Hawks Put Bye Week To Good Use

In years past, the Seattle Seahawks tended to respond to bye weeks by hanging out a “Gone fishin”’ sign.

Sure, some of the Seahawks worked to improve their games. At the local country clubs.

This time around, the bye week will look more like a minicamp, with practices scheduled Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

“We can get back to some basic things we need to work on, technique things, that’s basically what we’re trying to do,” Hawks coach Dennis Erickson said Monday. “(That’s important) particularly where we’re at; we’re still making mistakes, mental mistakes, technique mistakes, so it’s a week to improve on both sides of the ball.”

The Seahawks won their first game Sunday, 24-21 over Cincinnati, and have next Sunday off before playing host to Denver in the Kingdome on Oct. 1.

But the Broncos will not be of much concern for a few days.

“In this bye week, Wednesday and Thursday, we’re going to go against ourselves, our offense against our defense, just like it’s training camp,” Erickson said. “There’s going to be no work against Denver at all. Friday, we’ll introduce Denver to them.”

Linebacker Terry Wooden was one Seahawk who would rather just keep playing, now that the team has remembered how to win.

“I’d prefer to have another game instead of a bye week because we have got something good going and you would like to keep the ball rolling,” Wooden said. “We’ve got a pretty good taste in our mouths right now, and we’d like to keep playing.”

Fans of the fans

Although only 39,492 were in the Kingdome Sunday, the Seahawks appreciated their enthusiasm.

The noise they produced forced one Cincinnati false start and caused the Bengals to back away from scrimmage several times.

“The people coming to the game now are the true Seahawks fans,” Wooden said. “They’re the ones who are sticking by us; they’re the ones who will be rewarded. When we get this thing turned around, it will be all the more sweeter for them because they stuck with us through all the adversity.”

This was the second-smallest non-strike crowd. But the number doesn’t matter, according to cornerback Carlton Gray.

“It’s not so much the size of the crowd, but what kind of crowd it is,” Gray said. “I’d rather have 48 or 50,000 real Seahawks fans than 60,000 fair-weather fans. The real fans get behind you and pump you up, the others just sit there and stare.”

“Well, they finally had something to cheer about,” Erickson said. “You could really notice it. There’s no question it’s a factor. I can’t imagine what it’s like with 60,000 in there - it must be deafening.

“It’s up to us to be successful enough to get them in there to watch us play.”

We’re No. 29

The Hawks improved from 30th in the league in defense to 29th by “limiting” the Bengals to 401 yards.

New Orleans takes over the cellar with a 406.3 average yield to Seattle’s 405.7.

As viewed by the Seahawks staff, this constitutes improvement.

“I liked what I saw defensively,” Erickson said. “Particularly at the corners. We were more aggressive. We got up in their face, jammed them and did some better things.”

Defensive coordinator Greg McMackin noted Monday that the Hawks had 31 hurries of Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake.

“And for the second week, (the defense) gave up only 14 points,” McMackin said. “Our goal is 17 points, but you’d always like to hold somebody scoreless.”

Newsy stuff

Running back Chris Warren’s 109-yard output took him back up to near the top of the AFC rushing charts. With 221 yards in three games, he trails only San Diego’s Natrone Means (297 yards).

By completing 21 of 30 passes with two TDs and one interception, quarterback Rick Mirer upped his QB rating from 49.8 to 67.8.

The three lowest-rated AFC QBs have ties to Washington: Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe (New England) at 53.3; Pullman High’s Will Furrer (Houston) 48.1; and University of Washington’s Mark Brunell (Jacksonville) 39.2.

On the injury front, safety Tony Covington will be out an indefinite length of time with a broken bone in his hand and a severe ankle sprain.

Defensive end Antonio Edwards’ injured knee was expected to be recovered by the Denver game, but Erickson said that is now unlikely.

Also, Ray Roberts, recovering from ankle surgery, should be ready for the Denver game.

In an effort to crank up the pass rush, Erickson said he is going to use the week to look at Wooden at a rush end in pass situations.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo