot of other things people are going through right now.”
Holmgren has spent many past Thanksgivings with such people, and a part of him will miss helping feed the less fortunate today.
Instead, he will be trying to find a way to make one of the NFL’s worst teams look like the contender it was supposed to be.
“Certainly, you want to go in with something at stake for your team, as far as the playoffs and things like that, in a game of this magnitude,” said Holmgren, whose Seahawks would be mathematically eliminated with a loss or an Arizona win today. “That’s the unfortunate part of it.
“But it’s still a football game. You get your guys ready, and you’ve got to be fired up and raring to go. And we will be.”
Notes: Tight end Jeb Putzier was released on Wednesday so that the team could make room for tackle Kyle Williams on the active roster. Williams had been on the practice squad and will add depth to an offensive line that has been hit by injuries. … Chris Spencer missed a second consecutive day of practice Wednesday and is listed as questionable for today’s game. If Spencer can’t play, Steve Vallos would make his first regular-season start.
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