KIRKLAND – After a rare four-day break, the Seattle Seahawks were back at work Monday with a huge problem to solve.
Yes, the team’s perfect 3-0 record remains in tact after a weekend bye. But the Seahawks are trying to figure out how to change history.
For one reason or another, Seattle has gone into recent bye weeks with a win under its belt, only to come out of it with an uninspired effort.
During the first four years of coach Mike Holmgren’s tenure, the Seahawks have a 4-0 record heading into the bye week and an 0-4 record after it. Since the bye was instituted in 1990, the Seahawks hold a 3-11 record in games following the annual weekend off.
The players say that past statistical patterns don’t apply to this year’s Seahawks.
“It’s a new year,” center Robbie Tobeck said. “You can look at streaks, this and that, and all that crap, and throw all that out the window. It’s a new year, a new team, and we’re ready to go.”
Momentum has never been as important as this year, as the Seahawks took a 3-0 record into the bye week. As relaxing as the time off was, it comes with the inevitable danger of a team losing its edge.
“We need to get right back into it,” Tobeck said after Monday’s practice. “We had a pretty decent practice today. We just had to keep in mind that vacation was over, and it’s time to get back to work.”
One of the benefits of a bye week will be the return of several injured players. Floyd Womack should be back at right tackle after missing the last game due to turf toe. Defensive tackle Norman Hand was also held out of that game with a similar ailment, but he might be available to play Sunday.
Neither starter practiced Monday, but coach Mike Holmgren said last week that he expects them to heal up in time for Sunday’s game at Green Bay.
Adding to the historical difficulty of winning this week is the aura of Lambeau Field, where the Packers hold a 68-11 record when someone named Favre is playing quarterback. Fortunately for the Seahawks, the weather should be bearable, with temperatures in the mid-50s on tap for Sunday’s game.
A win would give Seattle its best start in franchise history, marking the first time a Seahawks team has ever gone 4-0. The last time the team started 3-0, in 1998, it stumbled to an 8-8 record in the final season under head coach Dennis Erickson.
Getting to 4-0 could be made much easier if the Seahawks can continue what got them to 3-0. Most important, Seattle has to keep playing the kind of ball-hawking defense that has led to an NFL-best turnover ratio of plus-12.
“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing every week,” defensive end Antonio Cochran said, “and the rest of it will take care of itself.”
Preaching continuity and actually following through on it are two different animals, as the Seahawks have shown in the past.
Last year was a prime example. The Seahawks seemed to rebound from an 0-3 start by drubbing Minnesota 48-23 in a nationally-televised game on ESPN, but failed to ride that emotion for long. The Seahawks had a bye the following week, then lost their next two games to fall to 1-5 on the season.
The previous year, Seattle headed into the bye week with a 3-2 record. The Seahawks again lost two in a row after the bye.
Nothing compares to the confidence Seattle carried into the latest bye week. Three wins to open the season had the team so pumped up that some of the players were disappointed not to have a game last Sunday.
“I was ready to go, man,” Cochran said. “We were on a roll, and I wanted to keep the snowball rolling.”
The Seahawks are hoping the latest bye week doesn’t affect this snowball like a 90-degree day.
“It’s a different team now,” veteran fullback Mack Strong said. “I’ve said that all preseason and all season, and so far it’s been true. This is a different Seahawks team.”
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