Krieg to Skansi FTW... 19 Years Ago Today

by Johnny Peel (DKSB) on Nov 11, 2009 1:57 PM PST Comment 21 comments

Today's the anniversary of the greatest moment of Dave Krieg's career, and of the single greatest play in franchise history. Most people remember that game for Derrick Thomas' record-breaking performance, but not us Twelves. At the time I was a snot-nosed 15 year old poppin' my pimples in Richland, WA. My mom let me turn our basement TV room into a "Seahawks Cave" during football season, with posters, banners, newspaper clippings, and so on blanketing the walls.

We were getting ready to move to Kennewick, and that day the realtor was having an open house (yes, my little punk-ass insisted on staying put to watch the Hawks that day rather than, you know, watching the game elsewhere). The whole tribe was packed into the "Seahawks Cave", and when Krieg hit Skansi for the winning TD we all went completely luggage-throwin'-ape-shit. I jumped so high I hit my head on the roof of the basement, and the realtor came running downstairs thinking that we were murdering each other or something... All we could do was scream incoherently and point at the TV. We didn't get any offers on the house that day, obviously.

What are your memories of that insane win at Arrowhead?

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I was 11

and my brother and I were watching the game at home while my Parent were drinking and BBQ’ing. I remember every one going ape shit. I was 11 though, I cared more about the A-team at that age.

"What is it about good sex that makes me have to crap?"

by durteehawk on Nov 11, 2009 2:20 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

This was the moment I became a Seahawks fan

I was 9 years old at the time. My dad would watch Seahawks games and being a little kid, I had a slight awareness of the Seahawks and the NFL for a few years prior to that but I never understood why he or anyone else cared. I kind of felt like I had no reason to care for what felt like someone else’s team. In the mind of a young child: I wasn’t playing for the Seahawks, so why should I care?

Then I saw that play, and I understood.

by kearly on Nov 11, 2009 2:31 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

My favorite Krieg "moment"

was actually the final five games of the 1986 season. We started 5-2, then Knox dumbly benched Krieg for four games after a down game by Krieg in Denver (the refs later admitted that they screwed up on a couple of TDs that should have gone in the Seahawks’ favor—same old story). The Seahawks lost four in a row, dropping to 5-6 with Gale Gilbert taking the snaps. Then Knox recovered his senses and put Krieg back in, and from there on, Krieg was lights-out. We closed out the season 5-0, including huge wins at Dallas (31-14) and at home against the Raiders (37-0) and the Broncos (41-16) to end the regular season. Then the 10-6 Seahawks missed the playoffs and got to watch ol’ Horseface go to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks beat both Super Bowl teams that season, having also beaten the Giants (17-12) in Week 7. So I consider that to be the first year we had a Super Bowl stolen from us. Three cheers for Mudbone.

by dagraham on Nov 11, 2009 2:37 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I couldn't agree more, dagraham

http://davekriegsstrikebeard.blogspot.com/2009/04/ranking-squads-5-1986.html

"I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent." -Don Draper

by Johnny Peel (DKSB) on Nov 11, 2009 2:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Remember, Remember the 'Hawks of November/December (86)

Best. Season. Ever! Ok, second best after the sainted 2005 season, but seriously those final 5 games were the stuff of legend! Things had gotten so bad that season that our local television station (Portland/Vancouver) did not carry the Eagles game. Back then the Eagles were pretty lame competition too, so none of really saw the win as a harbinger of things to come.

The next four games were sheer beauty. I remember waiting for that T-day game with a sense of utter dread (the Cowboys were theoretically good back then) that we were going to get crushed. Well, that feeling quickly turned to elation. And when we pasted the Raiders AND the Broncos (who were still jockeying for good playoff position), that almost made all the frustration and disappointment worth it…. almost.

That team is why I refuse to give up on any Seahawks season until we’re mathematically eliminated. Never. Say. Die!

by Kumar on Nov 11, 2009 9:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So we should never give up because a team that won its final 5 games to reach 10-6 still missed the playoffs?

Seems like a weird example. Although, to be fair, the Seahawks have almost as many razor thin near playoff misses than actual playoff berths. So I guess the options to choose from weren’t exactly sterling.

by kearly on Nov 11, 2009 11:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Funny

My point was more if I’d checked out on the season when we fell to 5-6 I’d have missed 3 of the most glorious of Seahawk victories (Cowboys, Raiders, Broncos) of all time, AND we were in it until the final week of the season when whoever needed to lose didn’t. A few balls bounce a few different directions and we’d have been in and certainly the team no one wanted to face.

by Kumar on Nov 12, 2009 10:59 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Btw I just got the V for vendetta ref

by kearly on Nov 12, 2009 5:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Pete Gross, RIP.

What a great unique voice. sigh.

