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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

What A Rush! Seahawks Are No. 1 On Chris Warren’s Shoulders, Seattle Has Become Top Running Team In Nfl

Dave Boling Staff Writer

Chuck Knox strolled through the Kingdome press box Sunday before the Seattle Seahawks’ game against Philadelphia.

No, he didn’t stop, put on the head set and call down some running plays - although it might have appeared so down on the field.

But Knox, whose preference for the rushing attack earned him the nickname “Ground Chuck” during his Seahawks days, whose concept of a passing attack consisted of the toss-sweep right and pitch-left, would be proud of his old team in at least one regard:

The Seahawks lead the National Football League in rushing at 146 yards a game - almost 2 yards a game more than the Dallas Cowboys average.

This clearly was not expected to develop when the Hawks hired Dennis Erickson away from the University of Miami on the strength of his reputation as a passing-game guru.

“We’re just doing what we’ve got to to win,” Erickson said Monday. “That’s what we’ve always done. We’re running the football real well right now, but the better (quarterback Rick Mirer) gets with what we’re doing throwing the ball, we’ll get back to throwing it more.”

But the occasional inefficiency with passing is not the only reason for the reliance on the run.

“When you have Chris (Warren) back there, it makes a big difference,” Erickson said of the AFC’s top rusher, who has 1,133 yards to his credit. “We’d like to be balanced offensively. The best years we’ve had offensively have been when we had a good balance.”

In contrast to the Knox years, though, the Hawks’ play calling has not been so predictable.

On Sunday, for instance, the Hawks’ 28 first-down plays were divided evenly between 14 rushes and 14 passes.

Seattle was ranked third in rushing last week, but 167 yards on the ground in a 26-14 win over the Eagles allowed the Hawks to jump to the top.

“Wow, that’s pretty sweet,” guard Kevin Mawae said when he heard of the superlative statistic. “You wouldn’t know it by the way we got our (rears) chewed out during films.

“It’s something nice in a way, some recognition, and we don’t get much of that.”

Even Warren lacks a national following, despite his four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

“He’s not a flashy runner like Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith, he’s just a real work horse,” Mawae said of Warren. “You give him the ball and just say ‘get us some yards’ and he does.

“It’s pretty amazing because he’s an elusive back who can make the first guy miss, but then come up on the next guy and just run him over,” Mawae said.

Back Steve Broussard, who played for Erickson at Washington State, said it’s not entirely out of character that the coach would have a good rushing attack despite his aerial reputation.

“That’s the great thing about Coach Erickson, regardless of what he might prefer to do, he’s going to go with what works,” Broussard said. “If the running game is going good, he’s going to stick with it.”

No Gray area here

Erickson gave out three game balls after Sunday’s victory.

A logical offensive choice was kicker Todd Peterson, whose 4-for-4 success in field goals was crucial to the win.

Recognizing a defense that held the No. 2-rated Eagles rushing attack to 69 yards, Erickson gave game balls to tackle Cortez Kennedy and cornerback Carlton Gray.

“Carlton Gray made some big plays for us in clutch situations and Cortez has played well all year long,” Erickson said. “He played the run really well and freed up the linebackers to make tackles.”

Gray broke up a critical fourth-down pass attempt by the Eagles and has continually improved his coverage while picking off four passes this season.

“He’s gotten better and better technique-wise,” Erickson said. “We changed some things on defense (early in the year) and Carlton was not really technically sound, but he understands what we want and is more aware of what’s going on. He’s always had the athletic ability.”

Hawks notes

Rookie receiver Joey Galloway needs just two more receptions to break Steve Largent’s 1976 team rookie record of 54 catches. His seven catches against Philadelphia was a personal season-high.

Galloway is the only player in the NFL to have scored touchdowns this season via catches, rushes and returns. The yardage on his seven touchdowns has averaged 54 yards.

Erickson said he plans to stick with Jeff Blackshear at left guard. Blackshear came on in replacement of starter Matt Joyce in the third quarter of the Eagles game and played well enough to regain the starting position he lost in training camp.

Although they came away plus-1 in turnovers on Sunday, the Hawks still rank last in the NFL at minus-12.

, DataTimes