Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren does not even want to hear the excuse.

Not from his coaches.

Not from his players.

And certainly not from the media.

Yes, the Seahawks have had a difficult time traveling to the Eastern time zone in recent years and finding success.

Yes, their defense has been dramatically worse in such situations.

But Holmgren is not buying into any of it - particularly now that the Seahawks travel to New York to face the Giants on Sunday.

"It's mentioned every time we go to the East coast if we lose the football game," Holmgren said. "The simple fact is, it has not a single thing to do with sleep levels or anything. Nothing.

"Anybody that gets too concerned with your biorhythms and the seat on the airplane and all that stuff, it's a bunch of bunk. You lose a football game for the same reason you lose a football game at home, on the road, a two-hour time change, when we go to Arizona, San Francisco-you lose because you played lousy."

Of course, it could be argued that a team fumbles and plays lousy because of sleep deprivation and because of body clocks being thrown off, but Holmgren takes issue with that.

"Would I make that argument? No. I wouldn't," Holmgren said. "I don't believe in that stuff. Now I'm probably wrong with the scientists in the audience, but I don't believe in that stuff."

There is no denying, however, that the Seahawks are often a different team while playing in the East.

They got trounced 34-10 in Buffalo in their season opener. Last season, they lost in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Carolina and Atlanta, while winning at Philadelphia. In the Panthers and Falcons games, those teams did not have their starting quarterbacks and the defense still struggled, giving up 44 points against Atlanta.

A few years ago, Holmgren said the players came to him to discuss the situation and he briefly considered their argument about changing routines. But now he doesn't want to listen to anything.

The Seahawks practice on Friday mornings and leave Friday afternoons for Sunday games in the East, enough time, Holmgren thinks, for players to adjust. It is the same schedule the San Francisco 49ers used when Holmgren coached under Bill Walsh.

"Which points out the fact that if your team is good enough, you should win," Holmgren said. "If you start the game slowly, you say, 'Oh well, it's 10:00 in the morning.' Well, so what! So what! So what if it's at 6 in the morning. You put on the pads and you got out there and you play. Don't give me this stuff."

SERIES HISTORY: 13th meeting. Giants lead series, 7-5, though the Seahawks have won the past two games, including a 42-30 decision in 2006, when the Giants had 12 false start penalties.