Seattle Stays Oh-Fer-Erickson Seattle Falls 14-10 To Chargers, Starts New Era 0-2

In the end, one is left to wonder not why the Seattle Seahawks narrowly lost this game, but how they got so close at all.

San Diego dropped Seattle 14-10 Sunday in front of 54,420 at Jack Murphy Stadium.

The score would indicate a good defensive effort by the Seahawks.

But the stats show that they gave up 397 yards of offense and allowed Natrone Means to rush for 115 yards and Tony Martin to pull down 13 catches for 163 yards.

And four times during the game’s final 17 minutes, the Chargers got away with throwing the same pattern - the slant-in - for completions on third-and-long situations.

Or, one could assume that since San Diego got no sacks and the Hawks had several opportunities to put up the game-winning points, that the offense had a good day.

Not exactly.

This team features what is supposed to be a state-of-the-art passing attack, but got only 127 yards through the air.

San Diego ran 20 more plays than Seattle - 72 to 52 - and controlled the time of possession by nearly 9 minutes.

Still, Seattle could have upset the defending AFC champs with a few plays at the right time.

“We had a chance to win the game,” Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said. “But we just didn’t do it at the end.”

The loss, to the defending AFC champions, leaves the Hawks 0-2 with Cincinnati scheduled to visit the Kingdome Sunday.

And although Erickson credited his team for not giving up the sort of big plays that doomed them to defeat in the opener against Kansas City, there were certainly a number of critical plays that decided the outcome of this contest.

Twice, quarterback Rick Mirer threw into coverage and ended up with interceptions that precluded what might have been crucial Seahawk scores.

The first time came in the second period from the San Diego 13.

On the preceding possession, Mirer had thrown a beautiful scoring pass to rookie tight end Christian Fauria.

But this time, three Chargers had Fauria surrounded and Rodney Harrison picked it off at the 4-yard line to snuff a drive that should have produced at least a field goal.

“It was a case of trying to hard to jam one in there,” Mirer conceded.

The second interception doomed the Hawks’ final drive as Mirer tried going to Brian Blades deep. But two Chargers were on Blades and Harrison came down with it again at the Charger 15.

“It was a play-action and we were hoping the safety would come down on it and he didn’t,” Erickson said.

On one possession in the third period, the Hawks scored two touchdowns and got only three points out of it.

Mirer ran a draw from the Charger 9 and seemed to push the ball across the plane of the goal line, but officials ruled that he had downed his knee at the 1.

“That was a bad call, I was in,” Mirer claimed. “The problem was there was no official there to see it.”

So, the Hawks regrouped and handed it off to Chris Warren, who scored again. Flag. Delay of game.

“(The play) was a little late coming in and we were supposed to have some motion and we didn’t get it; there’s was some confusion,” Mirer said.

Instead of getting the touchdown that would have, as it turned out, been enough to ensure at least a tie, the Hawks settled for a 23- yard Todd Peterson field goal.

The final determining play was actually one in a series that apparently was a fine effort by the Chargers to pinpoint and exploit a Seahawk defensive weakness.

With 1:51 left, there was still plenty of time for Seattle to drive for the game-winning score if they could stop San Diego on third- and-7.

But on another precisely timed pattern, San Diego’s Stan Humphries connected with Martin on a simple slant-in for the first down.

“That was driving me crazy,” Seahawk safety Eugene Robinson said. “Every time we looked up, it seemed, they were hitting that slant pass.”

“It’s the nature of the game that they’re going to complete some things,” said cornerback Carlton Gray. “If he gets the ball off clean and out of his hand quick, it’s tough to stop.”

San Diego’s scores came on a 5-yard Humphries-to-Martin pass on the game’s first series, and on a welltimed Humphries-to- Ronnie Harmon 15-yarder early in the fourth quarter.

“We got our running game going early and we were able to mix it up,” Humphries said. “The offense still isn’t clicking like it should. A win is a win, but we have to get better to stay competitive.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo Graphic: Chargers, 14, Hawks 10