By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – A week of talk about resurgence, a road trip to the East Coast, and a date with one of the NFL’s worst teams.
The Seattle Seahawks’ upcoming plans don’t sound all that difficult, but they’ve been through it before. And the result wasn’t pretty.
The last time Seattle traveled across the country to play a football game, the struggling Washington Redskins handed them a 27-14 loss that was much worse than the score indicated. Afterward, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren accused his team of underestimating its opponent.
With a game against the 1-7 Buffalo Bills this week, the Seahawks are hoping not to walk away with a sense of deja vu.
“Exactly the same thing could happen,” tight end Christian Fauria said. “It’s a long trip, leaving on a Friday. If you’re not mentally ready and physically ready, and not thinking it up as a vacation, they can sneak up on you. Any team in the NFL can sneak up on you – especially when you’re playing them at their home.”
The emotional level for the Redskins game was nowhere near where Holmgren expected it to be. Perhaps it was the opponent – Washington entered the game with a 2-5 record and was ranked last in the league in offense and 30th in defense – or the long road trip across the country. Maybe Holmgren didn’t provide a rousing enough pre-game speech. Or possibly the late afternoon start left the Seahawks with too much time to kill.
Whatever the excuse, Seattle did not look ready to play the Redskins in that game, which will make their preparation this week that much more important.
“I think some of the guys have to do things a little bit differently to get themselves ready to play, and I think some of them can just do the same thing they did last time,” running back Shaun Alexander said. “Everybody has got to do what it takes for them to go and do their best.”
By all accounts, the Seahawks are expected to win this Sunday’s game. Not that Seattle, with its ho-hum 4-4 record, can look down on many opponents, but Buffalo is really struggling. The Bills’ only victory was a narrow 13-10 win over Jacksonville almost one month ago. They start five rookies, and will enter Sunday’s game without starting quarterback Rob Johnson.
In general, Buffalo is still trying to find itself while new coach Gregg Williams and his staff try to put their stamp on the franchise.
That, too, sounds a little bit like the Redskins. So the Seahawks are vowing not to get surprised again.
“We have to stop the inconsistency of our play and our approach to our opponent,” Holmgren said. “We have to get our guys to believe that it’s not so much the color of the jersey or the name, but it’s the body and it’s a team that we’re playing. Forget about what their record is and forget about a lot of stuff. You just have to execute and play with emotion.”
Like the Redskins, the Bills have the potential to turn things around. All of their losses have come against teams with .500 or better records, and they rank near the middle of the league in both offense and defense.
The Seahawks will fly to Buffalo on Friday, then will spend Saturday in meetings while their bodies adjust to the time change. Although the Seahawks have lost by 12 or more points in four of their past six games on the East Coast, they will not change their routine.
They do hope to change the result.
“I really believe that there wasn’t a man in that room that didn’t realize what happened in that game against Washington,” Holmgren said. “They got us. Now, we’ll see. I’m not saying that every time you take a trip across the country that you’re going to be sky-high, but you can’t play the game like we played that game, without enough emotion and intensity. So hopefully they got the message.”
NOTES: Running back Shaun Alexander was named the Miller Lite NFL player of the week following his 266-yard performance on Sunday night. The league’s official player or the week awards go out today, and Alexander is a favorite to win AFC offensive player of the week. … This weekend will mark only the second time in team history that the Seahawks will travel to Buffalo.
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