It’s A Mirer Miracle Embattled Quarterback Rallies Seahawks For Their First 1996 Win
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Rick Mirer uttered the phrase “Stay with me, stay with me” at what seemed to be the worst possible time.
Mirer rifled a fourth-quarter interception directly into the hands of Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Hardy Nickerson. Seattle coach Dennis Erickson had no plans of benching him, but Mirer had to convince his teammates that he merited their confidence.
And in the end, because Mirer didn’t lose the faith of his teammates, the Seahawks won their first game. Mirer completed 12 of his final 17 passes to drive Seattle to two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 17-13, come-from-behind victory Sunday in Houlihan Stadium.
“I always tell Rick don’t worry about what’s going on in the stands, don’t worry about what’s in the media,” wide receiver Brian Blades said, “because the players here, we believe in you. As long as you believe in yourself, you can get the job done.”
What Mirer did Sunday was rise from the near dead. Dating back to last year, he had gone roughly 17 quarters without a touchdown pass. Against the Bucs, he overthrew more than he completed and was trailing, 10-3, when he didn’t see Nickerson in the middle of the field.
Erickson decided the Monday after the loss to the Denver Broncos two weeks ago that he was staying with Mirer as his quarterback the remainder of the season. That interception, coupled with a 17-yard return by Nickerson and an additional 15-yard personal foul penalty against center Kevin Mawae, handed the Bucs an easy 28-yard field goal and a 13-3 lead.
“I had patience,” Erickson said, “but I was running out of it.”
With 9:20 remaining in the game, Mirer grew as a leader. “Stay with me, stay with me” he kept saying in the huddle. Three consecutive completions drove the Seahawks from their 17 to the Bucs’ 44.
“We all stood with him,” said back-up halfback Lamar Smith, who scored the game winning 14-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left. “We had no doubt.”
There certainly were more doubters than the 30,212 watching the winless teams. Bucs defenders certainly didn’t believe in Mirer. Even though he went to a 2-minute offense during the final 9 minutes, the defense played the run, not the pass.
Worse than anything, the Bucs ignored Blades, whom Mirer ignored most of the day. Blades caught eight passes for 78 yards during the final two drives, including a 5-yard touchdown pass with 3 minutes remaining.
In three-receiver sets, Blades lines up in the slot and usually goes inside. During the final 9 minutes, Blades kept running “out” patterns toward the sideline. The Bucs left a linebacker, Lonnie Martz, on him to cover the middle of the field while Blades broke outside for five catches.
Even worse, Martz cramped up and couldn’t finish the final 5 minutes, so they inserted Jeff Gooch, an undrafted rookie linebacker.
“They’re trying to cover Mr. Blades with a linebacker, and there’s not too many backers that can do that.” said Mirer, who finished with 20 completions in 37 attempts for 209 yards and his first touchdown pass of the season.
“Brian made some nice plays in some crucial situations.”
Like the 9-yard completion on fourth-and-3 that took the Seahawks to the Bucs’ 28. How about the 16-yarder to the right sideline on second down? His 5-yard touchdown pass was an out pass again to the right sideline.
“We tried to do those plays in the first half, but we just couldn’t get him the ball,” offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said.
Poor decisions by the Bucs gave the Seahawks a chance to win. First, Bucs special teams coach Joe Marciano was duped when Seahawks special team coach Dave Arnold inserted his onside kickoff personnel. Confused, Marciano called a time out. Minutes later, Seahawks kicker Todd Peterson boomed the kickoff to the Bucs 2, and Nilo Silvan returned it to the 13.
After that, the Bucs had a series of bad play calls, bad timeout calls, and then some passes that should have been caught, but weren’t.
“Rick Mirer didn’t win the game, we lost it,” Tampa defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. “We let them hang around like vultures. We’ve mastered how to lose.”
But the Seahawks “Stay With Me” quarterback had to overcome two major hurdles, one of them Sapp. On a third-and-10 from the Bucs’ 39, deep threat Joey Galloway was temporarily sidelined with a sore ankle. Enter Ronnie Harris, who caught a 21-yard slant pass that was covered loosely.
“We ran that slant about five times, but on that one, Ronnie beat the guy to the middle,” Mirer said. “That’s the one thing. The guys coming into the huddle (like Harris, Ricky Proehl and Lamar Smith), we have a lot of confidence in them. That slant is a route if we hit him in stride, he could take it all the way.”
Sapp blew by guard Ed Cunningham on the next play for a 9-yard sack. The Seahawks called their last timeout with 1:55 left. Upon his return, Mirer hit Blades three more times to move the Seahawks to the Bucs’ 14 with 48 second left.
Finally, they gave the Bucs what they were looking for - a running play. Smith broke one tackle at the 5-yard line on a draw play for a touchdown to end the Seahawks three-game losing streak.
“It probably means more than just going out and winning a boring game,” Mirer said. “It helps believing in each other. I wasn’t in fear of coming out of the game. I just said to John Friesz (during the fourth quarter), ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been hot.”’ Timing is everything.
Notes
Seattle and Tampa Bay, which entered the NFL as expansion mates in 1976, have met only four times, with the Seahawks winning each game. It was the first meeting between the teams in Tampa since their inaugural season … The crowd of 30,212 was the smallest for a Bucs home game since the 1991 season finale against Indianapolis. That matchup of 2-13 teams drew 28,043.