Bird Law in this country isn't governed by reason.

by whiskey chainsaw on Nov 11, 2009 3:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Gross was awesome

I was 15 when this play took place. Not sure I saw it, I think I was already too pissed.

It is what it is...

by kidder95 on Nov 11, 2009 3:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That offensive lineman behind Kreig looks confident about the chances of their last drive

by Nate Dogg on Nov 11, 2009 3:31 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Wow.

Haven’t seen that clip in forever. Still amazing Krieg got away from Thomas and make that throw.

by Wilder. on Nov 11, 2009 3:34 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

RIP Harry Kalas

by Wilder. on Nov 11, 2009 3:36 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

About eight years from existence.

by BrianL on Nov 11, 2009 3:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Holy crap, you're only eleven?!?

I’m not sure I understood anything more than simple shapes and colors at that age. Then again, I’m not sure I understand anything more than that now either….

by thebyron on Nov 12, 2009 12:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Holy crap I was thinking 1980. and not 1990.

Okay I was…uh…Probably watching a VHS of Sesame Street.

by BrianL on Nov 12, 2009 12:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Dude, I use to live in Richland...haha

If life gives you lemons, keep the receipt

by Bramlet A. on Nov 11, 2009 4:45 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

One of my favorite Hawks moments ever

Even Chiefs fans remember that one still.

"Hey, guess what? Nobody cares who would win in a crazy fantasy fist-fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden." The Monarch

by crushedoptimist on Nov 11, 2009 5:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I keep sending that clip to my friend Big Cheifs Dan's iphone. (obviouse chiefs fan)

he is getting pretty pissed. I love it.

"What is it about good sex that makes me have to crap?"

by durteehawk on Nov 12, 2009 11:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I cheered my ass off on that day

in my mother’s womb.

by aerozeppelin on Nov 11, 2009 9:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Greatest single play? Hmmm.

I love ya DKSB, but I’m not sure I agree. It was a nice play in a game in the middle of a meaningless season. Nobody cared but Seahawk and Chief fans, and the Chief fans had forgotten about it by the time the season was over because they were going to the playoffs and we were staying home.

The greatest single play as far as I’m concerned was the knee taken in Qwest field to end the NFC championship game against the Panthers. The Krieg-to-Skansi play was fun, but it was only necessary because Krieg lost the ball in the end zone a few plays earlier to give the Chiefs the lead.

Same with the win in Miami at the end of the 1983 season. Krieg drove us down the field for the win in Miami, but only after he threw an interception for a touchdown to give Miami the lead.

Krieg then totally imploded the next week vs. the Raiders in the AFC championship game, and threw 3 interceptions in the first half (it was actually 5, but 2 more were called back on penalties) in a game where he completed as many passes to his own team as he did to the opposition and was benched after only 9 attempts. (3-9-12 yards with 3 interceptions)

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198401080rai.htm

Krieg had some good games, but he also had plenty where he absolutely stunk and lost the game all by himself. How many times did we see the trademarked “soapdish” play where Krieg would lose the ball backwards out of his hand when attempting to pass, even when nobody had even touched him?

http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1990/9011270075.asp

I recall a game I witnessed in Mile-High (also in 1990) where I described the “soap dish” play to my girlfriend one minute, only to actually have her witness it the next when Krieg pitched the ball backwards into the endzone for Karl Mecklenberg to fall on for an easy 2 yard TD (we lost that game in OT).

I watched all of Krieg’s career, and I’m sure I booed him as many times as I cheered him. He was the single most frustrating professional athlete I’ve ever watched. One minute he looked like the best QB in the NFL, and the next he looked like he couldn’t start for my high school team. He was hot or cold, and rarely anywhere in between. As a person, I have the greatest respect for him. As the QB for my favorite team I still don’t know what I think of him.

The greatest Seahawks play I ever saw in person took place in an 8-8 season in 1995 in Denver. We were down 20-3 at the half, and the Donkies got the ball first in the 2nd half and Horse-face drove them right down the field to inside our 10. Denver was about to put us away and turn it into a rout. Elway dropped back and got sacked, the ball came out and Antonio Edwards returned it 83 yards for a TD. I jumped up and was yelling my ass off in a completely silent Mile-High stadium as Edwards ran towards me. I’m sure he could hear me yelling.

John Friesz came in to replace Rick Mirer on the next offensive series, and led us back to the win.

I didn’t like KC, but I HATED Denver. I lived in Colorado for 13 years and every year I’d make the trip to Denver to see the Hawks and I think we won twice in Mile High in the 13 years I was there. I have the image burned into my brain, me standing up with my hands over my head yelling at the top of my lungs (with my inflatable Seahawk helmet on and my Seahawk Jacket) with donkey fans planted in their seats with their mouths agape all around me, while Edwards ran 83 yards towards my endzone. It is a glorious memory.

by lordtd on Nov 11, 2009 10:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs