New Orchestra, Same Old Tunes K.C.’S Bono Steps Into Spotlight To Outshine Hawks

The Seattle Seahawks hired Dennis Erickson to fill the Kingdome with big plays.

That certainly happened in Sunday’s opener as the Seahawks gave up one big play after another to the Kansas City Chiefs, who rolled to a 34-10 victory.

It was one of the worst defeats in the league on the opening Sunday - in front of the lowest home-opener attendance (47,564) in franchise history.

And the lingering image of Erickson’s debut will be of the legions of disappointed fans racing to the exits in the third period.

“Obviously, it was a disappointment, something I didn’t think would ever happen, but it did,” Erickson said. “It wasn’t any one thing, we just played poorly in every place.

“One thing I learned was that you can’t squander opportunities in the NFL. And you can’t give up big plays.”

Touchdown passes from Steve Bono to Willie Davis (60 yards and 40 yards), and a 99-yard kickoff return by Tamarick Vanover accounted for the most damaging plays.

“You give up 21 points like that, you’ve got a lot of problems,” Erickson said.

Exactly.

“It was a shock to be blown out like this because talent-wise, we should be able to compete with them,” said Hawk linebacker Winston Moss. “It comes down to learning how to compete; learning that when a team gets you on the ropes you have to fight back.”

Bono, a career backup, completed 18 of 23 for 278 yards and three touchdowns, while Davis scored twice and picked up 155 yards on six receptions. Asked to find a bright spot, Erickson came up empty. “It’s pretty hard to find any today.”

Offensively, the Hawks moved the ball early, as quarterback Rick Mirer completed 10 of his first 15 passes.

Erickson’s first trick was to come out in a formation the Hawks haven’t shown, with Steve Broussard at tailback and Pro Bowl rusher Chris Warren at wide receiver.

It worked initially as the Hawks moved to the Chief 32. Todd Peterson made the first Seahawk drive of the season something of a success with a 49-yard field goal.

A brain cramp in the secondary then hinted of things to come, though, as Bono and Davis scored a ridiculously easy touchdown.

Davis broke past Carlton Gray and Hawk safety Robert Blackmon failed to get over to help as Davis strolled in from 60 yards out.

Erickson then went to the Hawks’ “Purple” offense - a four- receiver set - and Mirer completed four straight passes, the last to Galloway on what looked like a possible score.

But as the rookie blew past Chief James Hasty, Hasty reached from behind and forced a fumble. Brian Washington recovered at the Kansas City 10.

So, instead of going in for a touchdown, the Hawks saw K.C. turn the opportunity into a 46-yard Lin Elliott field goal.

“I was trying to make a move, I got a little off balance and let the ball get away from me,” Galloway said. “(Hasty) came back and made a great play.”

Davis abused Gray one-one-one with 6:40 left in the first half, flying down the right sideline. Gray appeared to have good position to intercept the Bono pass, but Davis leaped over Gray, reeled in the ball and fell into the end zone. Chiefs 17-3.

“He had good coverage on me, but I saw the ball coming and I just went up and got it over him,” Davis said. “It’s something I’ve been working on a lot.”

The Hawks seemed to be making a rally in the last minute of the first half, but Brian Blades tipped a high pass that was intercepted by Hasty. The Chiefs moved it close enough in the final nine seconds to get a 49-yarder from Elliott to make it an embarrassing 20-3 at intermission.

The Seahawk staff might choose to try a different halftime speech.

The one they used Sunday didn’t work very well, as Kansas City’s Tamarick Vanover came out and sliced through Seahawk coverage for a 99-yard touchdown return on the second- half kickoff.

While at Florida State, Vanover once had a TD on a kickoff return against Erickson’s Miami team.

Another K.C. drive midway through the third period, which ended in a 16-yard scoring pass from Bono to Lake Dawson, sent most of the fans heading for the exits as the score ballooned to 34-3.

One Seattle bright spot arose late in the fourth quarter when John Friesz replaced Mirer and engineered a touchdown drive, finding Blades for a 21-yard score.

Statistically, Mirer finished 19-for37 for 209 yards, while Blades pulled in eight balls for 107 yards.

Seattle ended up gaining a respectable 342 yards. Quite a few for a mere 10 points.

“It wasn’t a matter of them dominating us as it was us hurting ourselves,” Broussard said. “Every time we got in scoring position, we hurt ourselves.”

Chiefs 34, Seahawks 10 Kansas City 7 13 14 0 - 34 Seattle 3 0 0 7 - 10

First quarter

Sea-FG Peterson 49, 4:04.

KC-Davis 60 pass from Bono (Elliott kick), 11:00.

Second quarter

KC-FG Elliott 46, 4:35.

KC-Davis 40 pass from Bono (Elliott kick), 8:20.

KC-FG Elliott 49, 15:00.

Third quarter

KC-Vanover 99 kickoff return (Elliott kick), :17.

KC-Dawson 16 pass from Bono (Elliott kick), 8:42.

Fourth quarter

Sea-Fauria 21 pass from Friesz (Peterson kick), 12:08.

A-54,062.

KC Sea First downs 17 20 Rushes-yards 33-141 18-078 Passing 278 264 Punt Returns 6-63 2-10 Kickoff Returns 3-128 5-114 Interceptions Ret. 1-25 0-00 Comp-Att-Int 18-23-0 24-46-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 0-00 3-22 Punts 5-39 7-45 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 4-25 6-45 Time of Possession 32:39 27:21

Individual statistics RUSHING-Kansas City, Hill 15-109, Allen 4-19, Anders 5-10, Thompson 4-7, Richardson 2-3, Gannon 2-2, Dawson 1-minus 9. Seattle, Warren 14-56, Broussard 4-22.

PASSING-Kansas City, Bono 18-23—0-278. Seattle, Mirer 19-37-1-209, Friesz 5-9-0-77.

RECEIVING-Kansas City, W.Davis 6-155, Dawson 3-29, Slaughter 2-34, Anders 2-21, Walker 2-11, Cash 1-13, Allen 1-11, Hughes 1-4. Seattle, Blades 8-107, Galloway 4-69, Warren 4-16, Fauria 3-37, Thomas 1-23, Broussard 1-11, Strong 1-11, Proehl 1-9, Crumpler 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo