This Week in Seahawks History: Poor Jim Plunkett

This will be a weekly article series throughout the season looking back on what happened for the Seattle Seahawks 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago this week. We’ve got a perfect 3-0 record to look at this week with a bye sprinkled in!

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40 Years Ago

Sunday, October 16, 1983

Game Log

Hey, look who’s on the other sideline for the Los Angeles Raiders…it’s future Seahawks coach Tom Flores! The Raiders scored first when Todd Christensen caught a 19-yard TD pass from RB Marcus Allen who, surprisingly, threw 3 TD passes during the 1983 season. Seattle knotted the score at 7-7 with a 1-yard rushing TD by Dan Doornink. LA scored all 10 points in the 2nd Quarter with a 32-yard FG from Chris Bahr followed by Christensen’s second receiving TD – this one on a 12-yard pass from Jim Plunkett to put the Raiders up 17-7 at halftime. The 3rd Quarter started off with 17 straight points from the Seahawks behind an 18-yard rushing TD from Jim Zorn, a 75-yard punt return for a TD by Paul Johns, and a chip-shot 22-yard FG from Norm Johnson. The Raiders pulled closer with a 42-yard FG from Bahr. They got even closer with a safety when the ball was knocked out of Zorn’s hand up into the air, caught by a Seattle OL in their own endzone, where he was tackled. Weird play but the Seahawks were only ahead 24-22 late in the 3rd Quarter. Seattle wanted a defensive TD to go along with their special teams score and received just that when Shelton Robinson returned a fumble 9 yards for a TD in the 4th Quarter to put the Seahawks ahead 31-22. Curt Warner added an insurance TD on a 6-yard run to extend the lead to 38-22. Turns out that score was pretty important because the Raiders stormed back with consecutive passing TDs by Marc Wilson – Marcus Allen caught the first one from 1 yard out and Todd Christensen hauled in a 22-yarder for his 3rd receiving TD of the day. That was as close as Los Angeles would get as Seattle sent their fans home happy with a 38-36 victory.

I can’t believe this is accurate, but Seattle had 2 (!!) net passing yards and were outgained by LA 382-153 total yards. Jim Zorn was 4/16 for 13 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. At least he had 36 yards and 1 TD rushing. Curt Warner had 22 carries for 75 yards and 1 TD. Dan Doornink had 8 yards and 1 TD on his 4 carries. It was a battle between Charle Young and David Hughes for the leading receiver with Young’s 10 yards just edging out Hughes’ 9 yards. Doornink added -6 yards receiving and Zorn lost 11 yards on a sack – by Howie Long if you’re interested – to give us the 2 net passing yards!

The Seahawks defense went a little crazy on the stat sheet in this game. Dave Brown, Kenny Easley, and Kerry Justin each picked off Jim Plunkett. Seattle registered 8 (!!) sacks – all against Jim Plunkett. Jacob Green had 3.5 sacks, Joe Nash had 2.0 sacks, Jeff Bryant had 1.5 sacks, and Michael Jackson pitched in with 1.0 sack.

30 Years Ago

*Bye Week #1*

1993 record at this point: 3-2

20 Years Ago

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Game Log

The 1983 Seahawks played against a future coach this week, so why not point out the 2003 team welcoming (?) back former head coach Dennis Erickson!

The 49ers got the ball first and drove to Seattle’s red zone before lining up for a 38-yard Owen Pochman FG…which was no good! Matt Hasselbeck led the Seahawks offense down the field and finished the drive with a 15-yard TD pass to Itula Mili to put Seattle ahead 7-0. The Seattle defense forced a three-and-out, giving the ball right back to their offense. Shaun Alexander was the main man on the ensuing drive, but Hasselbeck was sacked on 3rd and goal from the 2 yard line so Josh Brown was called in to nail the 27-yard FG, extending the Seahawks lead to 10-0. After three consecutive drives that ended in punts, Seattle’s offense took over again midway through the 2nd Quarter and wasted no time working their way into 49ers territory again. Mack Strong finished the drive with a 21-yard TD run as Seattle took a commanding 17-0 lead. Both teams traded punts again, and SF was able to cobble together a FG drive before half as Owen Pochman was good from 42 yards out to make the score 17-3 at halftime.

