Seahawks Give Eagles 26-14 Loss It’s Perfect Day For Seattle To Pull An Upset

Consider this a “given” Sunday.

The folks in the NFL talk about them all the time, about how on any given Sunday even the most downtrodden underdog can pull off the stunning upset.

This was one of them, as the Seattle Seahawks, who lost to the lowly New York Jets last week, played with both inspiration and efficiency in a convincing 26-14 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles came into the game with an 8-4 record - second-best in the NFC and had won seven of their previous eight games.

Theories varied on just how the Hawks turned this into a given Sunday, but Eagles tackle Barrett Brooks may have summed it up best: “The Seahawks played a perfect game and we didn’t.”

Well, not nearly perfect. But by comparison to last week’s dreary effort, it only seemed perfect.

“It boils down to not turning the football over and making mistakes,” said Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson, who had seen his team compile the worst turnover-takeaway ratio in the NFL.

Sunday, though, the Hawks did not commit a major miscue and improved to 6-7 through a number of surprising developments.

The Hawks converted 10 of 18 third-down situations, even though quarterback Rick Mirer has had the worst third-down stats in the league most of the season.

The Hawks outgained the Eagles 167-69 on the ground - behind Chris Warren’s 94 rushing yards - although Philadelphia was the No. 2 rushing team in the NFL.

Hawks kicker Todd Peterson, a first-year free agent, set a personal record with four field goals (47, 35, 37 and 45 yards), while the Eagles’ Gary Anderson, long considered one of the game’s most reliable kickers, missed his only try (32 yards).

Even the smallish crowd of 39,893 showed a level of enthusiasm that has been absent in recent weeks as this victory provided a sense of redemption that, for the Seahawks, was sweet, sweet, sweet.

“It was a huge win for us,” safety Eugene Robinson said. “It puts us right back in the thick of things. Maybe we can be one of those teams that can slip into the playoffs. Last week was extremely frustrating; this week we have some redemption. This is what we’re capable of doing.”

As long as they maintain custody of the football.

“We held on to the ball this week and when our offense holds on to the ball, we can beat anybody,” said rookie receiver Joey Galloway, who pulled in seven passes for 68 yards.

Alert special teams play led, indirectly, to the Hawks’ first score as reserve receiver Ronnie Harris downed a Rick Tuten punt at the Philly 1. Three incomplete passes later, the Eagles punted it away to Seattle, which had to drive only 40 yards for its first score - a 5-yard Warren run off left tackle.

Mirer played with even more skill the next possession, completing two passes to Galloway for 30 yards and scrambling another 17 yards for a first down deep in Eagles territory.

On third-and-11 at the 12, though, Mirer made his best play, taking off on a quarterback draw as the Philly defense parted in front of him. At the 5, Eagles safety Greg Jackson flung himself into Mirer’s left thigh, but Mirer powered through it into the end zone.

It was a score that was particularly gratifying to Mirer, who had undergone extreme criticism for inconsistent play in recent weeks.

“That was sort of personal; I needed to get that one in,” said Mirer, who connected on 17 of 30 passes for 169 yards and no interceptions.

Mirer benefited from emphasizing the shorter routes Sunday, and also scrambled for 40 yards.

“I seem to focus better when I’m tired and when I get hit rather than trying to be a finesse (player). That’s kind of the way I always played. That drive was a good one; a real confidence-builder.”

Quarterback Rodney Peete, with back Ricky Watters supplying most of the yards, led the Eagles to the Hawks 10, but a penalty pushed them back, stalled the march and led to no points when Anderson missed.

The Seahawks couldn’t turn Philadelphia away the next time, though, as the first half wound down. Peete completed passes of 16 yards to Chris T. Jones and 27 yards to Calvin Williams to set up Watters’ 1-yard scoring run with 1:14 left in the half.

A kickoff return by Steve Broussard to the Hawks 41 gave Seattle a chance to tack on a few more points before halftime.

The key play, here, was not Peterson’s 47-yard field goal that gave Seattle a 17-7 lead, but the great effort by receiver Brian Blades, who fought desperately to get out of bounds to stop the clock at :02 to make the kick possible.

“That was a big play for us to get a little bit of momentum going into halftime after they scored,” Erickson said.

The Eagles dared to get back into it with more than 6 minutes left in the third period as they tried to convert a fourth-and-2 on their own 45, but Peete threw incomplete and Peterson made them pay with another field goal that gave Seattle a 20-7 lead.

That cushion wouldn’t hold up long, however, as a roughing-thepasser penalty against the Seahawks’ Sam Adams helped prolong an Eagles drive - capped by a 3-yard Watters’ score - that trimmed the Hawks’ lead to 20-14 early in the final period.

But the Hawks defense held and Peterson tacked on two more field goals to put the game out of reach.

Erickson was not interested in hearing of the extremely slim playoff hopes.

“I really don’t have any comment on anything like that except that we’ve got to play Denver next (Sunday) and try to get to .500. We’ve been trying to get to this .500 deal for a while and we didn’t do it two weeks ago and we have a chance to do it again. That’s the biggest thing.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Hawks 26, Eagles 14