Seahawks Try to Bounce Back Against Raiders

They’ve shown they can win close games. They’ve demonstrated they can win on the road. This week, the Seattle Seahawks have something else to prove as they try to end the NFL’s longest playoff drought.

Seattle (8-3) heads to AFC West rival Oakland (5-6) today determined to bounce back from its worst defeat of the season and overcome another of the psychological barriers that have haunted the Seahawks for a decade.

Seattle was feeling pretty good about itself heading into last weekend, sporting a five-game winning streak in which only one game had a margin closer than 10 points. But a 16-3 loss at home to Tampa Bay, in which Jon Kitna threw five interceptions and lost a fumble, rattled that sense of invincibility.

So, instead of looking ahead to a division title and the end of a playoff drought of 10 seasons, the Seahawks are trying to regroup against a Raiders team that has virtually fallen out of the playoff picture. Last-play losses the past two weeks against Denver and Kansas City have done in the Raiders.

“If we had been coming off a win and we were 9-2, I’d say things were pretty good and we’d be thinking about clinching the division,” Kitna said. “But we need to get back on track. We’re kind of back on our heels right now.”

When first-year coach Mike Holmgren arrived in Seattle from Green Bay, one of his tasks was getting Seahawks players to believe they could win. He said a couple of one-point comeback victories early in the season, one at Chicago and the other a 22-21 win at home over the Raiders, helped establish that belief.

Now Holmgren wants to see how his team, 4-1 on the road this season, will rebound from the loss to Tampa Bay. The Seahawks knocked out Bucs starting quarterback Trent Dilfer, but were beaten by backup Shaun King.

“We played a stinker game last week,” Holmgren said. “Now let’s see how they handle this.”

The Seahawks, who lead the NFL with 21 interceptions, are eager to put that Tampa Bay loss out of their memories.

“We’re just trying to get that nasty taste out of our mouths,” linebacker Darrin Smith said. “We’re just focusing on winning this game.”

The Raiders have not lost a game by more than seven points this season. Their inability to win close games and to protect fourth-quarter leads probably has doomed Oakland to a sixth straight season out of the playoffs.

Cornerback Charles Woodson was asked whether it was still realistic to think about the playoffs.