by: Michael Steffes
Mike Lombardi over at SI.com has written a great article about Mike Holmgren. He looks at the advantages and disadvantages of this supposed "lame duck" year.
Here is a quote listed under the "very good"...
The fact Holmgren is not coming back will allow him to throw conventional wisdom and play calling to the wind, which should give him a distinct advantage over opposing defenses. Every third down call in Seattle will now be made with the understanding that going for it on fourth down is a distinct possibility.I love this in theory, but call me skeptical. I will believe it when I see it. I am just not sure being really aggressive is in Mike's genes. He is old school, and part of the reason him personally, and the Hawks as a whole, have been successful is that they never give games away. Even when he hands it to the back and sends him crashing into a stacked line three times in a row, with the intention of running clock and punting, he is doing it because it forces the other team to beat us. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It drives fans nuts, especially since our team is talented enough to put the game on ice. In the end though, the Hawks usually are in the games until the end. Last year, the team was a few short yardage situations away from a possible home field scenario. There is no reason to change the philosophy dramatically now. END
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