This Week in Seahawks History: A lightning delay on ‘Sunday Night Football’

Are you ready for a weekly blast from the Seahawks teams of the past?

This will be a weekly article series throughout the season looking back on what happened for the Seattle Seahawks 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago this week. We all need a palate cleanser after last Sunday.

40 Years Ago

Sunday, September 18, 1983

Game Log

We’ve got a classic AFC West showdown here against the San Diego Chargers, and the first home game of the 1983 regular season. Dan Doornink opened the scoring with a 2-yard TD run to put Seattle on the board up 7-0. San Diego’s own Dan – Fouts in this case – threw a 25-yard TD pass to Charlie Joiner to knot the score at 7-7. The Seahawks took the lead right back at 14-7 when Steve Largent caught a 5-yard TD pass from Jim Zorn. The 2nd Quarter featured dueling FGs, with Norm Johnson kicking a 33-yarder and Rolf Benirschke (that’s one heck of a name!) booting one from 26 yards away to make the score 17-10 going into the half. Norm Johnson kicked a 43-yard FG in the 3rd Quarter, but the big play came from UDFA Paul Moyer with a 19-yard INT return for a TD to put the Seahawks up by three scores at 27-10. The Chargers pulled within 10 in the early 4th Quarter when Dan Fouts found Eric Sievers from 26 yards away to put the score at 27-17. Zorn to Largent struck again, this time from 41 yards out to put Seattle up 34-17. The Chargers weren’t dead yet, as Dan Fouts threw two more 4th Quarter TD passes – a 44-yarder to Bobby Duckworth and a 27-yarder to Eric Sievers for their second TD connection of the game to rival Zorn and Largent. Thankfully, that’s the closest the Chargers would get as the Seahawks escaped with a 34-31 victory.

Jim Zorn was 15/24 for 173 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Curt Warner had 22 carries for 109 yards and David Hughes added 90 rushing yards on 20 carries. Steve Largent had himself a day with 8 catches for 116 yards and 2 TDs.

For the second consecutive game, the Seahawks defense had 3 INTs – one each by John Harris, Paul Moyer, and Keith Simpson. Jeff Bryant had the lone sack in the victory.

30 Years Ago

Sunday, September 12, 1993

Game Log

Another AFC West matchup in the Kingdome to look at here against the Los Angeles Raiders. Those Raiders scored first with a 2-yard run from Jeff Hostetler and took the 7-0 lead. That would hold until the 2nd Quarter when Chris Warren scored on a 6-yard run to tie the game at 7-7. Seattle would then take the lead at 10-7 with a 39-yard FG from John Kasay. The Raiders scored the next 10 points behind a pair of 33-yard scoring plays – a Jeff Jaeger 33-yard FG and a Tim Brown 33-yard TD catch from Hostetler. Kasay booted a 53-yard FG for the Seahawks in the 4th Quarter, but that wasn’t enough as Seattle fell to 0-2 with a 17-13 loss to the Raiders.

Once again, the offensive yardage for both teams was relatively even with Los Angeles outgaining Seattle 264-232. The big separator in this game was the turnover battle as the Raiders also won that with only 1 turnover to the Seahawks 3 turnovers. Rick Mirer was 14/22 for 149 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT and was sacked 5 times. That makes it 0 TD and 3 INT so far for the 1993 season if you’re keeping track. Chris Warren led the Seahawks with 20 carries for 76 yards and 1 TD while also leading the team in receiving with 41 yards on 4 catches. John L. Williams added 5 catches for 40 yards.

Michael Sinclair and Natu Tuatagaloa both had 1.0 sack. Joe Nash and Rod Stephens each had 0.5 sack. Carlton Gray added 1 INT in the loss.

One interesting stat from the Raiders was that Anthony Smith probably haunted Rick Mirer’s dreams since he had 4.0 sacks – nearly 1/3 of his total sack production for the 1993 season!

20 Years Ago

Sunday, September 14, 2003

Game Log

You want an old-fashioned a— whooping of the Arizona Cardinals?? Me too! And look at that attendance of 23,127…there are high school football games in Texas that draw better.

Arizona received the opening kickoff and managed one whole play on their drive as the rookie DB tandem of Ken Hamlin and Marcus Trufant combined for a forced fumble and recovery. Three plays later, Matt Hasselbeck ran it in from 2 yards out for the 7-0 lead. In the 2nd Quarter, Arizona’s QB Josh McCown (yes, that one) fumbled and Randall Godfrey returned it 55 yards for a TD and the 14-0 Seattle lead. The defense held on the next drive and Josh Brown tacked on a 37-yard FG to go ahead 17-0. Arizona’s Bill Gramatica (of celebration injury fame) missed a 53-yard FG on the ensuing drive and Seattle capitalized with a 55-yard TD pass from Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson for the 24-0 halftime lead. Hasselbeck and Jackson weren’t satisfied with only one long TD, so they connected again for a 66-yard TD on the first drive of the 3rd Quarter and a 31-0 lead. Shaun Alexander was feeling left out, so he added a 2-yard TD in the 4th Quarter as the Seahawks coasted to a 38-0 thrashing of the Arizona Small Beaks.

