Spread ‘Em, Seahawks Seattle’s Wide-Open Air Game Produces Season’s First Victory

Thirty-five games into his tenure as Seattle Seahawks coach, Dennis Erickson let his team fulfill the offensive beliefs that propelled him into the NFL. He unleashed the spread. Maybe there is a “Whole New Ballgame” after all.

Working mostly out of a three-receiver set, Warren Moon completed 24 of 38 passes for 270 yards in a 31-3 blowout victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in the RCA Dome. While the local press focused on the controversy over Chris Warren’s rushing attempts, Erickson advised his receivers that he would spread the field with passes.

“We heard him say it, but we never knew it was going to amount to this,” wide receiver Mike Pritchard said. “We were excited. They told us the first play the Colts would give us a certain coverage. Warren said he was coming to me. So it was important to come off to a fast start.”

Moon rifled a 22-yard completion to Pritchard on the Seahawks’ first offensive play and never looked back. He passed the first seven plays in an eight-play 65-yard touchdown drive. That was followed by a nine-play, 80-yard drive in which Moon completed six of seven passes for 67 yards.

Suddenly, the slow-starting Seahawks - 0-2 for the third consecutive year under Erickson - were leading 14-3 on their way to their first victory of the season. Using its simplest game plan in years, the defense sacked Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh eight times and held Indianapolis to a franchise-low 118 yards.

After the game, equipment men Terry Sinclair, Eric Kennedy and Howard Baus distributed “No Fear Seahawk” T-shirts that read “See How We Play; Know How We Win.” The idea, with credit to strength coach Dana LeDuc, was to provide a buzzword for a team that had been lifeless for its first two games.

By going to Erickson’s aggressive college offensive scheme, the Seahawks showed a personality for the first time this season.

“We came out humming the ball, which is kind of what I’ve always done,” Erickson said. “We made that decision last week to come out and throw the ball and set the run off the pass. That’s how we are going to do it.”

The strategy forced Colts defenders to backpedal on their strategy. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson blitzed the first two possessions. Moon burned him for 11 completions in 14 attempts for 136 yards, causing the Colts to fall off into a cautious zone defense.

“Since we’ve been struggling with our offense, we felt like the best way to get it going was to come out and throw the football and then go to the run,” Moon said. “We ran the ball in the second half but that was because we opened it up with the pass.”

Receivers were like kids unleashed with a credit card in a candy store. Joey Galloway, despite double coverage much of the day, caught six passes for 58 yards. Pritchard caught four for 69 yards, including a 22-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass in which he caught cornerback Damon Watts flat-footed on a post pattern.

Sometimes, receivers became almost too aggressive. Brian Blades, playing on a sore knee, tried to slam between two Colts on an 18-yard completion to the Indianapolis 1. Linebacker Stephen Grant and safety Robert Blackmon stopped him, and the collision caused Blades to aggravate the knee injury. It also caused Blackmon to miss some plays with a neck injury.

Still, the Seahawks made a statement: “No Fear: See How We Play; Know How We Win.”

“It remains to be seen if we established our personality in this game, but I think it is a better indication of what we can be (than the two opening losses),” Moon said. “We’ve got to put together a consistency now. We showed some flashes of being able to be dominant. We also showed flashes of being stupid again with the penalties. If we can show consistency and put together another win like this and a couple of others, we can see exactly where we are.”

Erickson admitted after the game that the San Diego Chargers, next Sunday’s opponent in the Kingdome, ill devise schemes to force the Seahawks back to the run. Will they run? Will they pass? At least, Erickson thought he gained a better feel for his team by watching it succeed by gaining 423 yards on 64 plays, a brisk average of 6.6 yards a play.