Mike Holmgren has been with the Seahawks for 7 years, but he did not execute a well-thought out plan to get his players in place and make a run for the Super Bowl. Holmgren took over a better team in Seattle than he did in Green Bay. The Packers were 10-22 the two years before Holmgren, Seattle was 16-16. The official record of the Seahawks was 8-8 in 1998, but the team would have been at least 9-7 if not for a Vinny Testaverde "touchdown" on a run where he did not even make it to the one-yard line (this play was later used to advocate reinstatement of instant reply in the NFL). The team would have been 9-6, and fighting for a playoff spot in the final week of the season against a Denver team that had already wrapped up home-field-advantage. However, at 8-7, they were already statistically eliminated, so the game was meaningless for both teams and Seattle was extremely deflated knowing that the Testaverde call cost them a chance at the team's first playoff appearance since 1988. If not for the bad call it is likely the Seahawks would have defeated the Broncos (who had nothing to play for), finished 10-6 and gone to the playoffs. Dennis Erickson would not have been fired, and consequently Holmgren would not been hired.
Mike Holmgren proceeded to take the Seahawks to playoffs in his first season, going 9-7. However, you could argue that he did worse than the possible 10-6 record the previous season. The 1999 team was also mostly made up of Erickson's guys and they started the season 8-2. Holmgren backed the team into the playoffs going 1-5 down the stretch. He then led the team to a 6-10 record in 2000, the worst season since Tom Flores was head coach. Holmgren did not make it to the playoffs in either of the next two seasons either. He had amassed a 31-33 record in his first four years, identical to Erickson's (not correcting for the Testaverde call). If it was not for what he had done in San Francisco and Green Bay, Holmgren probably would have been fired as well. Erickson actually did better than Holmgren considering the team was 16-32 in the three seasons before he got there, Ken Behring was trying to move the team, and the Kingdome was falling apart. It was Erickson that revived football in Seattle.
Holmgren can blame some of his struggles on his GM, himself. He was relieved of his Executive Vice President/General Manager duties following the 2002 season. He certainly can coach, but he had several failures as General Manager. It was Dennis Erickson that drafted the Seahawks best player, Walter Jones. It was Mike Holmgren that could not come to terms with him in 2002 leading him to miss the first two games of the season (both losses) and the team finished 7-9. Erickson also drafted Joey Galloway who had 4,122 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns in his four seasons under Erickson. It was under Holmgren that he held out for 101 days in 1999 and then left the team. It was Erickson that drafted Anthony Simmons and brought in Chad Brown for their productive seasons in Seattle, but under Holmgren that they were re-signed to contracts that led them to be released in cap moves.
With six first-round choices in his first four seasons, Holmgren drafted Lamar King, Chris McIntosh, and Koren Robinson. He also drafted Shaun Alexander, Steve Hutchinson, and Jerramy Stevens. Three picks were busts and Stevens was not a regular starter until his fourth season. For comparison, Erickson had five first-rounder picks in his four years with the team: Joey Galloway, Pete Kendall, Shawn Springs, Walter Jones, and Anthony Simmons. Jones and Springs both went to the pro bowl with the Seahawks, Galloway was an alternate twice. Kendall has been a regular starter all 10 of his seasons (5 with Seattle) in the NFL and is still starting (for the Jets). Simmons started for the Seahawks for several seasons and had 361 tackles in his first three seasons as a starter (his 2nd-4th seasons in the league).
Many people now equate Holmgren's trade for Matt Hasselbeck to the move to pick up Brett Favre. Holmgren should definitely be credited with developing Brett Favre, but it was GM Ron Wolf that brought him to Green Bay. Wolf wanted to draft him the previous season with the Jets (where he was GM in 1991), but Favre was taken by the Falcons one pick earlier. The next year, Wolf (as new GM in Green Bay) made a deal with Atlanta for Favre, but he failed a physical due to a degenerative hip condition. Wolf overruled the doctors and went through with the trade anyway. Part of the reason Holmgren left Green Bay was to show he could be successful without Wolf, which backfired when he struggled as the GM of the Seahawks.
Favre was successful in Green Bay in his first season with 18 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He went 8-5 as the starter after Don Majkowski was injured in the third game (Favre won that game as well, but did not start). So it was an injury that actually led Holmgren to put in Favre. I am not discrediting what Holmgren and Favre did together, but Holmgren did not make the decision bring Favre to Green Bay or make him the starter (until after an injury).
It was Holmgren who decided to bring Matt Hasselbeck to Seattle and make him the starter. Hasselbeck is certainly an excellent quarterback now, but Holmgren probably rushed to make him the starter in 2001 when he went 5-7 as a starter with 7 touchdowns and 8 interceptions forcing Holmgren to turn to Trent Dilfer. Hasselbeck was only reappointed as starter in 2002 after Dilfer was injured and the Seahawks went 7-9 that year. Holmgren was trying to force Hasselbeck to be an immediate success like Brett Favre. Things eventually worked out, but it took some time and that was not Holmgren’s plan. Holmgren had two losing seasons and zero playoff victories in his first six years with the team.
Mike Holmgren was also responsible for the cap problems caused by Chad Brown, Anthony Simmons, Bobby Taylor, and Koren Robinson (who was a disaster in general). Tim Ruskell entered; Brown, Simmons, Taylor, and Robinson all exited. The team then signed Bryce Fisher, Kelly Herndon, Andre Dyson, Chuck Darby and Joe Jurevicius. Ruskell added Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill in the draft, as well as Chris Spencer and Ray Willis. All of a sudden the defense was good and the team was in better shape with the salary cap with depth along the offensive line for the future. It was also Ruskell that released Chris Terry, re-signed Robbie Tobeck and kept Chris Gray from signing with San Francisco. The 13-3 record, two playoff victories, and Super Bowl appearance might have more to do with Ruskell.
Holmgren was never able to put together a team in Seattle that won a playoff game. The team that made the playoffs in 1999 was mostly made of players Erickson and Whitsitt put together. Holmgren did not make it back to playoffs again until 2003 when Bob Ferguson took over his duties as GM. Marcus Trufant, Ken Hamlin, Seneca Wallace, Marcus Tubbs, Michael Boulware, and Sean Locklear were all drafted under Ferguson. Holmgren is a great coach to be sure, but he has only been successful with someone more capable as General Manager (Wolf, Ferguson, Ruskell).
We can be happy with where the team is now and the coaching job Mike Holmgren is doing without giving him false credit for the past or pretending our recent success was the result of Holmgren being patient while putting all of the pieces in place in his first six years.
It was Erickson that took a last place Seahawks team and restored them to respectability during the most tumultuous period in team history. We will never know, but if not for the Testaverde call, Erickson could have been 10-6 and made the playoffs in 1998. Where would the team be now if he was given 7 more seasons to build the team? We might not have made it to the Super Bowl, but we might have won a playoff game before 2006.
0 comments:
Post a Comment