Matt Hasselbeck only completed 8/19 passes, but made them count with 175 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Maurice Morris led Seattle with 11 carries for 67 yards. Shaun Alexander chipped in 51 yards and 1 TD on 13 carries. Darrell Jackson made the most of his 3 catches with 133 yards and 2 TDs.

The Seahawks defense forced 6 (!!) turnovers, including 4 INTs. Reggie Tongue had 2 of them, with Ken Hamlin and Chad Brown accounting for the rest. Speaking of Hamlin, the rookie balled out with 8 tackles, 1 INT, and 1 FF. Chike Okeafor had 1.0 sack and 1 FF. Norman Hand also added 1.0 sack. Marcus Trufant and Randall Godfrey each had a fumble recovery, with Godfrey taking his to the house for a score.

10 Years Ago

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Game Log

The Seahawks play a lot of weird games in the Pete Carroll era, we’re well aware of that. This was another one of those. In a highly anticipated Sunday Night Football matchup, Seattle faced off against hated NFC West rival San Francisco with Seahawks Legend Shaun Alexander raising the 12th Man flag. The 1st Quarter was scoreless, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth writing about. There was a phantom whistle which led to the 49ers blocking a Jon Ryan punt that I honestly didn’t remember until looking back for this article. Thankfully, the Seahawks defense punched back as Earl Thomas picked off Colin Kaepernick in the shadow of the goal line to end the scoring threat. Russell Wilson threw his own interception on the next drive, but it was as good as a punt on 3rd and 13 to put SF back at their own 24 yard line. The teams traded punts until the next bizarre occurrence of the game…the lightning delay. THIS one I remembered, as the game was paused for nearly an hour due to lightning in the area.

Both teams came back out and finished the 1st Quarter without much of note. Jon Ryan pinned the 49ers deep in their own territory early in the 2nd Quarter and Seattle was rewarded a few plays later when Bruce Miller incurred a holding penalty in the end zone for a safety and the 2-0 Seahawks lead. The Seattle offense stalled on the next drive and failed on a 4th down attempt in SF territory. The Seahawks defense had their back as strip-sack artist Cliff Avril was up to his old tricks on Kaepernick with KJ Wright recovering the fumble. Seattle got the ball to the 12 (good number) yard line, but couldn’t progress further, settling for a Steven Hauschka 30-yard FG and the 5-0 lead. That was the score at halftime, but the Seahawks took the 2nd half kickoff right down the field and Marshawn Lynch bowled through defenders for a 14-yard rushing TD and the 12-0 lead. The 49ers drove down to the Seahawks 3 yard line, but the defense held them to a 21-yard Phil Dawson FG. Seattle had a classic 6-minute drive on their next possession, punctuated by a Marshawn Lynch 7-yard receiving TD. You might remember this one, as he was left all alone and stopped for a second before strolling into the end zone.

Let’s relive that great moment here, shall we?

Ahhh, feels good!

Richard Sherman picked off Kaepernick on the next drive, but Seattle couldn’t do anything with the prime field position and settled for a 37-yard Hauschka FG and the 22-3 lead. The 49ers had a decent drive going into Seahawks territory, but the defense forced a turnover on downs. Seattle had another classic drive where they actually lost yards with consecutive holding calls and were forced to punt. Good thing Kaepernick was still in the giving mood and Kam Chancellor was happy to oblige with his own INT which he returned to the doorstep of the goal line. Beast Mode punched it in on the next play for his 3rd TD of the game and the 29-3 lead. Seattle wasn’t done sticking it to the 49ers, as there was a fumble on the ensuing kickoff ruled down by contact that Pete Carroll challenged and won, giving them the ball right back. They ran out the final 4:15 seconds for a memorable 29-3 divisional win.

Russell Wilson did his best “2003 Matt Hasselbeck vs the Cardinals” impression with only 8 completions on 19 passes for 142 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Marshawn Lynch was the clear offensive star of the game with 28 carries for 98 yards and 2 rushing TDs to go along with 3 catches for 37 yards and 1 receiving TD. Hope you had him on your fantasy team. Doug Baldwin was the leading receiver with only 1 catch, but it went for 51 yards.

The Seahawks defense was on one in this game, forcing 5 turnovers. The L.O.B. was ¾ represented in the INT column with picks from Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, and Richard Sherman. Cliff Avril had 1.0 sack and 1 FF. KJ Wright had 6 tackles, 1.0 sack, and 1 FR. Heath Farwell accounted for the other FF on special teams. Michael Bennett added 1.0 sack in the satisfying victory.