Holmgren hopes league can keep 12-team playoffs

  • Scott M. Johnson / Herald Writer
  • Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:00pm
  • Sports

By Scott M. Johnson

Herald Writer

KIRKLAND – Now that the NFL has decided to play out its entire 16-game schedule, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren is pleading for the league to keep 12 playoff teams.

Of course, Holmgren’s view has something to do with the fact that his team plays in a division that includes two of the top teams in the entire league (Denver and Oakland), a team on the rise (Kansas City) and a squad that is expected to be the league’s most improved (San Diego). The more wild card teams that are invited to the postseason, the better Seattle’s chances.

“If you’re not the division winner, you could have a fine season and not wind up going to the playoffs this year,” Holmgren said. “That would be a shame. … I’m hoping they can figure out some way to (include 12 teams).”

The NFL is tinkering with different ways to play out its existing postseason schedule, which was originally intended to last four weeks. Because the Week 2 schedule has been moved to the weekend of Jan. 5-7, the first week of the playoffs won’t be played that weekend.

The Super Bowl in New Orleans will take place Jan. 27 regardless, so the only way to keep four rounds in the playoffs would be to play at least one round during the week.

“Maybe we won’t play them on exactly the same day, but maybe kind of fiddle with that schedule near the end to allow the same number of wild card teams to get into the playoffs,” Holmgren said.

If the first-round games are eliminated, only the one non-division-winner from each conference would be included.

King, McIntosh practice: The week off allowed at least two Seahawks to heal up, as defensive end Lamar King and offensive tackle Chris McIntosh returned to practice Tuesday.

King suited up for the season opener 10 days ago, but didn’t play due to a sore foot. McIntosh has been hampered by a neck stinger since the first preseason game, and hadn’t practiced in more than a month.

The team’s official injury report doesn’t come out until today. Also expected to be on it are cornerbacks Shawn Springs, Ike Charlton and Willie Williams.

Wide receiver James Williams practiced sparingly while wearing a cast to protect a broken wrist Tuesday. His status for Sunday’s game against Philadelphia also is unclear, although he did catch a pass at practice. If Williams is unable to play, rookie Alex Bannister would be the team’s No. 4 receiver.

Welcome back: Holmgren said he expects an emotional atmosphere when the NFL returns to the field this weekend after taking time off to mourn the national tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C.

“In our business, what we’re trying to do is continue to play the games, whether it’s football, baseball, whatever. But we aren’t losing sight of what happened,” Holmgren said. “We have tremendous admiration for the people in New York and Washington, D.C. – the police officers, the firefighters and all the people who struggled. In our own way, we’re just trying to do our own part by going back to work and playing the games.”

Quick slants: Linebacker Tim Terry missed Tuesday’s practice because he was in Alabama with his wife, Kafi, for the birth of the couple’s first child. … About 17,000 tickets still remain for Sunday’s game. If they are not sold out by 1 p.m. Thursday, television coverage of the game will be blacked out locally. The phone number to purchase tickets is (206) 622-HAWK.

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