SEATTLE (AP) -- Talk about sleepless in Seattle. Mike Holmgren had too many sleepless nights in Green Bay for him to expect anything different in his new city.

And with so much on the line for the Seahawks this season, it's going to be hard for their new coach-general manager to even find a comfortable pillow.

"I'm very sensitive to the type of pillows I have," Holmgren said. "I don't sleep very well before the games. I really don't."

On Sunday, the Seahawks face the Barry Sanders-less Detroit Lions and launch the Holmgren Era, which is expected to bring success and happiness to a franchise that hasn't had a winning season since 1990. Sanders retired this summer, even though he was in reach of the career rushing record.

Armed with a new contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the NFL, Holmgren is not under the pressure that Dennis Erickson was last season before he was fired as Seahawks coach.

But he wants to show billionaire team owner Paul Allen and ambitious team president Bob Whitsitt he's worth the $32 million, eight-year contract it took to lure him away from Green Bay.

"I'm in it for the long haul," said Holmgren, who coached the Packers into two Super Bowls. "But, yeah, I want to win the game. It's hugely important. I trust we will play well."

Holmgren has brought a new enthusiasm to Seattle.

Said new backup quarterback Glenn Foley, acquired in a trade with the New York Jets: "I think everybody is excited to get the thing started. We look for pretty good things to happen."

Inheriting a team that went 8-8 last year, Holmgren is expected to end a 10-year playoff drought, the longest dry spell in the NFL. The last time the Seahawks won a playoff game was 1984.

So the pressure is on Holmgren, 51, to get the Seahawks back into the playoffs and make third-year owner Allen as happy as he is rich.

In eight months on the job, Holmgren has impressed his players with his intensity and hands-on approach. Seahawks players, especially star receiver Joey Galloway, have discovered he means business.

As the Seahawks prepared for their season opener, Galloway was still at his home in Columbus, Ohio, in an increasingly hostile contract impasse.

And Holmgren wasn't giving an inch.

"I'm not trading him," the coach said. "I want him here. I want him to be a part of this and he knows that."

Seattle's offense will be led into the season by quarterback Jon Kitna, who has six career starts. Kitna replaced Warren Moon for the final five games last season, before Holmgren arrived in January and released Moon.

"Jon's going to do great," Foley said. "I think Jon's going to be fine. If the offensive line plays well, Jon is going to have a great game."

That offensive line includes second-year player Todd Weiner, who will start at right tackle in place of the retired Howard Ballard.

Weiner will be facing former Pro Bowler Robert Porcher. Even Ballard, who will stay on as an assistant coach working with offensive tackles, is concerned.

"With Robert, he's one of the best defensive ends there are in the league," Ballard said. "But you always like the challenge going against a real good guy."

While the Seahawks will miss Galloway, the Lions could be devastated by the absence of Sanders, 31, who needed just 1,458 yards to overtake Walter Payton's mark. Why he walked away from the game is still a mystery in Detroit.

Instead of Sanders, the Seahawks will have to defend against Ron Rivers and Greg Hill.

"I remember playing against him before and you just go, 'Oh, man,"' Holmgren said of Sanders.

Seattle's strength is its defense, featuring Pro Bowlers Michael Sinclair, Shawn Springs, Chad Brown and Cortez Kennedy. Though the Seahawks went 1-3 during the exhibition season, their first-string defense surrendered only one field goal.

Without Sanders, the Lions will have to rely more on the combination of second-year quarterback Charlie Batch and Herman Moore, who has made, in order, 123, 106, 104 and 82 catches.

"We'll find out the first game," Moore replied when asked how much the Lions were going to miss Sanders.

"The biggest thing we're going to miss right off the bat is probably the guy who has the breakaway ability on any given play. You give him the football and you don't know if he's going to get two yards or if he's going to get 70. That's what you miss."

With Sanders, the Lions finished last season 5-11, losing their last four games. Without Sanders, coach Bobby Ross is looking at what could become his second losing season in eight years in the league.

"Certainly that's a loss to us," Ross said of Sanders' retirement in classic understatement. "The timing was not very good. But you can't dwell on it. What can you do about it?"

DETROIT Season schedule and results

SEATTLE Season schedule and results

September 12 @Seattle 4:15pm ET September 19 Green Bay 1:00pm ET September 26 @Kansas City 1:00pm ET October 10 San Diego 1:00pm ET October 17 Minnesota 1:00pm ET October 24 @Carolina 1:00pm ET October 31 Tampa Bay 8:20pm ET November 7 St. Louis 1:00pm ET November 14 @Arizona 4:15pm ET November 21 @Green Bay 1:00pm ET November 25 Chicago 12:40pm ET December 5 Washington 1:00pm ET December 12 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm ET December 19 @Chicago 1:00pm ET December 25 Denver 4:15pm ET January 2 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET

September 12 Detroit 4:15pm ET September 19 @Chicago 1:00pm ET September 26 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET October 3 Oakland 8:20pm ET October 17 @San Diego 4:05pm ET October 24 Buffalo 4:15pm ET November 1 @Green Bay 9:00pm ET November 7 Cincinnati 4:15pm ET November 14 Denver 8:20pm ET November 21 @Kansas City 1:00pm ET November 28 Tampa Bay 4:05pm ET December 5 @Oakland 4:15pm ET December 12 San Diego 4:05pm ET December 19 @Denver 4:15pm ET December 26 Kansas City 4:05pm ET January 2 @NY Jets 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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