Holmgren comes by his handling of Hawks honestly

[TK]

http://www.tribnet.com/sports/story/4346671p-4355854c.html

Holmgren comes by his handling of Hawks honestly

DAVE BOLING; The News Tribune

KIRKLAND - First of all, the color of the pants doesn't affect how a team plays.

Unless the players think it's a factor. In which case it becomes a factor.

A more pertinent issue for the Seattle Seahawks this week is the challenge of going on the road and playing against the Washington Redskins, who have struggled but not so much that they can't easily get it together and whip the visiting Seahawks.

The only team Seattle has managed to defeat away from home was the NFL Division I-AA Arizona Cardinals.

As homebodies, the Hawks are 5-0. On the road, they're clearly vulnerable to an upset defeat like the one delivered by the 2-4 Bengals two weeks ago.

This syndrome makes the Redskins, although they're 3-5 and have lost four in a row, a very real threat to get the Seahawks' second half of the season off to a disappointing start.

And that's why coach Mike Holmgren has had to spend valuable time this week acting as if he cares what color pants the team wears.

Compile the comments from his Wednesday media session and it's clear that a head coach has to be an historian, a psychologist, a counselor, and, in this case, a fashion consultant.

Through the veterans committee that Holmgren has established as a liaison between the locker room and coach's office, he heard that the players wish to wear white pants with their white road jerseys at Washington instead of the customary blue pants.

"We had the big fashion meeting the other day with my players' committee," Holmgren said, rolling his eyes. The white pants "will make us faster, I'm sure."

Holmgren has the final word on wardrobe issues and he likes the blue pants, but the players approached him respectfully and made it clear that it was important to them so ... white pants it is.

Why? Because if you give in on the pants, they won't be distracted by the issue and maybe they'll be more apt to pay attention to the other messages you're sending in an important week. Such as: The 3-5 Redskins can kill your season, much the way the 2-5 Redskins clobbered them the last time they went to Washington.

"They're human and they read the stuff and they follow it ... won-loss records, statistics and things like that," Holmgren said. "To get them to believe every week you have to be ready to play your best game otherwise there's a good chance you're going to lose a football game, that's the challenge of coaching."

Washington is a desperate team, he warned. And desperate teams are dangerous. Somehow, he has to persuade his team to play with the same degree of desperation.

What dooms a fast-starting team to a sad finish is the collective amnesia regarding what it took to achieve the fast start. With every victory, the ante is raised, and as the season continues, the margin for error is reduced.

Because no coach can talk about playoffs at the midpoint, Holmgren has been circumspect with his wording, saying: "Recognize where you are, recognize the possibilities. Understand what it took to get here, and then understand with each game down the stretch everything gets a little bit more exaggerated and exciting."

How's he batting with that message?

"I think 75 percent of our guys get that," he said. "Now, the other 25 percent are very valuable and very important, and I have to make them understand and their teammates have to make them understand."

So, some of it is psychology ("I kid around, saying I put my shingle out every week"), but much of his approach seems to be a function of common professional courtesy.

Holmgren is facing the enviable situation of having three "starting" cornerbacks now healthy and ready to start. The problem is that there are only two such positions for Marcus Trufant, Shawn Springs and Ken Lucas to share.

Lucas, the most recent to regain health, drew the short straw last week.

"Part of my job, in fact, a pretty good part of my job, is to make sure they're not off-balance," Holmgren said of how he must approach the player who must take a seat. "They might not like what I tell them."

So he has some bylaws, and it's something that coaches at all levels could stand to be reminded of.

"One, don't be dishonest with them," he stressed. "And then don't surprise them. All of a sudden, on Sunday, 'Hey, you're not starting.' That doesn't work. I'll jump a coach for that.

"You cannot do that to those guys. It's not fair. Now, if you see that coming, you better bring them in and tell them why. I don't expect them to be happy about any of that stuff. It's hard. But you tell them why."

Nobody likes having to sit, but they appreciate the communication.

"But then, if you get in the game, you had better play," he said. "Don't be moping around and pouting. That's all you can do: Just be honest with them and don't surprise them."

And for heaven's sakes, when you have a game you absolutely have to win on the road, especially when you've played so poorly away from home previously, let them wear whatever color drawers they want.

It won't make them faster. But they'll appreciate the consideration. And that should be worth at least a few points.