Passing game guided Hawks into playoffs

KIRKLAND, Wash. – When Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren opened his mouth on Nov. 5, pronouncing to the world that he planned to throw the ball more than ever, not everyone was dancing through the aisles of Qwest Field.

Wide receiver Bobby Engram was certainly happy to hear that he might be seeing more passes come his way, but his initial reaction was best summed up in two grunt-like syllables.

Uh-oh.

“You normally don’t come out and announce something like that,” Engram said this week. “You just sneak it in on them.”

But now that the Seahawks have rattled off six wins in eight weeks, and seen quarterback Matt Hasselbeck break the franchise record for passing yards in the process, the frank game plan looks like a stroke of genius.

“It was a great move on his part,” Engram said with a shrug. “That’s why he’s been such a successful head coach here for so many years. He makes all the right moves and knows what buttons to push.

“That was a great call, obviously.”

In hindsight, no one can argue with Holmgren’s decision to de-emphasize the ground game and feature a well-oiled passing machine. Hasselbeck and Co. have thrived since Holmgren’s pronouncement, averaging more than 250 passing yards per game while leading the Seahawks to a 6-2 record.

But the big question as Seattle heads into Saturday’s game against Washington is whether that game plan will continue to work in the postseason.

Asked this week whether he plans to stick with the same pass-first attack, Holmgren was as blunt as ever.

“We’re not going to change,” he said. “At this point, we’re going to do the things that work for us. So we’re not going to change that much. And I think how far we go will be dependant on how well we do those.”

The genesis of Seattle’s shift in philosophy actually came during the course of a game. As the offense struggled to mix the run and pass during a Nov. 4 game at Cleveland, the coaches grew frustrated and decided to ditch the run late in the third quarter. During one 16-play stretch, 15 calls were pass plays, and Seattle got back into the game before losing in overtime.

Holmgren came out the next day announcing that the Seahawks would de-emphasize the running game.

“We’ve been striving for balance,” he said on Nov. 5, “but maybe we have to tilt the scales just a little bit to be at our most productive.”

The Seahawks have, and it has worked out thus far.

“If we were still forcing the run, we might not even be in the playoffs,” offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said. “But we said, ‘Screw it, go.’ And Matt came out, it’s his show, and the line has blocked for him.”

With all the pressure on him, Hasselbeck has responded. His passer rating during the eight games following Cleveland is 94.0, and he’s thrown for more yards in that span (1,943) than either Tony Romo or Brett Favre.