This Week in Seahawks History: ‘Shoeless’ Richard Sherman

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. There’s one particularly famous game from the Super Bowl winning season that will be the featured flashback today.

40 Years Ago

Sunday, October 2, 1983

Game Log

The 1983 Seahawks kick off this article by heading to Cleveland to take on the Browns. Norm Johnson put Seattle up 3-0 with a 24-yard FG in the 1st Quarter. Cleveland tied the game up in the 2nd Quarter with a 40-yard FG from Matt Bahr. Curt Warner scored the first TD of the day on a 1-yard run as the Seahawks went ahead 10-3 in the 3rd Quarter. The Browns pulled within 1 point in the 4th Quarter when Boyce Green caught a 5-yard TD pass from Brian Sipe, but Bahr couldn’t convert the extra point and Cleveland trailed 10-9. Curt Warner scored on another 1-yard TD run to put the Seahawks up 17-9. Seattle’s defense slammed the door when Jacob Green had a pick-six off of Brian Sipe to put Cleveland away for good 24-9.

Seattle’s offense was outgained 259-405 but were bailed out by 4 turnovers by the defense. Jim Zorn was 11/17 for 122 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Curt Warner had 24 carries for 94 yards and 2 TDs. He was also only 4 yards away from being the leading receiver with 5 catches for 28 yards. Byron Walker and Steve Largent added 32 and 30 yards, respectively.

The Seahawks defense allowed a lot of yards, but also made their share of plays when it mattered with 3 INTs and 3 sacks. Jacob Green had 1 INT returned for a TD, Shelton Robinson had 1 INT, and Keith Simpson accounted for the final INT. Kenny Easley, Michael Jackson, and Joe Nash each had 1.0 sack in the victory.

30 Years Ago

Sunday, September 26, 1993

Game Log

The 1993 team is continuing the “Ohio” theme of this article as they played the Bengals in Cincinnati. This will be a shorter recap since the only scoring for the first 3 quarters of the game came courtesy of Seahawks kicker John Kasay with FGs from 32, 35, and 23 yards. Cincy’s kicker Doug Pelfrey was jealous, so he converted a 23-yard FG in the 4th Quarter to cut the Seahawks lead to one score at 9-3. The Bengals then took the lead at 10-9 when Jay Schroeder threw a 21-yard TD pass to Carl Pickens. Seattle’s defense took matters into their own hands in Ohio again when they forced a fumble on Harold Green and recovered it in the endzone for the 16-10 lead. John Kasay salted the game away with his 4th FG of the game, this time from 35 yards out to put the final score at 19-10 as the 1993 Seahawks reached the win total from the 1992 squad after only 4 games.

Rick Mirer was 18/30 for 181 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Chris Warren had 19 carries for 75 yards. Brian Blades had 5 catches for 64 yards. Kelvin Martin added 5 catches of his own for 63 yards.

Eugene Robinson had an INT for the second week in a row. Seattle’s defense had 5 sacks, led by Natu Tuatagaloa with 1.5 sacks. Rufus Porter, Rafael Robinson, and Michael Sinclair each had 1.0 sack. Cortez Kennedy shared the remaining 0.5 sack with Tuatagaloa. Rod Stephens tallied the critical fumble recovery TD.

20 Years Ago

*Bye Week*

2003 record at this point: 3-0

10 Years Ago

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Game Log

Does Matt Schaub throw for more yards against the Seahawks than any other team? It sure feels that way. This one doesn’t start off very pretty but stay for the ending!

After shutting down the Texans on the opening drive, the Seahawks answered with a FG drive as Steven Hauschka was nails from 48 yards away to give Seattle the 3-0 lead. Houston took the next drive into the Seahawks redzone before Schaub was picked off by Earl Thomas. That was basically the last highlight for the Seahawks for a while as they lost yards on the drive and punted back to Houston. The Texans wasted no time, embarking on a 90-yard scoring drive finished by a 31-yard TD pass from Schaub to Garrett Graham. Seattle punted on the next drive and the Texans only drove 80 yards this time as Schaub threw another TD pass, this one a 5-yard toss to Arian Foster. Marshawn Lynch fumbled on the first play of the next drive, and it seemed like the wheels were about to fall off. Seattle’s defense held Houston to a 22-yard Randy Bullock FG to make the score 17-3 Texans. The Seahawks offense didn’t help themselves with another punt on the next drive. Houston got the ball at their own 9 yard line with just over 1:00 remaining in the half. They proceeded to drive down for a 42-yard Bullock FG and the 20-3 lead at the half.

The first half sucked, but maybe the Seahawks are a second half team? Not right away, at least as they received the ball and punted once again. After a series of dueling punts from both teams, Houston got the ball back at their own 17 yard line with about 5:00 left in the 3rd Quarter. Malcolm Smith forced a fumble on Ben Tate and Bobby Wagner recovered the ball. Russell Wilson threw 3 straight incompletions and the Seahawks had to settle for a 39-yard Hauschka FG to cut the deficit to 2 scores at 20-6. Seattle forced a punt on the next drive and the offense took over at their own 2 right at the end of the 3rd Quarter. Facing 3rd and 7 from their own 5, Wilson threw up a prayer to Doug Baldwin that he couldn’t quite haul in…or could he? Seattle challenged the incomplete ruling, and the play was overturned giving Seattle a first down. That was the spark the offense needed as they drove all the way down the field and Beast Mode punched in a 3-yard rushing TD to make it a one possession game at 20-13. Seattle’s defense forced a three-and-out and it looked like the momentum was turning. Then, Russ was picked off by Johnathan Joseph near midfield. With only 5:13 remaining, Houston took over at their own 43 yard line looking to salt the game away. They picked up a first down behind Arian Foster and moved into Seattle territory.

Then, one of the most iconic plays of the 2013 season happened. Schaub took the snap and looked to his right for Owen Daniels. Richard Sherman read it all the way, jumped the route, intercepted the pass, lost a shoe, and took it 58 yards for the house to tie the game at 20-20.

Let’s check out that beautiful play, shall we?

Houston drove to midfield on the ensuing drive, but Seattle’s defense held firm and the game headed to overtime. Houston got the ball first and punted. Seattle followed suit. Houston’s second drive of OT got near midfield before stalling again. Golden Tate had a 32-yard punt return and Seattle took over at their own 32 yard line with under 7:00 left. The Seahawks drove down to the Texans 27 yard line largely behind the legs of Lynch and Wilson with a Houston penalty sprinkled in for good measure. Hauschka nailed the 45-yard game-winning FG as the Seahawks escaped with an improbable and highly memorable victory!

Seattle’s offense was outgained by the Schaub-led Texans by over 200 (!!) yards. Russell Wilson was 12/23 for 123 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, and was sacked 5 times. He also rushed the ball 10 times for 77 yards. Marshawn Lynch had 17 carries for 98 yards and a TD. Lynch was also the leading receiver with 3 catches for 45 yards. Doug Baldwin added 39 yards on 3 catches.

Richard Sherman had the game-altering INT returned for a TD. Earl Thomas had 1 INT and 1 FF. The Seahawks got 1.0 sack apiece from Chris Clemons, Clinton McDonald, Tony McDaniel, and Cliff Avril. Malcolm Smith also recorded a FF, and it marked the first time in franchise history the Seahawks started out a season 4-0.