Holmgren disciples headline NFC matchup

If ever there is a roast of Mike Holmgren, the headliners should be the starting quarterbacks of today's NFC divisional playoff between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

The Packers' Brett Favre and the Seahawks' Matt Hasselbeck both began their NFL careers under the heavy hand of Holmgren, now the Seahawks' head coach, and both benefited tremendously from working with one of the league's premier offensive minds.

They also can tell some great horror stories about the demanding Holmgren.

Favre's career as a starter and Holmgren's career as a head coach coincided in Green Bay in 1992. In the seven years that Holmgren spent there before leaving for Seattle, the Packers had a winning record every season, went to the playoffs six times, played in two Super Bowls and won one. Favre became the only three-time MVP in league history.

In his third year in Seattle (2001), Holmgren traded for Hasselbeck, who had spent two years as Favre's backup -- in other words, watching.

Hasselbeck immediately became the starter, and the Seahawks have had just one losing season since and are the only team in the league to have qualified for the playoffs in each of the last five seasons.

Favre will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Hasselbeck is in the top tier of NFL quarterbacks, but both acknowledge they've experienced growing pains under Holmgren.

"He's very tough," Favre said. "I know he was extremely tough on me. He's very demanding. To say he's a perfectionist is an understatement. I can remember numerous times in practice, I'd make a good throw, tight situation, and I'd turn around and he says, 'It's not good enough,' and I'm thinking, 'What do I gotta do?' "

So, when Hasselbeck threw just 7 TD passes and 8 interceptions in his first and worst year as a starter, he didn't get much sympathy from Favre, even though he tried.

"Early on, when I was at the lowest point here, I can remember talking to Brett on the phone and saying, 'You have no idea how bad it is here,' " Hasselbeck said. "He'd laugh and say, 'No, you have no idea how bad it was here.' Then he'd tell a tell a story, and I would say to myself, 'OK, he's right, his version is way worse than mine.'

"But I'm glad, as hard as he is on quarterbacks, as hard as he was on me at times, I'm glad he was."

Favre said Holmgren's obsession with perfection was so bad that the coach would criticize him for what Favre thought were perfectly executed handoffs. And if a center-quarterback exchange ever hit the ground … according to Holmgren, that was always Favre's fault, no exceptions.

"He'd yell, 'Get me a quarterback who can hand off,' " Favre said. "It was never about the other guys; it was about me. I can't tell you how many times (center) Frank (Winters) screwed up a snap. I've had my share of screw-ups, too, but he'd call us over there and (ask) what happened, and I'd throw Frankie under the bus.

"Of course, I got chewed out. He said, 'It doesn't matter. You're the quarterback. You've got to get the snap, you've got to make the right throws, you've got to make the right read. ' "

Despite the demands, both quarterbacks credit Holmgren for allowing them the latitude to utilize their individual talents.

Asked which quarterback is better, Holmgren wouldn't compare but pointed out how each is integral to the success of his respective team.

"I think Matt had a tougher road to go than Brett," Holmgren said. "Brett was a first-round draft choice and there was less pressure on him to start immediately. The road was a little clearer for a first-round draft choice at quarterback. I think Matt (a sixth-round pick) has worked very hard to become a very fine player for us.

"When it comes to natural ability, I think it would be hard to find anybody as talented as Brett. His natural ability, God-given ability is pretty unique.

"I will say this: As important as Brett is to the Packers, that's how important Matt is to us."

Today's outcome may well be determined by which quarterback has the better game. Both threw 28 touchdown passes this season, while Hasselbeck's 12 interceptions were 3 fewer than Favre. But Favre had the slightly higher passer rating, 94.6 to 91.4.

The similarities aren't shocking. After all, they both had the same teacher.