Seahawks Survive Test Seattle Rides Redskins’ Errors To 24-14 Victory And 3-0 Start

The offensive coordinator talked the head coach out of passing the football. The defense impersonated escape artists the entire game.

The end result was as expected, leaving the entertainment value in the unusual way the Seattle Seahawks arrived at a 24-14 win over Washington in front of 63,336 in the Kingdome Sunday.

Seattle was badly outgained, its passing game malfunctioned and it still won - and fairly easily at that.

“Stats are stats,” Seattle coach Dennis Erickson said. “What’s on the scoreboard is what’s on the scoreboard. That’s what it’s all about as far as we’re concerned.”

The Seahawks moved to 3-0 for the first time since 1986 by making timely plays and, when the situation called for it, letting the winless Redskins self-destruct.

Seattle expanded its margin of error by scoring on the opening kickoff as Steve Broussard went 90 yards untouched. It was perhaps the game’s most important play because the Redskins dominated the rest of the half everywhere but on the scoreboard. Washington more than doubled Seattle in yardage (227-112) and first downs (14-6), yet the Seahawks led 10-7.

The Redskins did all the things necessary to keep their points to a minimum. They dropped passes, missed two field goals and Trent Green was intercepted by Jay Bellamy at the Seahawks’ 18.

And then Washington got pounded. The Seahawks met their first serious challenge this season and responded with a dominating third quarter, scoring twice to go on top 24-7.

As they did last week, the Sea hawks handed the ball to Ricky Watters, who became more punishing as the game progressed. Erickson admitted to becoming antsy in the first half when Watters was being bottled up by the Redskins.

“I wanted to throw it every down,” Erickson said. “Those guys upstairs didn’t panic. They wanted to stay with the run, so I let them.”

Watters rewarded offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski’s patience. Watters collected his second straight 100-yard game, ending with 136 yards on 24 carries.

Still, it took Seattle’s opportunistic defense to set the stage for Watters. Linebacker Darrin Smith intercepted a pass after intended receiver Larry Bowie slipped, giving the Seahawks possession at Washington’s 19. From the 13, Watters swept right and followed crushing blocks by Joey Galloway, Mack Strong and Howard Ballard into the end zone. Galloway erased the outside containment with a crack-back block, but paid for it with a sprained ankle. He didn’t return, but could be ready for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh.

Strong added a block on the perimeter and Ballard, the 11-year veteran whose aching knees are seemingly held together by kite string, sunk his paws into Darrell Green and drove the backpedaling cornerback from the 10-yard line into the end zone.

“They have pretty good runners,” Washington coach Norv Turner said, “and they have a helluva offensive line.”

Seattle went 73 yards on its next series, fueled by Watters, even when he wasn’t getting the ball. First, he ran 33 yards on third-and-3. Then at the Redskins’ 21, Watters was a decoy as quarterback Warren Moon rolled right and found Mike Pritchard open in the end zone.

“Because of all the flow we had with the running game, they were really taking off trying to pursue Ricky,” said Moon, who passed for just 141 yards and was stung by numerous drops by his receivers. “So we felt naked bootleg was a good call at the time.”

Washington responded with more yardage and turnovers. Safety Darryl Williams dislodged the ball from Terry Allen and Bellamy recovered at Seattle’s 11. That was the Redskins’ third and final turnover.

Seattle’s defense held on downs twice in the fourth quarter before allowing a meaningless TD with 31 seconds remaining.

Green passed for 383 yards and Washington finished with 465 total yards against a Seahawks defense that was without linebacker Chad Brown and end Phillip Daniels for significant portions of the game. Both suffered concussions and could return for Pittsburgh.

“It felt like we were out there a long time,” Smith said. “They would get a couple big plays on us every now and then. They can get all the yards they want, if they’re not scoring.”

Which is exactly what happened.

Seahawks 24, Redskins 14

Washington 7 0 0 7 - 14

Seattle 7 3 14 0 - 24

FIRST QUARTER

Sea-Broussard 90 kickoff return (Peterson kick), 14:45. Seattle 7, Washington 0.

