Seahawks Put On a Warm Front : AFC West Champions Say They’re Ready for Cold, Bengals

CINCINNATI â€”  The Seattle Seahawks arrived here at the Ohio River’s icy edge with enough winter gear to keep them toasty for months, though they’d settle for, say, a single afternoon’s worth of warmed digits. In fact, today’s American Football Conference semifinal playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals would do them just fine.

The Seahawks packed all sorts of goodies for the trip: cold-weather gloves . . . gloves for cold and wet conditions . . . hoods . . . undershirts . . . lightweight long johns--each one rich with warming cotton and cold-resistant polypropylene. They would have loaded firewood on the charter flight had they thought it would prevent a repeat of what happened when the Seahawks last journeyed into a frigid climate.

That, of course, would have been their early December visit to Foxboro, Mass., where the Seahawks last lost a game and their composure. With the winter winds whipping through Sullivan Stadium, the Seahawks managed only 2 first downs and 65 total yards. Needless to say, they didn’t have any long johns back then, only long faces.

An angry quarterback Dave Krieg stalked off the field that day, leaving a contrail of expletives. Coach Chuck Knox wore a scowl that could have melted tungsten.

Now, look at them. They’re almost jaunty as they prepare for today’s game against the big, bad Bengals, who have home-cooking, the league’s No. 1 offense and the weather on their side.

Krieg finished the season ranked second in the AFC to the Bengals’ Boomer Esiason. Knox finished with a smile and an AFC West title, thanks mainly to the well-timed collapses of the Denver Broncos and the Raiders. About the only possible negative is the weather forecast, which calls for snow or rain during today’s game. Temperatures are expected to remain in the 30s.

To which the Seahawks respond: Cold? What cold?

“The weather doesn’t matter,� Seattle defensive end Jacob Green said earlier this week. “This is a playoff game. We’re not worried about the snow or the cold or whatever it is. I don’t think the weather is going to be a factor on how we play. What’s going to matter is which team makes the least mistakes.�

Said guard Bryan Millard: “Sure, it’s going to be cold, but you have to mentally be prepared. I see us going in there and playing a good game. I think we have a chance, cold weather or not.�

Knox, who knows a thing or two about the delicate postseason psyche, has done what he could about this weather thing. First, he had his equipment managers raid an Eddie Bauer outlet. Then he had the fellas back at Seattle’s Kingdome lower the thermostats to a chilly 38 degrees for this week’s practices. You almost could see your breath. “It’s cold enough in here to hang meat,� Knox joked to Seattle reporters.

Knox can afford to kid around. A little. Running back Curt Warner, sidelined with an ankle injury ever since the season-ending Raider game 2 weeks ago, returns to the starting lineup just in time. “He’s A-OK,� Seahawk assistant coach Chick Harris said. Also, the mercurial Krieg is on one of his legendary hot streaks. And the defense, despite those 37 points scored by the Raiders in the season finale, shows signs of regaining lost stature.

Good thing, too, since the Seahawks (a modest 9-7) must face the Bengals (12-4), winners of the Central Division.

The Bengals have the Boomer, who has a ticket to the Pro Bowl waiting for him at season’s end. So do seven other Bengal players, which must count for something. Better yet, the Bengals have an 8-0 record at Riverfront Stadium this season. Only the Buffalo Bills can boast that sort of home-field advantage.

What the Bengals don’t have is a whole lot of playoff experience. This is their first postseason game since 1982. This is also the first time Sam Wyche has taken a team to the playoffs as a head coach. Compare that to Knox, who has collected a playoff check in 11 of the last 16 seasons, and the Seahawks, who have advanced to postseason play 4 of the last 6 years.

Big deal, said Esiason, who can’t quite understand what all the to-do is about. The Bengals and the Seahawks play a game. The winner stays in the tournament. The loser returns home. So what?

“I keep telling these coaches, ‘I don’t know what makes it different,’ � Esiason said this week. “They keep telling me it’s different; I haven’t seen anything different. Maybe on the field it will be. I’m not doing anything differently.�

Not so fast, Wyche said. Wyche, a San Francisco assistant coach the year the 49ers beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, said there is something, well, special about the whole thing.

“Anybody who hasn’t been through it--I don’t care if they’re a 10-year veteran--if they haven’t been through it yet, they are not aware of everything that goes with it,� Wyche said. “There are so many intangible things. . . . I don’t think anybody knows the full impact.�

Intangibles aside, the Bengals can produce some convincing reasons why experience may not be such a factor in today’s game. Begin with running backs James Brooks and Ickey Woods, who combined for more than 2,000 rushing yards. Continue with wide receiver Eddie Brown, who led the conference with 1,273 yards in only 53 receptions. And finish with that Bengal offensive line, one of the best in the league.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys here,� receiver Cris Collinsworth said. “They’ve handled everything else so far, why not handle (the playoff inexperience), too?