Zero reasons to panic

RENTON, Wash. – The Seahawks are 0-2 and in the unfamiliar position of looking up at two other teams in their division.

But they don’t have to look too far for hope. A glance around the league shows they have company in the cellar – 10 of the league’s 32 teams are 0-2.

“It is encouraging though to look around the league, to see teams you know are good teams like Minnesota, San Diego, Jacksonville,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “They’re all 0-2 right now.”

Seattle, San Diego and Jacksonville each reached the playoffs last season and won a playoff game. Each started this season 0-2. So did Minnesota and Cleveland, teams many projected to break into the playoffs. Now, they’re all looking to follow the New York Giants’ example from last year for bouncing back from a winless start into contention.

“You think back to the Giants, they started 0-2,” Hasselbeck said.

They sure did. The Giants lost both those games by double digits, in fact. They became the second team in the past seven years to start 0-2 and win the Super Bowl. The 2001 New England Patriots were the other, and they’ve become the patron saints of those unfortunate teams winless after two weeks.

That hope is almost enough to overshadow the significant hole the Seahawks have dug.

Since the NFL expanded its playoffs to include 12 teams in 1990, 19 teams have rallied from a 0-2 start and reached the postseason.

Atlanta did it in 2002. Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney was there, and he said the key to bouncing back is not to sink too far in the first place.

“It’s having an even keel,” Kerney said. “Whether you win, whether you lose, approaching your work the same way. Approaching every game the same way with the right work ethic, right mindset. Just not letting some of these results fluctuate what you put into the next game.”

In the past eight seasons six 0-2 teams have come back to make the playoffs. Of those six playoff teams, only two managed to earn a bye: Philadelphia in 2003 and New England in 2001.

But stop right there with all the number crunching, said Seattle coach Mike Holmgren.

“It’s way too early to start doing the math,” he said. “There’s too many unpredictable things that happen in this business, as you know, not the least of which is injury.”

Such as if a team were to lose four different receivers because of injury, three of them of the season-ending variety? That’s what has happened to Seattle, along with the losses of starting right guard Rob Sims and dependable veteran Chris Gray.

Holmgren didn’t imagine his team was going to lose its first two games. Then again, he didn’t think he’d be playing with a group of wide receivers so banged up that Courtney Taylor is the only active receiver who’s been on the 53-man roster all season.

“I couldn’t envision the roster situation,” Holmgren said.

The Seahawks are expecting to get a boost when Bobby Engram returns after the bye. The hope is Deion Branch will be ready to return from off-season knee surgery about the same time.

But Seattle finds itself at 0-2 for the first time since 2002, which was also the last season the Seahawks did not make the playoffs. But two defeats certainly haven’t eroded the determination of one person, the guy calling the plays.

“I’m more ticked off than discouraged,” Holmgren said.