By Paul Adamski
News-Chronicle
This time the students gave the tough-love lesson - and all Mike Holmgren could do was flash a paltry smile.
Brett Favre piloted Green Bay to five consecutive touchdown drives in the second and third quarters en route to a 35-13 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, making his former coach's second homecoming a loathsome one at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
It was enchanting vengeance for Favre, who self-destructed in Holmgren's first return to Lambeau Field in 1999, when he committed six turnovers in a 27-7 loss to the Seahawks.
Holmgren had joined the Seahawks earlier that year after rekindling the glory in the Packers from 1992-98 by winning one Super Bowl and two NFC crowns while posting an 82-42 (.667 winning percentage) record.
On Sunday, Favre completed 19 of 25 passes for 185 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Ahman Green, meanwhile, rushed 27 times for 118 yards and two touchdowns to gain a measure of revenge against Holmgren, who traded him from Seattle to Green Bay in 2000.
Add it up, and it was enough to give Packers' coach Mike Sherman a victory over his mentor.
"I thought (Favre) played very well, and I told him that after the game," Holmgren said. "That doesn't surprise me; he's a great player. I think he and Ahman Green, plus their offensive line ... their best players played very, very well today and we had a heck of a time stopping them."
Seattle (3-1) had been enjoying the spoils of a 3-0 start that seemed a far cry from last season, when Holmgren and the Seahawks had to explain everything that was going wrong week after week as they stumbled to a 7-9 season.
This season started with an unfamiliar attitude for Seattle, and it came into Green Bay looking for the franchise's first 4-0 start. Sunday's calamity, however, raised questions whether this year's squad could overcome such an emotional loss. In years past, the Seahawks have been a fragile franchise, but Holmgren after Sunday's game insisted this was a different team.
"We'll bounce back," Holmgren said. "This is a tough one because it's such a special place for me personally. We have to learn to win one of those games on the road against a really good opponent. We have to do that. This was a test for us and we'll handle it better the next time."
Seattle has to, if it wants to keep atop the NFC West.
The Seahawks host three of their next four games, starting with San Francisco (2-2) next week. A victory over the 49ers would give the Seahawks a 3-0 record in their division and put them in the drivers seat for the NFC West title, because they follow the 49ers game with a home game against the Chicago Bears (1-3) before traveling to Cincinnati (1-4).
Needless to say, the coming weeks are significant for Seattle.
"We are a little more mentally tough than we have been in the past,"
Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "(Next week) is a big game. It's a division opponent and it's a huge game. It's going to be bigger than this game. It's one game at a time, but obviously (Sunday's) game meant a lot."
Besides being a homecoming for Holmgren, defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes and Hasselbeck - who was Favre's backup - 33 other players or coaches had been on the same sideline sometime during their NFL career. In the end, however, it was Holmgren's return that materialized the most sentiment.
"I have a lot of friends here so I always like to do well in front of them," a solemn Holmgren said. "I didn't do so well today."
The return of Holmgren and the will of his former players to show him up was well chronicled throughout the week, but Holmgren insisted he didn't sense extra effort out of his former Green Bay players.
"Just like me trying to impress my friends here, I'm sure they wanted to play well against me," Holmgren quipped. "I'm sure that was part of it. They're good football players and they play good football against a lot of people."
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