PACKERS: Second chance for Favre
1:41 AM 10/05/03
Jason Wilde Wisconsin State Journal

GREEN BAY - Four years later, Brett Favre still won't admit it. <

Favre, the Green Bay Packers' quarterback, insists his horrible performance against the Seattle Seahawks on that November Monday night at Lambeau Field in 1999 had nothing to do with the return of ex-Packers coach Mike Holmgren, nothing to do with Favre's desire to prove he would be fine without the coach who helped make him a three-time NFL MVP. <

"It was not a factor. It was odd seeing him across from me, but it was just one of those games," Favre said as he prepared for today's game between his Packers (2-2) and Holmgren's Seahawks (3-0). <

"Now, that was right after he left, but I didn't feel the need in that game to prove to him or to the world that, 'Hey, I can survive without him.' Because if that was the case, I didn't do a very good job of it." <

Still, Favre's numbers in that game - 14-for-35 passing, 180 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions and two lost fumbles - would indicate otherwise. His passer rating in the Packers' 27-7 loss was 26.8 - the third-worst of his career - and Packers coach Mike Sherman, who was Holmgren's offensive coordinator in that game, knows Favre wasn't himself. Even if Favre won't say so. <

"He did put extra pressure on himself that night. You could tell," Sherman said. "But trust me, it was different in '99. It was the first year after Mike had left, and Brett's a different cat right now. He's more mature now than he was back then. He's more cerebral. <

"Plus, we've had Steve Mariucci come back, Marty Mornhinweg, Andy Reid - and he's beaten all those guys." <

Favre is 12-1 against his former quarterbacks coaches (7-1 vs. Mariucci, 1-0 vs. Reid and 4-0 vs. Mornhinweg). But it is Holmgren who is thought to be some sort of football Svengali when it comes to Favre. <

And given Favre's pedestrian start this season (84-for-131, 804 yards, seven TDs, seven INTs, 76.6 rating), how he plays today likely will be the most important of the many subplots in the game. As a result, the '99 game hasn't even been discussed with Favre during meetings. <

"We haven't talked at all about that game. None," offensive coordinator Tom Rossley said. "That's four years ago, before we were even here. Our team is different, their team is different, Brett is different." <

But there's also more to Favre vs. Holmgren - and Seattle defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes, another ex-Packers coach - than psychology. Holmgren and Rhodes met early last week to incorporate their knowledge of Favre into the Seahawks' defensive game plan, and Favre can expect the unexpected today. <

"It was important for me to talk to (Rhodes) early in the week so if he wanted to use it as part of his plan, he could," Holmgren, who coached the Packers from 1992 through '98, said of his insights on Favre. "Now, there's not a lot of players left on the Packers who were there when I was there, but there are a few." <

Eleven, to be exact, but none more important than Favre, who still remembers his first interception in that 1999 game. The game was scoreless midway through the first quarter. <

After the Packers got the ball at Seattle's 20-yard line following a turnover, Favre tried to force a pass to Antonio Freeman against double coverage in the end zone and was picked off by Shawn Springs. It was all downhill from there. <

"I remember it as if it was yesterday. I threw a post in the red zone," Favre said. "They played as basic a coverage (as you can): Four across, which, the last thing you would ever throw is a post. Yet I was determined to squeeze one in there. <

"It wasn't so much what they did, it was more or less, 'Let's let Brett make a mistake.' " <

That meant forcing Favre to be patient and not giving him the opportunity to make big plays. The Seahawks probably will do that again today. <

The difference this time is the Packers' potentially dominant running game. With Ahman Green, who is second in the NFL with 442 yards rushing and is coming off a career-best 176-yard performance at Chicago, Rhodes and the Seahawks' defense will have to figure out a way to stop Favre and the ground game. <

That, more than anything, could be what allows Favre to beat Holmgren this time. <

"I think in attacking our defense right now, you better stop the running game first - and that's easier said than done," said Favre, who is 40-0 in games in which the Packers run more than they pass. "If you go in and stop me, then we'll just run the ball down your throat. <

"How (Seattle) will approach it, I don't know. I have been shut down on numerous occasions, but most of those have been because of me. I can't think of too many times where I was just stopped."

Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman: Same, but different
On a hot summer day in August 2000, Mike Sherman paid 25 cents and found out just how difficult it would be to follow Mike Holmgren as coach of the Green Bay Packers. <

Sherman had been on the job for only a few months, having spent the previous season as Holmgren's offensive coordinator in Seattle. Now, he was thirsty, and about to get more than he bargained for. <

"I was going over to training camp, and a couple kids were selling lemonade. So I stopped," Sherman recalled last week, as he prepared his Packers to face Holmgren's Seahawks today at Lambeau Field. "I got a drink and said, 'You follow the Green Bay Packers?' (They said), 'Oh yeah, we love the Packers.' " <

After some chit-chat, Sherman thanked the boys and turned to leave. <

"Then one of the kids said, 'Hey, that was the coach of the Packers,' " Sherman said. "'That was Mike Holmgren.'" <

When Sherman took over as the Packers' coach, the common assumption was that he was a clone of Holmgren. But today, when the two face each other for the first time, it is clear they are more different than they are alike - in their personalities, their egos and their interaction with their players. <

"They come from the same pyramid of coaches, but personality-wise, they're not anything alike," said Packers center Mike Flanagan, whose first three NFL seasons were under Holmgren. "Holmgren, I'd be in the hall at 8:55 in the morning for a 9 o'clock meeting and he'd just be walking in the door. That same meeting, Sherm's been here since 4 o'clock. <

"Ego-wise, I don't think Sherm gives a (care) about any of that stuff. There's literally no interest in who gets the credit. I think Holmgren, the whole ego thing is just who he is. A lot of guys like the attention and gratification of it all. <

"And as far as talking to them, I couldn't have had more than three or four conversations with Holmgren in the three years we both were here. Sherm, he's not in the locker room a lot, but there's some contact with everybody because he wants to make sure everybody's learning and coming along, even guys that are on injured reserve." <

Quarterback Brett Favre says he has been yelled at once by Sherman. Granted, Favre is at a different point in his career now, but compared to Holmgren, who yelled at him on a daily basis, it's another difference. <

"So many people used to say, 'Holmgren, he seems like such a nice guy.' I can remember my grandmother saying that all the time," Favre said. "I'd say, 'Yeah,' but he didn't want anyone to know behind closed doors he would just blow up. I can't tell you how many times I was called into his office. It was bad. But I deserved it and it made me a better player." <

Sherman and Holmgren say they are close friends, although they don't talk during the season and their social interaction is limited to a dinner at the scouting combine or league meetings. Sherman acknowledges he wouldn't be where he is today if not for Holmgren, who hired him as the Packers' tight ends coach in 1997, and credits Holmgren for showing him how to balance family, faith and football. <

But Sherman has his own take on the West Coast offense and his own coaching style. Gradually, he has forged his own identity. <

"(Sherman) doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. He's certainly established himself there," Holmgren said. "There's a lot of stuff to like about Mike Sherman." <

While Sherman claims today's game against Holmgren isn't any more important to him than any other on the schedule, he knows winning would be another step out of Holmgren's large shadow. <

"When you drive to work down Mike Holmgren Way, that's a pretty big shadow. As much as I've tried to change the name of that sign to Sherman Way," Sherman said. "But this is not about Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman. I don't think I've mentioned Mike Holmgren's name two times to the staff or to the team. It's not part of it. It really isn't. Now, afterwards, maybe I'll feel different if we win. But I don't know. <

"I think there are parts of me that are like him and parts of me that are not. No two people are the same. I took his advice when I came here to try and be myself, and I have. I do things a certain way, and he does things a certain way, but I have learned things from him and he has been a big influence in my life."