Mike Holmgren doesn’t particularly like the way it went down the last time he was in this situation.
With little incentive heading into the 2005 playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks coach rested many of his starters in the regular-season finale. Holmgren’s Seahawks lost to Green Bay, ending an 11-game winning streak, and got off to a slow start two weeks later in the playoff opener.
“It wasn’t very fun,” Holmgren said last week when recalling that loss to the Packers.
So what will Holmgren do this time?
“We’re going to have to talk about that,” the veteran coach said Sunday afternoon, after his team beat Baltimore 27-6 to secure the No. 3 seed in the NFC. “My initial feeling right now is that we’re going to play. I’m not going to make wholesale changes; I’m not going to do that.”
The Seahawks (10-5) already wrapped up an NFC West title, a postseason berth and a first-round home game earlier this month. On Sunday, Seattle clinched the third seed after beating the Ravens.
With no remaining incentive in terms of playoff positioning, the Seahawks still have to take the field for Sunday’s regular-season finale at Atlanta.
If the players know what to expect in terms of playing time, they weren’t letting on after Sunday’s game.
“Oh, man, that’s a tough one,” aging left tackle Walter Jones said Sunday when asked whether he expects to sit out the finale. “I can’t say. It’s the coach’s decision. I just have to go with it.”
Another grizzled veteran, 37-year-old guard Chris Gray, was also in the dark.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “If I’m out there, I’ll play hard.”
And while defensive tackle Rocky Bernard would love to get a second consecutive week to rest his sore groin, he won’t exactly be bringing a pillow to the practice complex this week.
“It would be nice to rest it for the playoffs,” Bernard said, hopeful but without expectations.
If the week of preparation changes for anyone, it will be the backups who can expect extended playing time. No. 2 quarterback Seneca Wallace doesn’t know if he’ll start, but he knows he might see plenty of action.
“I don’t ever know what’s going on until Saturday or Sunday,” Wallace said. “I have no clue.
“Mike will play the game how he wants to play it. I’ll prepare to start, even if most likely I won’t. I just have to wait until Sunday, like we’ve been doing all year.”
The age-old dilemma is one of rest versus rust. Sitting star players Sunday would all but guarantee their avoidance of injuries, but the critic would argue that it might also take away some of their sharpness.
As reserve defensive back Jordan Babineaux said Sunday: “The biggest thing is, you want to feel good about going into the playoffs. I don’t want to say it’s a pointless game because you can use that time to get better going into the playoffs.”
Heading into the Green Bay game two years ago, the Seahawks were on a roll unlike any other in team history. Having won 11 games in a row, and with home field throughout the playoffs already clinched, the Seahawks were taking no chances with injury. Jones sat out the regular-season finale, while quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander were among the players who did not take the field at all in the second half.
The Packers won that game 23-17, and Holmgren still regrets the decision.
“No one likes to compete that way,” he said last week, recalling that game.
Perhaps the most experienced player in regular-season games that involve backups is tight end Marcus Pollard. During his 10 seasons in Indianapolis, the Colts played their share of meaningless games after clinching division titles, two of which ended in blowout losses.
“If we just sit and don’t do anything, you kind of lose your edge,” said Pollard, whose well-rested Colts teams went 5-7 in the playoffs during his tenure there. “Right now we’re 6-1 in the second half of the season, and that’s because we’ve got a lot of guys healthy. But I would like to see us win this one and finish 11-5.”
So what will the Seahawks do on Sunday? Most likely, the top players will start but not finish.
As for how much they’ll play, it’s a wait-and-see proposition.
“I’ll just go out there when they tell me,” safety Deon Grant said. “If they want me to play, I’ll play. If they tell me I’m sitting, I might still go out there and try to play.”
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