Originally published Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Packers' changes leave few memories
Four times in the regular season and twice in the playoffs, the constants were always Mike Holmgren on the Seahawks' sideline, Brett Favre...
Seattle Times staff reporter
Green Bay @ Seahawks, 1:15 p.m., Ch. 13
RENTON — Four times in the regular season and twice in the playoffs, the constants were always Mike Holmgren on the Seahawks' sideline, Brett Favre on the Green Bay sideline.
A mentor and mentee for the ages, Holmgren the coach who helped turn Favre the quarterback into an NFL legend.
Even when Holmgren left Green Bay for Seattle after seven seasons, he was always linked to Favre. The two always spoke highly of one another and took time to visit before their six Seahawks vs. Packers meetings. Once they even visited after a game, when Favre walked onto the Seahawks plane after the 2005 regular-season finale to tell his former coach he wasn't going to retire, as was widely expected that year.
But time marches on, and on Sunday when the Seahawks and Packers meet for the seventh time since Holmgren left Green Bay, Favre will not be the Green Bay quarterback. And Holmgren will be facing the team he took to the Super Bowl twice (winning once) for most likely the final time as Seahawks coach. He announced before the season that 2008 will be his last in Seattle.
Holmgren was asked if it will be odd to face a Packers team without Favre.
"It'll probably be a little funny when I look out there the first time," Holmgren said.
But Holmgren doesn't have time to be sentimental. The Seahawks are 1-3 and in need of a win.
"The game is special because we've got to get going here," Holmgren said. "That's what makes this game special. I always felt a little bit more emotional about the game, I couldn't explain why necessarily, but when we traveled and played them back there."
Perhaps because there is a street named for Holmgren near Lambeau Field, and because Green Bay is a small town full of places Holmgren would visit. Trips to Wisconsin always brought back memories.
"The game here in Seattle was more of another football game than when we went back there," Holmgren said. "It's been awhile now. I've been in Seattle longer than I was in Green Bay."
Favre is with the New York Jets after a tumultuous offseason that ended with Favre being traded. Packers coach Mike McCarthy apparently wasn't in a mood Wednesday to discuss the offseason of waiting to see what would happen with Favre.
"I wasn't waiting for anything," McCarthy responded when asked about the situation. "I was just coaching the football team. I think it was a distinctly different situation that really doesn't factor in the game this week, quite honestly."
Aaron Rodgers, Favre's replacement, will more than likely factor into the game's outcome. He's dealing with a sprained right shoulder that has yet to keep him from playing a game, though Rodgers was limited in practice Wednesday.
Rodgers has spent the past three seasons as Favre's understudy. He's off to a good start as the starter, with a 63.2 completion percentage and nine touchdowns with four interceptions. Last week, Rodgers — the first quarterback other than Favre to start for the Packers since Don Majkowski in September 1992 — threw for 313 yards in a 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
"I've been preparing myself for this for the last three years, knowing that at some point I was going to get an opportunity," Rodgers said. "Knowing that the comparisons with Brett will be there my entire career. I embrace those, and anytime I'm mentioned in the same sentence with him, it's an honor. It really is."
Favre, Rodgers said, taught him much about being a quarterback and a leader. Mostly the week-to-week routine of the position.
"I got a firsthand glimpse of a great player and the things that he did to make himself great," Rodgers said. "I try to take a lot of those and incorporate those in my game and learn from the things that he did."
Rodgers feels that being a backup for all that time added years to his career. He was also able to develop without much pressure to perform.
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, himself a Favre backup early in his career, said he is impressed with what he has seen of Rodgers. But he admitted to reporters in Green Bay that he's glad Favre isn't the quarterback coming to town.
Hasselbeck spoke with Favre while he and the Packers were locked in conflict.
"I said, 'Hey, listen man, as long as you're not coming to Seattle, I wish you the best and hope you can extend your career,' " Hasselbeck said.
José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 07:23 AM
NFL, union resume labor talks at mediator's office
League, players still almost $800 million apart on revenue haring
Union, league negotiators to resume talks Monday | NFL
No new deal in NFL labor talks; deadline extended

nwautos
Turismo upgrade "Gran Turismo 5: XL Edition" for PlayStation 3 has features such as new car-tuning settings, new NASCAR vehicles, better replay video...
Post a comment
- Lakewood cop accused of embezzling $150K meant for slain officers' families
- 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
- Agency set to investigate handling of 911 call about Josh Powell
- Quick decisions: How Washington hired its new football staff
- Historic day for gay marriage as another fight looms
- Justin Wilcox's versatile defensive style is the right fit for Huskies | Jerry Brewer
- It's Terrence Time: Enigmatic Ross leads Huskies
- Social worker recounts minutes before Powell fire
- $25B settlement reached over foreclosure abuses
- Club promoter convicted in brutal 2010 murder of Des Moines prostitute
- Gay-marriage bill passes House, awaits Gregoire's signature
434 - Historic day for gay marriage as another fight looming
346 - Sheriff's office unhappy with 911 dispatcher in caseworker's call
282 - 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
235 - Source: NY, California to sign mortgage settlement
208 - Oregon live game thread
153 - Pac-12 picks ... including the UW game
140 - Lakewood cop accused of taking donations for slain officers' families
114 - Department of Justice owes the Seattle Police Department an apology
88 - Thursday morning links --- and a video!!!
72
- 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
- State Medicaid program to stop paying for unneeded ER visits
- One man's audacious pursuit of sailing history
- Darren Berg gets 18-year sentence for Ponzi scheme
- $25B settlement reached over foreclosure abuses
- A wandering gene's destructive path | Book review
- 'Gauguin and Polynesia': dazzling mix-and-match | Art review
- UW opening incubator facility for startups
- Controversial principal at Lowell Elementary takes job in Tacoma
- Lakewood cop accused of embezzling $150K meant for slain officers' families