The Seahawks couldn’t gain any traction on their first drive of the 2nd half, punting the ball over to the 49ers who moved the ball right down the field and into the endzone with a 6-yard rushing TD by Garrison Hearst. Just like that, the score was 17-10. Both teams punted on their next drive, and Seattle took over on offense with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter. Two plays later, Hasselbeck was intercepted by Tony Parrish at the Seahawks 34 yard line. SF turned that field position into another TD as Jeff Garcia ran it in from 2 yards away. Thankfully, Pochman missed the extra point so Seattle still led at 17-16. The Seahawks next drive ground to a halt again and they were forced to punt. The 49ers drove down inside the Seahawks 15 yard line, but were pushed outside the red zone by a sack and penalty, settling for an 33-yard FG from Pochman. Seattle got the ball back with about 8 minutes left in the game, down 19-17. Hasselbeck and Alexander combined to finally get the offense going again, but they couldn’t finish with a TD. Instead, Josh Brown nailed a 37-yard FG as the Seahawks went back up 20-19. SF had about 3 minutes left to try and win the game, but Garrison Hearst coughed up the ball on a hit from Chad Brown. Rookie safety Ken Hamlin recovered the ball near midfield at the two-minute warning. SF still had all three timeouts, so Seattle needed a first down to ice the game away. Facing 3rd and 9, Hasselbeck found Koren Robinson for 18 yards. Alexander added a 12-yard run on the next play, and the game was over with Seattle coming out on top 20-19.

Matt Hasselbeck was 16/27 for 168 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Shaun Alexander had 22 carries for 77 yards. Mack Strong had 3 carries for 26 yards and 1 TD. Darrell Jackson had 5 catches for 55 yards against his future team. Itula Mili had 1 catch for 15 yards and 1 TD.

Seattle’s defense was pretty active in this game. Anthony Simmons had 10 tackles, 1.0 sack, and 1 TFL. Chad Brown was right behind him with 8 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1 TFL, and 1 FF. Chike Okeafor and John Randle also had 1.0 sack each.

10 Years Ago

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Game Log

Coming off their first loss of the season, the 2013 Seahawks looked to get right against the Tennessee Titans at the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field.

The game started with consecutive punts from Tennessee and Seattle, respectively. On their second drive of the game, the Titans (led by Fitzmagic) started at their own 7 yard line and managed to make their way near the Seahawks red zone before scoring on a Rob Bironas 38-yard FG. M-m-m-my Bironas! Down 3-0, Seattle took over on offense and gained one whole first down before punting it back to TEN. Ryan Fitzpatrick was picked off by Earl Thomas on the first play, but Seattle couldn’t do anything with the gift and punted back to the Titans. Seattle’s defense held up again to give the ball back to the offense midway through the 2nd Quarter. Finally, the offense woke up and they embarked on an almost 7-minute drive, punctuated by a 1-yard rushing TD from Marshawn Lynch on 4th and goal from the 1.

Ready for some weirdness? On the kickoff, Stephen Hauschka got dusted and had to go to the locker room to be evaluated for a possible concussion. We’ll get back to this. The Titans got near midfield but lined up to punt. TEN’s punter Brett Kern dropped the snap and botched the whole thing, setting the Seahawks up nicely. The Seahawks drove to the Titans 4 yard line and spiked the ball with 2 seconds left. They lined up for a FG attempt…without their kicker since Hauschka was in the locker room. Things got weird again. Jon Ryan lined up to attempt his first career FG with Chris Maragos as the holder. The snap was good but Maragos dropped it, tried to make a play, and fumbled. Of course, the Titans scooped up the ball and returned it 77 yards for a TD and the 10-7 lead at halftime. What the hell?

The Seahawks got the ball after halftime and drove to midfield before Sidney Rice fumbled. Things were not going well, but the defense stepped up and stopped the Titans. Seattle put together a long FG drive after that with Hauschka back in to nail a 31-yarder to tie the game at 10-10. Seattle’s defense held up once again to give the ball back to the offense at the beginning of the 4th Quarter. More weirdness as Beast Mode was, well, a beast for most of the drive until he fumbled near the Tennessee goal line which was recovered by Russell Wilson. The lost yardage doomed them and Hauschka came in once again for a 29-yard FG to put the Seahawks up 13-10. Richard Sherman picked off Fitzpatrick on the first play of the next drive to set up the offense at the Seahawks 41 yard line. The offense was on a roll, and Marshawn made up for his former gaffe with a 3-yard TD to extend the Seahawks lead to 20-10. The Titans had a sustained drive, finishing with a Bironas 25-yard FG with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Seattle got lucky with a defensive penalty on 3rd down and they were able to finish the game in the wonderful victory formation.

Seattle’s offense outgained the Titans by almost 200 yards. Russell Wilson was 23/31 for 257 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. He also rushed the ball 10 times for 61 yards. Seattle leaned on Marshawn Lynch in this one as he was both the leading rusher and receiver with 21 carries for 77 yards and 2 TDs on the ground to go along with 4 catches for 78 yards. Doug Baldwin chipped in 4 catches for 48 yards.

Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman each had 1 INT. Michael Bennett had 1.0 sack. Chris Clemons and Jordan Hill each had 0.5 sack in the hard-fought victory.