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Seahawks may win: Packers not Dallas
"I don't know if you can ever say if you play this well or this poorly you'll win or lose," said Jack Patera, Seattle's head coach.
"If we continue to play the way we started against Dallas, barring that first interception, we should beat everybody."
The Seahawks, 0-4, surprised unbeaten Dallas with two early touchdowns for a 13-0 lead, but collapsed under the pressure of a swarming Cowboy defense in the second half and lost 28-13 last week.
But this Sunday Seattle isn't playing Dallas, or St. Louis, or Washington, or San Francisco. They're playing the Green Bay Packers, who took a month to win their first game, a 24-14 decision over the troubled Detroit Lions last week.
"So far they haven't been as good as the other teams we've played," said Patera. But, he adds, "They expect to get healthy on Seattle and Philadelphia (Green Bay's opponent at home next week). Against Detroit, they looked very, very strong, particularly the running game.
"Their 1-3 record is probably a little stronger than most of your 1-3 teams."
Patera said Packer quarterback Lynn Dickey "hasn't played as good as they want. Dickey is a fine quarterback and has the ability to play well."
Dickey was acquired in an off-season trade from Houston for quarterback John Hadl, cornerback Ken Ellis and two draft choices. "I would expect him to play much better with the kind of ground game they had against Detroit," said Patera.
Dickey, a six-year veteran from Kansas State, has completed only 32 of 92 passes for 310 yards and one touchdown. He's been intercepted five times and sacked 14 times for 165 yards. Seattle's first-year quarterback, Jim Zorn, meanwhile has completed 65 of 141 passes for 831 yards and five touchdowns. He has thrown seven interceptions.
Defense appears to be the Packers' strength. They have yielded 309 yards per game, about average in the league. Seattle's defense, which has surrendered an average of 419 yards each Sunday, continues to concern Patera.
Tackling problems
"The thing that's hurt us more than anything else on defense is the lack of tackling we've experienced," said the Seahawk coach. "It actually is improving. The second thing is missing coverages…"
"The percentage of times we've been caught for touchdowns is terrible."
The Packers, like the Seahawks, haven't exactly run over anybody. Willard Harrell's 111 yards in 17 carries against Detroit gave him 177 yards in four games. Barty Smith's 62 yards rushing against the Lions gave him 130 yards for the season. Seattle's leading rusher is Zorn, with 115 yards on 15 "carries".
Asked how important it is to get a first regular season victory, Patera replied: "Winning breeds winning, losing breeds losing. I don't know how important it is right now or how it has affected the players. Right now, I don't think it has. I was hoping we'd have our first victory by now. We're still looking to be more consistent and more competitive each Sunday.
"That's a little more difficult than it sounds. We still have people making errors. The more comfortable they are in the offense and defense the better they'll play."
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