Was-Westbrook 36 pass from T.Green (Akers kick), 6:09. Drive: 7 plays, 68 yards, 3:23. Key plays: Allen 20 run; Green 20 pass to Alexander. Washington 7, Seattle 7.

SECOND QUARTER

Sea-FG Peterson 32, 1:11. Drive: 8 plays, 47 yards, 2:44. Key play: Watters 19 run. Seattle 10, Washington 7.

THIRD QUARTER

Sea-Watters 13 run (Peterson kick), 12:38. Drive: 2 plays, 19 yards, 1:32. Key play: Moon 11 pass to Fauria. Seattle 17, Washington 7.

Sea-Pritchard 21 pass from Moon (Peterson kick), 8:12. Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 3:08. Key play: Watters 33 run to Redskins 33. Seattle 24, Washington 7.

FOURTH QUARTER

Was-Westbrook 26 pass from T.Green (Akers kick), :31. Drive: 4 plays, 61 yards, 1:28. Key plays: T.Green 15 pass to Sheppard; T.Green 12 pass to Sheppard. Seattle 24, Washington 14.

A-63,336.

Was Sea First DOWNS 27 16 Rushing 4 6 Passing 20 9 Penalty 3 1 THIRD DOWN EFF 4-15 5-15 FOURTH DOWN EFF 0-2 0-1 TOTAL NET YARDS 465 299 Total Plays 78 66 Avg Gain 6.0 4.5 NET YARDS RUSHING 96 163 Rushes 21 32 Avg per rush 4.6 5.1 NET YARDS PASSING 369 136 Sacked-Yds lost 3-14 1-5 Gross-Yds passing 383 141 Completed-Att. 27-54 16-33 Had Intercepted 2 0 Yards-Pass Play 6.5 4.0 KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB 3-0-0 5-1-0 PUNTS-Avg. 5-43.0 7-45.6 Punts blocked 0 0 FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 0-0 TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE 90 119 Punts Returns 3-3 1-1 Kickoffs Returns 5-87 2-108 Interceptions 0-00 2-10 PENALTIES-Yds 6-40 7-71 FUMBLES-Lost 2-1 0-0 TIME OF POSSESSION 28:25 3 1:35

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Washington, Allen 20-92, Bowie 1-4. Seattle, Watters 24-136, T.Green 6-26, Strong 1-2, Moon 1-(minus 1).

PASSING-Washington, T.Green 27-54-2-383. Seattle, Moon 16-33-0-141.

RECEIVING-Washington, Westbrook 7-132, Sheppard 5-69, Mitchell 5-40, Asher 4-74, Bowie 2-18, Connell 2-16, Thomas 1-23, Allen 1-11. Seattle, Watters 6-45, Pritchard 3-47, Fauria 3-18, McKnight 2-26, Galloway 1-5, A.Green 1-0.

PUNT RETURNS-Washington, Mitchell 3-3. Seattle, Galloway 1-1.

KICKOFF RETURNS-Washington, Mitchell 5-87. Seattle, Broussard 2-108.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS-Washington, Patton 7-4-0, De.Smith 4-3-0, Stubblefield 6-0-0, Dishman 5-1-0, Barber 4-1-0, Kinney 3-2-0, Evans 4-0-0, Campbell 3-0-0, Wilkinson 2-1-, Harvey 1-2-0, Boutte 2-0-0, Lang 1-1-0, Pounds 2-1-, D.Green 1-0-0, Jones 1-0-0, Alexander 1-0-0, Connell 1-0-0, Kalu 1-0-0, Raymer 1-0-0, Westbrook 1-0-0. Seattle, Logan 8-6-1, D.Williams 7-3-0, Springs 7-1-0, Da.Smith 6-1-0, W.Williams 6-1-0, C.Brown 4-3-, Collins 3-2-, Daniels 2-0-0, Salemua 2-0-0, Sinclair 2-0-1, Kennedy 1-1-0, Thomas 2-2-0, Adams 1-0-0, Bellamy 2-0-0, LaBounty 1-0-0, R.Brown 1-0-0, Joseph 1-1-0, Wilson 1-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS-Seattle, Da.Smith 1-7, Bellamy 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-Washington, Akers 48 (WR), 49 (WR). Seattle, Peterson 52 (S).

Time: 3:15.