‘New’ Seahawks Pass Muster Seattle Thumps St. Louis 34-20 To Inaugurate The Erickson Era

Understanding that the final score of preseason NFL games is entirely irrelevant, the Seattle Seahawks’ 34-20 win over the Los Angel … oops … St. Louis Rams Saturday night pales behind a more shocking development.

For the first time in what seems like, oh, a thousand Seahawks games, the first offensive play was not a tentative dive into the middle of the line.

Perhaps fittingly, considering his reputation, the very first play of the first game of the coach Dennis Erickson era began with a pass. And nothing could be more reflective of the manner in which the Seahawks’ approach has been altered.

Rick Mirer’s pass dropped incomplete to running back Chris Warren, who was probably too shocked to catch it, having been trained for years to settle for a 2-yard gain on plunges up the middle on the first play.

The trend continued throughout the game, when the Seahawks attempted this new thing, the forward pass, in situations other than third-down-and-long - as has been the custom for years.

As a result, the Seahawks put up 20 first-half points - a rarity in its own right - and held on for the win as reserve units battled it out in the second half.

“We made a lot of mistakes, which we expected, but the biggest thing is we played hard,” Erickson said. “We executed fairly well at times, but there’s some things we’ve got to improve on.”

A few of the things a Kingdome crowd of 35,607 should have observed Saturday night:

- On the Hawks’ first defensive possession, second-year tackle Sam Adams overpowered a pair of blockers and smothered Rams quarterback Chris Miller for a 9-yard sack.

Adams, appearing far more energetic than last year, later stripped the ball from Mark Rypien, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Michael Sinclair.

- The Seahawks defense blitzed on almost every nickel situation. The custom has been to drop back in zone coverage.

- Warren was used in a variety of ways, pulling in a 16-yard pass from Mirer after being in motion. At various times he lined up at wide receiver, slot and tailback.

- Rookie top-draft pick Joey Galloway showed his versatility with receptions of 17 and 16 yards, a nifty 15-yard punt return and 12 yards on a reverse. He also, however, muffed a punt that set up Rams field goal.

- Second-year running back Lamar Smith shook free for 32 yards on his first four carries and broke loose for a 56-yarder in the fourth quarter as he looks like a solid backup to Warren. Also, in the third quarter, he slipped unnoticed out of the slot position to pull in a 48-yard touchdown pass from John Friesz. - Corey Harris, replacing injured Nate Odomes at right cornerback, made an athletic interception and runback in the first quarter. Unfortunately, he interfered before he picked it off. An all- conference running back at Vanderbilt, Harris also showed competence at returning kicks.

- Michael Bates, sort of a forgotten receiver, appears ready to return to his impressive special teams form of two years ago, using his speed to make tackles on two first-half kickoffs. He also added a 23-yard kickoff return.

- Friesz, Mirer’s new backup, passed well, but had a great deal of trouble handling the exchanges from Matt Joyce, a guard recently converted to center. The Hawks waived long-time back-up center Joe Tofflemire this week. Somewhere, he must have been chuckling about those snapping difficulties Saturday night.

Friesz threw for 125 yards and two TDs on 7-for-10 passing.

Seahawks receiver Robb Thomas suffered a chip fracture on the middle finger of his right hand. Rams starting quarterback Chris Miller suffered a concussion in the first period and was taken to Providence Hospital for overnight observation.

Seahawks 34, Rams 20

St. Louis 3 7 3 7 - 20 Seattle 10 10 7 7 - 34

First quarter

Sea-Bickett 35 pass interception return (Peterson kick), 6:21.

StL-FG McLaughlin 21, 10:57.

Sea-FG Peterson 43, 14:49.

Second quarter

Sea-FG Peterson 20, 2:55.

Sea-Broussard 4 run (Peterson kick), 11:37.

StL-Bruce 41 pass from Rypien (McLaughlin kick), 13:10.

Third quarter

StL-FG McLaughlin 22, 4:13.

Sea-L. Smith 48 pass from Friesz (Davis kick), 9:24.

Fourth quarter

StL-Ross 19 pass from Maddox (McLaughlin kick), 3:04.

Sea-R. Harris 10 pass from Friesz (Davis kick), 4:08.

A-35,607.

StL Sea First downs 18 17 Rushes-yards 26-93 29-141 Passing 217 223 Punt Returns 4-20 6-28 Kickoff Returns 7-122 5-98 Interceptions Ret. 0-00 3-62 Comp-Att-Int 22-44-3 14-30-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 5-44 0-00 Punts 6-43 6-42 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 5-2 Penalties-Yards 6-40 8-54 Time of Possession 33:56 26:04

RUSHINGSt. Louis, Russell 7-36, Bostic 8-30, J.Bailey 3-15, Gary 4-5, Bruce 1-5, Maddox 2-3, Tremble 1-(minus 1). Seattle, L.Smith 6-95, Johnson 2-17, Galloway 1-12, C.Warren 6-10, Anderson 4-7, Broussard 4-1, Friesz 4-1, Gelbaugh 1-(minus 1), Strong 1-(minus 1).

PASSINGSt. Louis, Maddox 14-23-1-165, Rypien 4-10-0-66, C.Miller 4-9-1-30, Morris 0-2-1-0. Seattle, Mirer 6-15-0-84, Friesz 7-10-0-125, Gelbaugh 1-5-0-14.

RECEIVINGSt. Louis, Ross 5-73, Cook 4-33, Bruce 2-44, O’Bannon 2-34, Hester 2-24, Brantley 2-18, A.Wright 1-17, Bostic 1-5, Gary 1-5, Jackson 1-5, Tremble 1-3. Seattle, McKnight 3-29, L.Smith 2-58, Bates 2-38, Galloway 2-33, R.Harris 2-28, C.Warren 1-16, Strong 1-14, Fauria 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALSNone.

, DataTimes