KIRKLAND – One day after a series of meltdowns nearly cost the Seattle Seahawks a victory, coach Mike Holmgren resisted having one of his own.
That’s not to say that Holmgren is satisfied with the way his team performed during the second half of a 20-19 win over San Francisco on Sunday night.
He’s always been forthright in his distaste for trash-talking and taunting, especially when it results in penalties. Yet his reaction was tempered Monday.
“It’s amazing how a win can kind of calm some things down,” wide receiver Bobby Engram said. “If we lose that game, it’s probably a different story.”
A win is the best way to assuage a coach’s mood, but the way Holmgren reacted to the multiple meltdowns might go deeper than that.
“I think he’s kind of adapted to the times,” safety Reggie Tongue said. “He knows that blowing up at us hasn’t done anything, so maybe he’s trying to approach it a different way.
“You’ve got to change with the times. In order to be good, you’ve got to adapt. And I think that’s what he’s doing.”
Holmgren did address the team about the performance, which included four personal-foul calls in less than a quarter of play while seeing a 17-0 lead turn into a 19-17 deficit. He explained that those kinds of penalties will not be tolerated, but did not get overly animated or threaten anyone’s employment.
So obviously the big guy has softened up, right?
Not quite.
Holmgren delivered his message during a rare sit-down with the offense in the midst of Sunday night’s game, pulling the players together to chastise them for their play. He also gave quarterback Matt Hasselbeck a stern lecture Monday morning, explaining that quarterbacks are not supposed to get called for 15-yard penalties – which Hasselbeck did early in the fourth quarter.
“He’s very upset about the penalties, and he made that clear,” said Hasselbeck, who was assessed a taunting penalty after spiking the ball near an opposing player. “He’s also made it clear that he’s not going to stand for it anymore. I think the team, myself included, got that message. We got the message.”
The sideline speech came while the 49ers were driving toward a field goal that gave them their first lead. As Seattle played defense on the fourth-quarter drive, Holmgren called his offensive players into a half circle and told them to get their act together.
“We had to stop killing ourselves,” Engram said. “He didn’t use those exact words, but he said, ‘You have good opportunities, you have good chances, just take advantage of them.’ “
“It didn’t need to be said, because we knew about it, but it needed to be said,” Hasselbeck added. “We know better. It was just about keeping our poise, not letting your emotions get the better of you, and playing smart football. We weren’t doing that.”
The Seahawks responded to Holmgren’s speech by going on a 10-play, 46-yard drive to set up the game-winning field goal.
After the victory, Holmgren blamed himself for setting the wrong tone. He vehemently argued with officials throughout the first half of Sunday’s game, and his players followed suit by letting their emotions boil over in the second half.
“I was very angry about a couple of calls, a couple non-calls,” he said Monday, “and I can’t do that. I have to be more in control. I think there is a carryover once the players see you act a certain way. And I’ll try not to do that anymore.”
Nonetheless, Holmgren stopped short of defending his players for what game officials deemed unsportsmanlike behavior.
“Clearly, we don’t want (trash-talking) in our league,” Holmgren said. “I hope we learned a lesson, and I think we did (Sunday) night.”
That’s a common theme for the old-school coach.
“Every week, if there’s a case where a guy’s involved with trash-talking, he makes a point of saying we don’t need that,” offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson said. “And he’s right. It’s an emotional game, and guys are jacked up and wanting to play hard. But you saw (Sunday) night that you can go overboard and take penalties. That can hurt you.”
This week, the pain was lessened by a victory.
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