Allen’s New Toy Hammers Cardinals

Billionaire Paul Allen saw what high-tech money will buy in the NFL on Saturday night.

The co-founder of the Microsoft Corp., hailed as a hero for keeping the Seahawks in town, made his Seattle debut as the team’s owner a successful one when the Seahawks beat Arizona 34-6 in an exhibition game.

Allen watched John Friesz and Warren Moon, Seattle’s top two quarterbacks, get the Seahawks off to a 17-6 halftime lead, although receiver Brian Blades and running back Chris Warren were injured in the first quarter.

Blades was sidelined by a lower back sprain and bruised knee, and Warren injured a rib. Coach Dennis Erickson said neither injury was believed to be serious.

“This team is as good as a lot of the teams I’ve played on,” said Moon, who previously played in Minnesota and Houston. “Now, it’s a matter of attitude.”

Said Erickson: “Today was a great day. We got our first-round draft choices signed and we got a win. It was a great improvement over last week.”

The Seahawks (1-1) got 8-for-12 passing from Friesz, while Moon, the oldest player in the NFL at 40 going into his 20th pro season, completed his first eight passes.

On a fourth-and-1 from the Arizona 2, Moon rolled out to his right on a naked bootleg and found tight end Deems May in the back of the end zone to give Seattle a 14-3 lead with 3:56 left in the second quarter.

Friesz directed the Seahawks to their first touchdown, a 4-yard run by Lamar Smith, in the first minute of the second quarter.

Friesz realizes Moon is good enough to take his starting job away.

“I feel across the board at every position, whoever plays best should start,” he said.

The Seahawks’ Todd Peterson booted a 51-yarder with 1:36 left in the first half.

Friesz, who took the starting job away from Rick Mirer last season, passed for 95 yards, including a 33-yarder to Joey Galloway to set up Seattle’s first touchdown. Moon was 8 for 10 for 67 yards.

Arizona (0-1) got field goals of 36 and 41 yards from Kevin Butler in the first half when the Cardinals used Kent Graham and Stoney Case at quarterback. Graham, the starter, was 4 for 4 for 13 yards, while Case was 9 for 14 for 115 yards.