Mile-High Headache Harmless Seahawks Hand Broncos Afc West Title
How ‘bout that Rick Tuten?
After giving the Seattle punter his due for averaging a club-record 55.2 yards on five punts Sunday in the thin air at Mile High Stadium, recounting how the Broncos rubbed a 34-7 loss in the scowling and disbelieving faces of the Seahawks quickly becomes a dissertation on Denver dominance.
It wasn’t so much that the Seahawks quit, it was more that they never got started.
“We got our rear end kicked, every way we could get it kicked,” Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said after his team had slipped to 5-8 with its third straight loss - each by a more lop-sided score than the one before it. “They played well. We didn’t. And that’s the story.”
The Seahawks were searching for answers in the locker room, just as they had on the field all afternoon.
Ironically, it was the Broncos who could have come out flat. They already had clinched a playoff spot and it was just a matter of time before they wrapped up the AFC West title and secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
By flattening the Seahawks, the Broncos did both with one impressive display. At 12-1, they are division champions for the first time since 1991. Because Pittsburgh and Buffalo each lost Sunday, the AFC’s road to the Super Bowl will run through Denver.
“I was proud of the effort of our football team today,” said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who, like Erickson, is in his second season. “We talked this week about trying to play a complete game - offense, defense and special teams.”
The talk in Seattle last week, at least in public, centered around playing for pride and being professionals. Behind closed doors, the Seahawks talked about the importance of stopping the Broncos’ running game and running the ball themselves.
As it turned out, the talk was just that.
The Seahawks yielded a season-high 205 rushing yards to the Broncos, including a 106-yard, one-touchdown effort by NFL rushing leader Terrell Davis. The Seahawks, meanwhile, managed only 277 yards in total offense - 105 rushing.
It was a combination that resulted in the Broncos holding ridiculously large bulges in time of possession (41 minutes, 24 seconds to 18:36) and offensive plays (80 to 48). Oh, and the final score, too.
“We knew to have a chance we had to have some three-and-outs and our offense had to sustain some long drives. We didn’t do that,” middle linebacker Dean Wells said. “When that happens against a great offense, you’re going to get beat.”
When the Broncos weren’t running the ball, John Elway and Bill Musgrave were throwing it. Elway’s efforts were expected. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 189 yards, including TD passes to Ed McCaffrey and Shannon Sharpe, and also ran for a score. But when Elway went out for a series in the second quarter with a sore left hamstring and then finally called it an afternoon midway through the fourth quarter, Musgrave completed six of seven passes for 51 yards.
Graphic: Broncos 34 Hawks 7