Hawks can send message tonight with win over Packers

The Seahawks would love to win every game, but NFL teams go undefeated about as often as Halley's Comet makes an appearance.

Tonight's game, however, is critical.

Win, and Seattle is 7-4 and maintaining a firm hold on first place in the NFC West. The Seahawks would also stay in the race for a top-two playoff seed. That's huge when it comes to home-field advantage.

Lose, and the Seahawks drop to 6-5 and join the glut of other average NFC teams trying to get into the postseason.

Tonight is Statement Night. Seattle has Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck, its top offensive players, back from injury. They have something to prove on defense after last week's loss at San Francisco. And they are playing the struggling and inconsistent Green Bay Packers at home, where the Seahawks rarely lose.

In short, with the mighty Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers still on the schedule, defeating the teams with losing records is a must.

"The positive part is that we're still leading this division, we know what's ahead of us," coach Mike Holmgren said. "We can control our own destiny ... Those are things we can build on. Clearly, we have some things to fix. But it's a hard-working group and we just keep trying. I think getting our guys back will give us a little boost in the arm and now the season comes down to six games. So that's where it sits."

Things were different last season. At this point in 2005, the Seahawks were 8-2 and in the middle of an 11-game winning streak.

The question was raised this week if Holmgren compares this situation to last season. He said he does.

"I can understand a fan doing it," Holmgren said. "But I think it raises a good question. I think expectation levels, they go up for everybody. And when you don't do the same things, you're disappointed. And it begs the question, how come?"

The reason, he believes, is that this team is faced with different circumstances, injuries to key personnel among those. The San Francisco game, Holmgren said, was similar to the Kansas City game Oct. 29 in that the Seahawks couldn't stop the opposing running back but still had a chance to win.

"We have to look at those two games together and see what those teams did," Holmgren said. "The teams we play are going to be looking at it, and we have to have an answer. We have to fix it and have an answer if we expect to reach our goals this year."

Alexander said he believes the team can go on a roll.

"I think that our offense is going to really hit its stride right now, and it's a good thing because we have six weeks to become excellent," Alexander said.

And winning the games they need to win?

"It's a must," he said. "I think that's one of the greatest things we did last year and the year before that. We had to crank it up, everybody jumped in."

Early in the week, Hasselbeck urged his teammates to work harder.

"All our goals are there, but we have to play better," Hasselbeck said. "Me coming back or a bunch of guys coming back, that's not going to solve the problem if we don't all play better."

Hasselbeck called on the Seahawks to pay more attention to detail, be more serious at practice and take their playbooks home with them until things start clicking again.

Tonight it will be known how serious they were. As for the tight NFC race, Holmgren doesn't look at the standings or schedule. He used to, and every time he needed another team to lose to help his team, it didn't happen.

"I've got enough things to make me nervous without looking at that thing or trying to figure out stuff," he said. "When I first started, first had the opportunity to be a head coach, I used to do that all the time, figure out stuff. Who is going to help me by winning the game? It used to just kill me. And so I just don't do it any more.

"I've got to concentrate on Green Bay. I want the team to concentrate on Green Bay."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com