CHENEY – This is the kind of place where dreams are born and nightmares are forgotten.
Every team, every year, enters training camp with high hopes for a bright future. And all but the defending champions are trying to turn the page on their past.
The Seattle Seahawks, who had a memorable 2005 season that came with a hard-to-forget conclusion, are middling somewhere in between.
“We’re trying to put what happened last year behind us and try to get focused on what lies ahead,” veteran fullback Mack Strong said after the first official practice of the 2006 training camp Saturday morning. “At the same time, we want to build on what we did last year.
“We can’t completely disregard it and throw it away and say that last year has nothing to do on this year. You build on it.”
That started, on a smaller scale, at summer minicamps. But the real work began Saturday at Eastern Washington University, where the Seahawks tried to stay focused on the present while finding it difficult to forget the recent past.
“We looked at the film and had some closure on it as a staff and, I think, as an organization,” coach Mike Holmgren said of the Seahawks’ 21-10 loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL. “We still think about it, but it’s done.”
Saturday’s morning practice had more crispness than recent training camps and also included the kind of electricity that comes after historic seasons.
The estimated 600 fans broke into cheers when receiver D.J. Hackett caught a long touchdown pass from Seneca Wallace between two defenders. They gushed when rookie Ryan Plackemeier unleashed a lofting punt that pushed the return man to backpedal 10 yards and forced several teammates to scatter out of the way. And then the fans erupted when cornerback Kelly Herndon broke in front of a short Matt Hasselbeck pass for an interception on the first play of 11-on-11 drills.
“This is definitely the best opening day crowd we’ve had in Cheney since we’ve been here, but rightfully so,” center Robbie Tobeck said. “Everyone’s excited. It’s been that way the entire offseason.”
If there was a negative to the opening practice of camp, it came with the number of high-profile players who had to stand and watch. Four projected starters – wide receiver Darrell Jackson (knee), tight end Jerramy Stevens (knee), defensive tackle Rocky Bernard (knee) and defensive end Grant Wistrom (shoulder) – were among the 12 players sidelined by injury. Rookie cornerback Kelly Jennings, who remains unsigned, was also missing. And starting strong safety Michael Boulware saw only limited action before icing down his surgically-repaired left knee.
“There is a group of them that will be ready by the second preseason game, and then there’s another group that will be ready, hopefully, by the third preseason game,” Holmgren said. “… We should have them all back, including Wistrom, by the fourth preseason game.”
While the coaches and players are trying not to look beyond their Sept. 12 regular-season opener at Detroit, it has to be difficult to ignore the one stone left unturned during last year’s memorable run. Anything short of another trip to Super Bowl XLI, and maybe even a victory, might be seen by some outsiders as a disappointment.
“You think about it, but you just go in and continue to do the things that got you there before,” offensive lineman Walter Jones said. “We have most of the same players here, so it should be pretty easy to try to get back to that game.”
The way to do that, Holmgren informed his players, was for every player to get better. During a Friday night team meeting, he used NFL most valuable player Shaun Alexander as an example, saying even he could improve on his record-setting numbers of 2006.
Holmgren also told his players where he thought this team should go, but he wasn’t making any Super predictions publicly.
“I set our expectations (Friday) night,” Holmgren said. “I don’t think I have to say it anymore.”
Every team has similar expectations this time of year, so it’s no secret that the Super Bowl is Seattle’s main goal.
But this time around, it may well be Super Bowl or bust.
“Last year we set a goal to shock everybody and show everybody that we were ready to go to the Super Bowl and be one of the teams,” running back Shaun Alexander said. “I think this year more people believe it. With that comes a little bit more work that you have to put into it.”
That all started on Saturday.
“There’s so much that needs to be done before we can ever really get there,” Hasselbeck said of the Super Bowl. “If we take care of first things first, then we’ll have an opportunity for bigger and better stuff.”
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