KIRKLAND – Just when Mike Holmgren had finally beaten the rep, along came his old nemesis.
The raucous Metrodome left another Holmgren-coached team looking shell-shocked, leading back to the obvious question: Why can’t he win in dome stadiums? Holmgren-coached teams are now 15-18 indoors, including a 1-7 record at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Not including the Seattle Seahawks’ eight Kingdome games in 1999, Holmgren’s teams have a 10-13 record in domes.
His Seahawks (8-5) take their act indoors once again this Sunday, when they visit the St. Louis Rams’ Edward Jones Dome.
Making matters worse, the Seahawks have lost five consecutive road games, with their last victory coming Sept. 14 at Arizona.
“The crowd makes a big difference, and you really don’t have anybody on the road to pump you up like we do at home,” cornerback Ken Lucas said. “You have to learn to play without your fans on the road, and that’s something we have not been doing well.”
Until last Sunday, when the Minnesota Vikings pasted Seattle 34-7 at the Metrodome, the Seahawks’ road problems were mostly outdoors. The team had a 5-3 record under Holmgren in his only season at the Kingdome, then went 2-1 in three road games at dome stadiums.
Then, when it was starting to look like Holmgren had grown out of his dome aversion, the Metrodome pulled him back to reality.
“There’s always a way to kind of explain it more than the building is haunted,” Holmgren said. “I don’t believe in that.”
Holmgren’s 8-13 record in domes while he was coaching the Green Bay Packers led people to look for answers, especially considering the team had a 67-24 mark outdoors. But those who know Holmgren well say the reputation is undeserved.
“There’s nothing to that,” offensive coordinator Gil Haskell, who has worked with Holmgren in both Green Bay and Seattle, said of the dome problems. “It’s a game, and on that day, you cannot make mistakes. You cannot fumble the ball on the second play of the game. You can’t score a touchdown to make it 13-7 when you start the second half, and then give up a bomb to make it 20-7. Those are the things you’ve got to eliminate.”
Haskell obviously was referring to the Minnesota game, which saw the Seahawks make their share of uncharacteristic mistakes. Some of the problems were forced by crowd noise, while most of the struggles were the product of a team having an off day.
Seattle hopes to find some answers this week in the Rams’ dome home.
“You guys were here last week, and heard all the things we said to you that we didn’t want to do,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck told the media Wednesday. “We don’t want to jump offsides, we don’t want to turn the ball over, we don’t want to give up big plays. And we did all of those things (at Minnesota). So here’s another chance.”
Holmgren said he believes the Minnesota game was an aberration, that his dome problems are a thing of the past. In fact, he said he doesn’t think he ever had any indoor issues at all – despite the 9-15 record in domes located outside of Seattle.
Holmgren is quick to point out that most of his dome losses have come in two stadiums – the Metrodome and Detroit’s Silverdome, where he had a combined 3-10 record with the Packers – and that the games played there had a fair share of crazy happenstances.
“The classic example was I had a young quarterback audible on a quarterback sneak to a pass that was intercepted,” he said. “And we lost the game in the last minute. I don’t think I’ll ever see that again.”
In an effort to become more dome-savvy, the Seahawks have again held practices amid recorded crowd noise this week. The deafening hum inside the team’s practice bubble is supposed to prepare the players for the unfriendly conditions of the Edward Jones Dome.
A power outage last week allowed the team only one practice day in the loud setting, and the Seahawks responded by getting flagged for four false starts during the loss to Minnesota.
Like Holmgren, many of the players refused to blame the dome for last Sunday’s poor performance.
“Most people, when a team is losing, want to know why they lost, why they failed, why they didn’t succeed in something,” running back Shaun Alexander said. “I think us being in a dome or playing on the road is just an excuse.
“Football’s football. It comes down to who’s going to turn the ball over the least, who’s going to control the clock, and who’s going to make the big play. We didn’t do any of the three, so we got blown out.”
The Rams have the kind of offense that is capable of another blowout. Unless, that is, the Seahawks find a cure for the homer-dome blues.
“You can’t ignore the fact it’s an important football game,” Holmgren said. “You can’t ignore the fact we’re playing a good team on the road, which has been a problem for us this year. But then understand who we are, how we’ve done, talk about ways we’ve played in the past, and don’t do it again.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
