GREEN BAY, Wis. – A few rousing boos, and even a curse word or two, may have felt better than what Mike Holmgren and Matt Hasselbeck had to endure Sunday afternoon in their return to Lambeau Field.
Their appearance drew flat indifference, which is perhaps the polar opposite of flattery, while their exits were greeted by cheerful applause that dripped with pity.
Sunday’s 35-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers was not just another defeat for the Seahawks’ coach and starting quarterback. The ex-Packers felt a deeper cut in this one.
“It’s disappointing,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s like when you play two-on-two basketball with your brothers and your dad. You usually take it kind of hard because they’re your friends and people you’re close with, as opposed to playing with strangers.
“A lot of those guys I have a lot of respect for. And they’re a good football team. It would have been great to beat them. The only thing you can hope for is another chance.”
Hasselbeck made the most of his chances in the first half, when he matched the Packers’ Brett Favre with three scoring drives. Yet Seattle still trailed 21-13 at halftime, only to fall into a deeper hole when Hasselbeck’s second interception of the season opened the door for a 35-13 lead midway through the third quarter.
Hasselbeck’s early performance was encouraging in that he got off to slow starts in each of the first three games of the season. He completed his first six passes Sunday, and 12-of-15 before halftime, while leading the team to a touchdown and two field goals. Part of the difference this week, he said, was the ability to calm himself down before one of the most important games of his career.
While that allowed Hasselbeck to get into an early rhythm, he questioned whether his lack of emotion helped the team in the long run.
“Probably what happened was that the Packers played a better game than the Seahawks today. That’s probably what happened,” he said. “But if I could do anything different, maybe I would have tried to get a little bit more excited. I tried to a little later in the game, but it was too late. I guess you live and learn, and I’m learning.”
Holmgren dealt with similar emotions all week, even though he had made his return to Green Bay before and came away with a 27-7 win in 1999. This week, Holmgren was again excited about returning to the place he coached for seven years, including two Super Bowl appearances.
“I just told the (players) it’s important how they handle the next couple of days so they don’t peak too early,” Holmgren said Friday morning, “and actually, I was giving the speech to my coaches and myself at the same time.”
After Sunday’s game, he looked disappointed but not completely defeated by the loss.
“A loss is a loss,” he said in the post-game press conference. “I have a lot of friends here, so I always like to do well in front of them. And today, I didn’t do so well.”
Despite the loss – or perhaps because of it – Holmgren was given a small ovation by the fans surrounding the south tunnel as he walked off the field. A few seconds later, Hasselbeck jogged off to louder cheers as he pumped his fist in the air.
As the backup quarterback in Green Bay for three years, Hasselbeck became a crowd favorite whose name was chanted nearly every time Favre struggled.
“I was extremely excited to come back,” Hasselbeck said Sunday, “mostly just because I have so much respect for this place, and for the people, and for the guys I was going to play against. I’m just so disappointed it didn’t work out the way I thought it might. It’s just too bad.”
As Hasselbeck pointed out, there might one day be another opportunity. The regular-season schedule doesn’t have a set-in-stone date at Lambeau any time soon, so it might take a postseason matchup for Holmgren and Hasselbeck to play here again.
If that is the case, the 70,000-seat stadium is unlikely to show them any indifference the next time around.
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