Climbing Into Contention Seahawks Rout Raiders, Close In On Playoff Berth

Karma debt: repaid in full.

During four seasons of bad bounces, dubious decisions and chronic defeats, the Seattle Seahawks seemed to be professional victims - a team in search of a way to lose.

They almost always found it.

Sunday, though, the Seahawks were flawless - and beneficiaries of every break - in a 44-10 annihilation of the dreaded Oakland Raiders in front of a national cable TV audience.

It left the streaking Seahawks - 8-7 and winners of six of their last seven games - still in playoff contention heading into the final week of the season.

They need a win over Kansas City combined with a final-week loss by Miami, Indianapolis or San Diego to advance to the postseason, a possibility that would astoundingly reverse a campaign that saw them left for dead at 2-6 at midseason.

“It was just a great win from the start to the end,” Hawks coach Dennis Erickson said of the dominance of a Raiders team that was a 3-point favorite and had dealt Seattle a 34-14 thrashing in October.

“It was a great performance on offense, a great performance on defense and it was just a big win at a critical time for us, and the crowd was unbelievable. We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

They should be, considering they’ve scored 65 points in the last five periods of play, adding 21 from the fourth quarter of last week’s Denver upset.

More than 66,000 tickets were sold, and the 58,428 on hand provided the Seahawks with considerable spark.

“It was so loud and the energy level was so high,” Hawks cornerback Corey Harris said. “This is the first time I’ve seen this since I’ve been here; it’s really easy to get caught up in the crowd.”

Erickson, obviously moved by great emotion following the win, punched the air with his fists on the way off the field and joined in the celebratory shouts of the fans as he headed toward the locker room.

The effort was so stunning, in fact, that he was unable to pinpoint one element of the game that stood above the others. No wonder, consider:

Quarterback John Friesz, starting in place of injured Rick Mirer, played error-free while completing 16 of 25 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown to Joey Galloway.

Back Chris Warren rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries to set team records for 100-yard games in a season (8) and total touchdowns (15).

The defense held Oakland to only three points until the game was well out of reach, while the offense scored more points than it has in a game since a 1985 win over San Diego.

Perhaps galvanized by the atmosphere in the Kingdome, the charged-up Seahawks needed only a 46-yard kickoff return by Steve Broussard and four plays from scrimmage to get on the board.

A 17-yard strike from Friesz to Galloway set up a 15-yard scoring burst by Warren.

Warren took a deep hand-off from Friesz, and on the way into the end zone, appeared to be “tagged” by nearly every Raiders defender - but none could bring him down.

Second verse, same as the first.

After a quick stop of the Raiders, the Hawks put together an almost identical encore of the first score, with Friesz hitting Galloway on a gorgeous 30-yarder to put Warren in position to score from 14 yards out.

This was another power up the middle through a hole created when center Jim Sweeney blew Jerry Ball off the ball.

That was Warren’s 14th rushing TD of the season, matching a team record held by David Sims and Derrick Fenner.

“I got up today and I was ready to play,” Warren said. “I couldn’t sleep, I was up every two hours because I was so ready to play today’s game.”

Oakland chipped away at the deficit with a 42-yard field goal from University of Washington grad Jeff Jaeger. Timely pass deflections by Carlton Gray and Selwyn Jones kept the damage from being worse, though.

Broussard again put the Hawks in great position as he returned the subsequent kickoff 55 yards to the Raider 39.

Broussard’s returns, in fact, helped set the tone for the entire game, Erickson said.

Seattle capitalized on that field position with a 39-yard Todd Peterson field goal to take the lead to 17-3.

The Hawks put the issue to rest early in the second quarter on one of the prettiest plays of the season. From the Raiders 43, Friesz sent Galloway deep.

Raiders safety Eddie Anderson, in a two-deep zone, failed to get over in coverage as the fleet Galloway strode into the open. Timed perfectly, Friesz connected with him with a beautifully arching deep ball in the end zone.

“I was a little nervous because I was so open,” said Galloway, who had five catches for 108 yards.

That, almost incredibly, made it 24-3 as the Hawks scored on each of their first four possessions.

Friesz made that 5 for 5 as he led the Hawks on one of their best drives of the year, taking up 7 minutes to go from their own 20 to the Oakland 1. Initially, Erickson gave the O.K. to go for it on fourth-and-goal there, but the play didn’t get in in time, forcing a timeout.

Giving the decision a second look, and seeing that the Hawks were a full yard away from the goal line rather than just the foot he initially thought, Erickson sent on Peterson to kick the 19-yard field goal that made it 27-3 with 2:57 left in the half.

The defense got into the scoring act on the Raiders’ first drive of the second half as linebackers Winston Moss and Terry Wooden stripped the ball from tight end Kerry Cash. After it squirted through the hands of several Seahawks, Harris returned the ball 57 yards for a touchdown to make it 34-3.

“I was just trying to get a hand on the ball and then I had a chance to run,” Harris said. “We practice that in a drill.”

The beating only continued as Warren padded his record-breaking TD total with a stunning 35-yard cutback score in the third. Finding his path blocked to the left, he reversed his field - picking up a block from Friesz - and raced untouched for the score.

Former Washington Husky Billy Joe Hobert, coming on in relief of injured starter Jeff Hostetler, found Tim Brown for a meaningless 80-yard TD in the fourth quarter.

“This is a great feeling,” Erickson said. “This is what we’ve been shooting for. We’ve got to take care of our business on Sunday (at Kansas City). But it’s great to be in a position where we have that opportunity.”

Seahawks 44, Raiders 10

Oakland 3 0 0 7 - 10

Seattle 17 10 14 3 - 44

First quarter

Sea-Warren 15 run (Peterson kick), 2:40.

Sea-Warren 14 run, (Peterson kick), 8:09.

Oak-FG Jaeger 42, 12:03.

Sea-FG Peterson 39, 14:17.

Second quarter

Sea-Galloway 43 pass from Friesz (Peterson kick), 2:10.

Sea-FG Peterson 19, 12:03.

Third quarter

Sea-C.Harris 57 fumble return (Peterson kick), 2:37.

Sea-Warren 35 run (Peterson kick), 10:25.

Fourth quarter

Sea-FG Peterson 38, 1:35.

Oak-Brown 80 pass from Hobert (Jaeger kick), 7:38.

A-58,428.

Oak Sea First downs 15 18 Rushes-yards 32-140 25-119 Passing 182 220 Punt Returns 1-6 5-75 Kickoff Returns 8-137 3-100 Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 18-34-0 16-25-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 3-15 0-0 Punts 8-43 3-51 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1 Penalties-Yards 7-64 2-20 Time of Possession 33:38 26:22

Individual statistics RUSHINGOakland, H.Williams 12-67, Kaufman 14-45, Fenner 5-22, Hobert 1-6. Seattle, Warren 17-105, L.Smith 4-15, Broussard 1-2, Friesz 3-(minus 3).

PASSINGOakland, Hostetler 10-20-0-70, Hobert 8-13-0-127, Hobbs 0-1-0-0. Seattle, Friesz 16-25-0-220.

RECEIVINGOakland, H.Williams 4-20, Brown 3-102, Glover 3-27, Cash 3-10, Ismail 2-15, Jett 1-14, Hobbs 1-6, Kaufman 1-3. Seattle, Blades 6-63, Galloway 5-108, Crumpler 4-47, Warren 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALSNone.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)