By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – This week, it’s a five-letter word that Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren is eliminating from his vocabulary: Panic.
One week after issuing an apology for using a four-letter word in regards to the fans, Holmgren said during his Wednesday press conference that there’s no reason to overreact to the team’s dismal start. Contrary to what has happened in the past two games, Holmgren contends, this team is headed in the right direction.
“We’ve played three games,” Holmgren said. “We have 13 left to play. … If we stay with these young guys, and they keep playing and getting better and better, pretty soon we’re going to hit it, and we’ll be pretty good.”
After their performance the past two weeks, the Seahawks have nowhere to go but up. They have been outscored 65-17 in consecutive losses to Philadelphia and Oakland, and have scored just two touchdowns in three games.
Offensively, the Seahawks rank 28th in the league in yards and 30th in points. The unit has also given up an NFL-high 19 sacks, which puts Seattle on pace to allow the second-most sacks over an entire season in league history. Philadelphia gave up 104 during the 1986 season, while the Seahawks are on a current pace to allow 96.
Despite the harrowing statistical performances, Holmgren has been able to keep a positive demeanor.
“They are young guys that should improve. And if the defense can hang in there and keep playing and we get a little bit better productivity from out special teams, then we are going to turn it around,” Holmgren said. “Am I disappointed? Certainly. This has been a hard couple of weeks. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Yeah, there is. We’re going to stay after it.”
Based on last season’s 6-10 mark and the slow start to the 2001 season, Holmgren and the Seahawks have come under fire from some football fans and media. He is in the third year of an eight-year, $32 million contract, and owner Paul Allen has made no public statements about Holmgren’s job security. Holmgren came to Seattle with the understanding that he would be given time to turn the franchise around, and he intends to see his plan through to fruition.
Holmgren’s first year in Seattle was a success, as the Seahawks won the AFC West and made their first playoff appearance in 11 years, but his team has lost 17 of the past 25 games.
He was asked Wednesday whether his dual roles as coach and general manager have hindered the team’s progress.
“Once the play-caller starts calling the plays, the general manager is somewhere else. He is nowhere to be found,” Holmgren said. “I think that whole thing’s ridiculous, to be honest. I’ve said it many times: Once the season starts, the general manager person just kind of sits in his office doing something. … Once the season starts, I’m coaching and I’m doing what I’ve always done.”
For the players, the past two weeks have been especially difficult. As bad as last season got, the Seahawks genuinely believed they could turn things around. While that’s not out of the question yet, it has become apparent that the young offense is going to take some time to develop.
“The defensive guys, we’re thinking we have to carry the team,” defensive tackle Chad Eaton said Wednesday. “I don’t think we believed at the beginning of the year that we’d have to carry the team, but we knew we’d be a solid unit who could go out there, make plays and get off the field. Now it’s turned into, we’re carrying the team. Who’s to say eight weeks from now the offense won’t be carrying us?
“We know that’s our main focus next week, even moreso than last week or the week before that. Let us win the game. We’ll bring it along, get a win under our belt, and give everybody some confidence. That’s what we need right now, a little confidence.”
Making matters worse for Seattle’s offense, running back Ricky Watters is expected to miss six to eight weeks with a shoulder injury. He has been the Seahawks’ most productive offensive player during Holmgren’s two-plus years in Seattle, but now the team will have to find a way to get it done without him. Running back Shaun Alexander, Watters’ replacement, believes the team can move on without its offensive leader.
“If you’ve got a bunch of guys together thinking positive, then it’s hard to think of something negative no matter how the situation is,” Alexander said.
It’s easier for the players to see the positives than it is for the fans. If they can pull out a home victory over an injury-riddled Jacksonville team this Sunday, the Seahawks will be back to .500. The way the players see it, two losses in three games is no reason to fold up the tent, even though the two losses have been almost unbearable.
“It’s not easy at all,” Eaton said. “It’s tough. Everything’s effected by it, from your family life to your work life. We’ve taken a few knocks to the chin, and we just have to bounce back from it. It’s still early in the season.”
Said Holmgren: “We’re going to show up Sunday, and we’re going to be better than we were last week, and we’re going to keep getting better every week.”
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