Broncos Hope Hawks Won’t Wake Up Shanahan Plans To Warn His Players Of Seattle’s Potential
Mike Shanahan believes there’s nothing more dangerous than a seething Seahawk.
His Denver Broncos head to Seattle on Sunday to face a supposedly improved Seahawks squad that was routed 41-3 last week by a New York Jets team just one year removed from a 1-15 season.
Until then, his players expect to get an earful about how talented the Seahawks are, how the Jets’ result was an aberration and how determined the Seahawks will be to prove it.
Shanahan has plenty of evidence to support his claim.
The Seahawks signed two of the top defensive free agents in the off-season, adding linebacker Chad Brown and cornerback Willie Williams, to a solid nucleus. With two of the top six picks in the draft, they got two quality players in cornerback Shawn Springs and offensive tackle Walter Jones.
They were impressive in the preseason, beating Arizona 34-6 and Indianapolis 45-3. They led Cincinnati 24-7 in the fourth quarter before turning the game over to their reserves.
Then came the regular-season opener in the Kingdome and an outcome no one foresaw, with Neil O’Donnell shredding the Seattle defense for five touchdown passes.
“We’re dealing with a very talented football team that played its first game against the Jets and got embarrassed,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “They got a couple of big plays against their defense early - a couple of big passes - and everything started flowing the Jets’ way. The Jets almost played a perfect game.”
Shanahan will remind his Broncos of a humiliating 40-8 loss by the San Francisco 49ers in 1994, when he was an assistant. The 49ers responded with 10 straight victories and a Super Bowl title.
Denver is coming off a 19-3 win over Kansas City in which Terrell Davis ran for 101 yards and a touchdown and Jason Elam kicked four field goals.
Sunday’s game will match Seattle quarterback Warren Moon, 40, and Denver’s John Elway, 37.
Moon moved into the starting spot when John Friesz broke his right thumb in the game against the Jets.
xxxx ON TV Sunday: The Broncos-Seahawks game will be televised live on NBC at 1 p.m.