Jon Kitna has experienced major ups and downs in his first full season as an NFL starter.

When the Seahawks were 8-2, Kitna was being called one of the hot young quarterbacks in the league. After the Seahawks stumbled to the finish line by losing five of their last six, Mike Holmgren's onetime wonderboy found himself on the receiving end of a major share of the criticism and blame from some of the fans in Seattle.

Kitna threw a career-worst five interceptions against Tampa Bay six weeks ago when the Seahawks began a four-game losing streak. He didn't produce a touchdown for his team at Giants Stadium last Sunday in a 19-9 loss to the New York Jets that appeared to knock Seattle out of the playoffs.

Fifty minutes later, the Seahawks got a second chance when Oakland came back to beat Kansas City on a field goal in overtime.

In spite of themselves, the Seahawks are in the playoffs as the AFC West champs.

"This is great," Kitna said. "I feel re-energized. It feels like the start of the preseason again. This is a great opportunity for us. We've proven all year that we can beat anybody anywhere; here, there, wherever.

"It's just a matter of us taking care of the four or five big mistakes that we've made each week. Personally, for me, the two or three throws that I would like to have back in each of our losses. If I can take care of those, it's going to take care of a lot of things for us."

During Seattle's 1-5 slide, Kitna threw 10 interceptions, including two in the Jets' game. He threw only six picks during the Seahawks' 8-2 start.

CAPTAINS CHOSEN

The Seahawks have elected their co-captains for their first playoff run since 1988. Coach Mike Holmgren announced the captains will be quarterback Jon Kitna and running back Ricky Watters on offense, Pro Bowl tackle Cortez Kennedy and Pro Bowl linebacker Chad Brown on defense and James Logan and Fabien Bownes on special teams. During the regular season, Holmgren appointed his captains on a game-by-game basis. "I started that in Green Bay," Holmgren said. "I've talked about leadership this season already. These players were chosen by their teammates. With that honor comes responsibility in my opinion. Those fellows are all different. "You look at the list, and they're all quite different," Holmgren said. "I'm counting on them to be a little bit more in the playoffs."

In the loss to the Jets, Kitna was without a healthy Ricky Watters, who tried to play with a sprained right knee. Watters was limited to 30 yards on nine carries. Watters hopes to be healthy for the Seahawks' playoff opener against Miami on Sunday in the Kingdome.

"In this league, things change quickly," Kitna said. "Your emotions change quickly. Your confidence gets built up very quickly. If we can play well early and get this thing rolling at the right time, who knows?"

Holmgren, Seattle's first-year coach, has been careful not to criticize Kitna in public this season, saying he thinks he's doing a good job considering that this is his first season as a starter in the league.

Nevertheless, Holmgren's temper got the best of him, and he could be seen screaming at his quarterback on the sidelines after another one of Kitna's unproductive series during the second half of the Jets' game.

Kitna said Holmgren has yelled at him before and he he'll yell at him again because that's just the way Holmgren is.

"That's just coach's way of communicating," Kitna said. "It's game day. It's emotional. That's what happens on game day when you're playing in a pressure-packed game. Sometimes you have to get your point across by yelling and there's no problem with that. That's just how we communicate on game day. So don't read anything into it."

Holmgren didn't inherit Brett Favre when he got the Seattle job. He did inherit Kitna and veterans Warren Moon and John Friesz from Dennis Erickson's 8-8 team last season. Holmgren decided to jettison Moon and Friesz and go with Kitna, an undrafted player who played NAIA football at Central Washington University.

In his first six seasons in the NFL, Kitna started six games for the Seahawks, including the last five last year.

Kitna missed the Seahawks' second game of the season because of a sprained toe, but has played every down since. He finished as the AFC's No. 8 quarterback with a 77.7 rating and had the third-most touchdown passes in the conference with 23 behind Peyton Manning's 26 and Rich Gannon's 24.

Holmgren said Kitna needs help this week from Watters, something Watters couldn't provide last week.

He also made it clear that Kitna is his quarterback of the future as well as the present.