Hawks Answer Few Questions In Final Tuneup

You know, of course, that the NFL exhibition season must die.

These games are primarily designed to provide another opportunity for owners to fleece fans out of full-price tickets.

The argument for their survival is that they are a chance for teams to sort out personnel issues before the commencement of the regular season.

And, in what has to be viewed as an extremely successful exhibition season (3-1 record) for the Seattle Seahawks, they clearly answered some of those questions.

But some others were raised, and some situations might be as unsettled as they were when camp opened.

First, for all the talk about the progress of quarterback Rick Mirer, he seemed to struggle Friday in the Hawks’ 20-3 win over San Francisco.

After three solid starts, Mirer regressed with just seven completions in 17 attempts for 55 yards with an interception. And the Hawks managed only a field goal during his half of action.

The story out of the Hawks’ camp is that he’s more comfortable with the offense, that he’s more adept at identifying where to throw the ball, that he’s delivering it quicker.

Perhaps. But it’s still not getting to the receiver. Several times, he just missed an open man - not misidentifying the target, but physically failing to connect.

Hawks coach Dennis Erickson mitigated the statistics with the suggestion that Mirer was under heavy pressure and that he threw well given the circumstances.

Fact is, the team gained only 84 yards in the first half with Mirer in control.

His backup, John Friesz, didn’t have such sterling stats, either (5 for 10 for 77 yards), but two passes were dropped and, most important, he moved the team. His 18-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl in the third period - delicately dropped over the defender while scrambling to his right - was the best pass of the night.

You can make all kinds of arguments, that the Niners had in their second defensive unit, or that game circumstances were somehow different, but, actually, the team moved and scored, which it didn’t with Mirer.

I don’t get paid Erickson’s million a year, and I don’t face the pressure he faces in his job, and I don’t pretend to have even a fraction of his knowledge about the game.

But if I got to make the call on the starting quarterback next week at San Diego, Friesz would be in the lineup.

Aside from quibbling over that point, and discounting several injuries, Friday’s game has to be seen as another strong step for a team with high expectations.

Coming out of last year, the team’s primary concern had to be how to find a way to improve its pass rush.

In 16 games, the Hawks had managed a meager 28 sacks. Only two teams in the league were more feeble. Opposing quarterbacks would retreat to pass, survey the field, file their nails, answer a few pieces of fan mail, and finally, without pressure, pass the ball.

Not so Friday night as defensive tackle Sam Adams continued to play the way he was expected to as a first-round draft choice out of Texas A&M.

Initially, it looked as if Cortez Kennedy had changed his number again, to 98, but that was actually Adams slicing through the line to repeatedly bollix up the San Francisco offense.

One time, he simply bulldozed center Jesse Sapolu 5 yards back into the quarterback. Sapolu, don’t forget, is a two-time Pro Bowl player.

Adams also batted down a pass, had a sack and made four tackles. And the man who had been viewed by some as an overweight underachiever was the most impressive defender on the field.

“Sam is playing the way we hoped he would play,” Erickson said.

The Hawks finished with four sacks in the first half against the San Francisco starting line, as Adams, Kennedy, Antonio Edwards and Michael Sinclair all harried quarterback Steve Young.

“It was like all of a sudden there was this mass of humanity being shoved back at the quarterback,” Niners coach George Seifert lamented.

Consider this a major, major development for a Seahawks team that struggled mightily in this area a year ago.

As usual, it’s faulty logic to make too much out of a exhibition season game, to treat it as if it actually counted.

But, if nothing else, it piqued the appetite for next week’s season-opener.