Seattle rides smooth road
KIRKLAND, Wash. — The road no longer looks so long to the Seattle Seahawks after wins on consecutive cross-country trips during which they logged nearly 10,000 miles.
Those victories are in stark contrast to a 2-6 road record last season that almost kept them out of the playoffs.
“Especially back to back, that’s a tough double to pull out,” linebacker Anthony Simmons said. “I don’t care what team you’re talking about. To go on two long trips and get two victories is a pretty tough feat.”
Now they just have to be careful they don’t blow their home opener against winless San Francisco after going 8-0 at home last season. In fact, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren is worried about his team taking home wins for granted.
“That will be the biggest challenge for our team this week,” Holmgren said. “Everybody is going to be saying nice things about them and the players are in a good mood, but we played the 49ers in two really close games last year.”
The Seahawks beat host New Orleans 21-7 and won 10-6 at Tampa Bay. Seattle crossed two time zones for the first win and three time zones for the second.
“I felt it,” Simmons said. “I was pretty worn out, especially that Tampa Bay game. It was a 5 1/2 -hour flight.”
The Seahawks hadn’t opened 2-0 on the road since 1994.
Last year they endured one heartbreaker after another when they left Seattle.
In Baltimore, the officials failed to start the clock properly and cost the Seahawks a win. In St. Louis, wide receiver Bobby Engram tripped over a back judge near the end zone in the final minutes of a loss.
The misfortune only ended when the Seahawks won in San Francisco to make it into the playoffs.
“It just so happened that whenever bad things happened, we were on the road,” Simmons said with a shrug. “It’s not some mystical magic or a curse put on us. We just didn’t win on the road.”
Holmgren said this year’s team came out determined to silence the talk about road struggles.
“Seeing those games on the schedule coming into this year, the players just kind of made up their minds,” he said. “We persevered, and now I like the position we’re in.”
The perspective on that position seems to have changed. When Holmgren was asked one week ago, before facing the Bucs, about the importance of a 2-0 start going into the home opener, he acknowledged it would have been huge.
Now the veteran coach sounds more humble about it, an approach he’s imprinting on his players.
“It is our home field, and we want a home-field advantage,” Holmgren said. “We’re glad to be home this week, but you still have to go out and play. The stadium itself doesn’t win the game for you.”
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck noted how hard it is in the NFL to predict the outcome of any game.
Along with Seattle, the list of 2-0 teams includes surprises Jacksonville and Detroit. Kansas City, 13-3 a year ago, is 0-2.
“You just never know who’s going to win,” Hasselbeck said. “That’s how the NFL is. That’s the case this weekend for our game and all the other games being played.”