Seahawks hope a visit from Saints brings redemption

SEATTLE — As microcosms go, Mike Holmgren prefers the ones that pack the punch of a violent metaphor.

The first time you get hit in the mouth, and get hit really hard, what are you going to do?

It’s a football metaphor for getting popped pretty good, and it’s also a question Holmgren often asks his players — be it while he was coaching at Oak Grove High School in San Jose, or even now with the Seattle Seahawks.

“I got all sorts of reactions,” Holmgren recalled last week. “Some of the guys walked off the field. Some of them started to cry. … You get knocked down, now what are you going to do? Are you going to go home? Are you going to lay there? What are you going to do?”

Tonight, the Seahawks will provide an answer. After getting knocked around by the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, the Seahawks (3-2) return to the field in search of retribution. They play the New Orleans Saints (0-4) in a nationally-televised game at Qwest Field.

“We got spanked pretty good last week,” Holmgren said. “But the good part is … you get a chance to go at it again.”

Holmgren has challenged his team before, and in recent years he’s gotten his desired results. After his Seattle teams followed up their first eight double-digit losses with defeats, Holmgren’s Seahawks are 12-6 in the same scenario since Week 3 of the 2001 season.

The 2006 Seahawks rebounded from their most one-sided loss — a 37-6 pasting at the hands of Chicago in Week 4 — with a win over the St. Louis Rams in their next game.

After a humbling, 21-0 loss to Pittsburgh last Sunday, the Seahawks feel a similar need for retribution this week.

“The beauty of this sport is, you do get the chance to redeem yourself,” said Holmgren, who didn’t recall the first time he got hit but was certain that he got up.

The NFL edict states that the previous Sunday’s game should be forgotten by Wednesday — win or lose. But there are those who find it hard to completely move on.

“You kind of have a certain taste in your mouth all week,” safety Brian Russell said. “They say you have to turn the page and forget about it, and we do that, but there’s always that feeling or taste that’s based on whether you won or lost the last week.

“I think everybody’s a little bit more on edge, the coaches are yelling a little bit more, the meetings are a little longer. And that feeds into that feeling of: Hey, we’ve got to go out there and respond.”

Last Sunday, the Steelers handed Seattle its most one-sided loss since the Chicago game. The Seahawks have lost just 11 games by 20 or more points during Holmgren’s 245-game tenure in Seattle. In five of the past seven 20-point losses, the Seahawks have responded with a win the next week.

“It starts with me,” Holmgren said of having to bounce back from a one-sided game. “If I come (into the week motivated), I think I can get the players going. But if I come in all moping around, it’s not going to work.”

Veteran safety Deon Grant, who is in his first year with the Seahawks, said there is one main key to bouncing back from a one-sided loss.

“To make sure you don’t fall apart and start finger-pointing,” he said. “That’s the big thing. If you feel like you’re better than what you played, guys can get caught up in that — and sometimes the coaches can get caught up in it. But we just have to stick with what you’re doing and put all the constructive criticism on yourself.

“… But that’s something we didn’t do. We know that, as individuals, we all didn’t do our job.”

The Seahawks will try to put last Sunday’s loss behind them. But there’s really only one way to prove that they have, and that’s with a win today.

“It really shows character in how you deal with adversity,” Russell said. “We were all frustrated by the last game, in all three phases of our team. I expect us to come out (today) and show our character.

“I’m not worried about our character, but I think this is a chance for us to show it.”

Today, we’ll find out if the Seahawks, having been hit in the mouth, are going to get up.