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Tuesday, November 30
 
Kitna left sleepless in Seattle

By Jim Cour
Associated Press

KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Jon Kitna has to play well for Mike Holmgren's West Coast offense to be productive.

Jon Kitna
Jon Kitna had his worst day as an NFL quarterback in Sunday's loss to the Bucs.
If he doesn't, the Seattle Seahawks are in trouble.

"Unlike some other teams that don't ask their quarterbacks to do quite so much, if he doesn't play well, the team's going to struggle," Holmgren said after watching Kitna get intercepted five times against Tampa Bay.

Kitna also lost a fumble in Seattle's 16-3 loss that ended a five-game winning streak.

The Seahawks, who lead the AFC West by two games with an 8-3 record, will play Sunday in Oakland.

"Our quarterback has to play well, and he has played well this season, he really has," said Holmgren, Seattle's first-year coach. "(Sunday) we didn't play so well."

Kitna looked at the videotape of his woeful performance against the Buccaneers and saw Donnie Abraham, Derrick Brooks, Alshermond Singleton, Brian Kelly and Ronde Barber pick off his passes, and Warren Sapp pounce on his fumble after sacking him.

"He saw exactly what he did and what he should have done differently," Holmgren said. "Any quarterback is going to miss a throw now and then. That doesn't bother me so much. But decision-making is always going to be a high-priority item around here."

After the game, Kitna went home and tossed and turned all night.

"It was a terrible game, what can you say?" Kitna said. "The reason I'm frustrated by it is they weren't going to do anything against our defense. Basically, I put our defense in a no-win situation."

After driving for a field goal on its first possession, the Seahawks offense fizzled.

Kitna had his worst day with the Seahawks, dropping from No. 2 among the AFC's quarterbacks to No. 8 -- from a rating of 90.8 to 78.8 -- as his interception total swelled from six to 11.

A day later, he was still shaken.

"The only thing you think about is that game, and it's hard," Kitna said. "Nobody likes losing, and nobody likes being the major component of why you lost. The thing about it is I don't ever want to see it happen to myself again."

In his first full season as Seattle's starter, Kitna is not looking over his shoulder at the bench, where former New York Jets starter Glenn Foley is his backup. Foley led Seattle to a victory in Week 2 in Chicago when Kitna was sidelined with a toe injury.

When Holmgren came to the Seahawks, he elected to go with the former undrafted player from Central Washington and released Warren Moon and John Friesz.

"I've had bad games before, and I've thrown four interceptions before," Kitna said. "You've just got to bounce back."

The loss to the Buccaneers puts some pressure on the Seahawks this week, Kitna said.

"We want to clinch this division as soon as possible, and then we want to get home-field advantage," he said. "Now, we've put ourselves in a position where it's going to take another week, and now we're another game behind in the home-field advantage race."

Holmgren blamed the Seahawks' offensive line for some of Kitna's problems and said the linemen must play better in the team's last five games. Kitna was sacked three times by the Buccaneers.

"There was too much pressure up front," Holmgren said. "That will affect any quarterback and an inexperienced quarterback even more so. You can't let your quarterback get killed."





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