This Week in Seahawks History: Two overtime thrillers with two very different endings

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. Only two games to talk about this time because of bye weeks for both the 1993 and 2013 teams. Don’t fret, it will be worth your while as both went into overtime and combined for 184 total points…that’s a lot of scoring!

40 Years Ago

Sunday, November 27, 1983

Game Log

The calendar hadn’t even hit December yet in 1983, but the Seattle Seahawks were playing their final AFC West game for the season against the Kansas City Chiefs. As you can see from the box score, this was a barnburner in the Kingdome!

Although, it didn’t necessarily start out that way. Kansas City got on the board first when Henry Marshall caught an 11-yard TD pass from Bill Kenney for the 7-0 lead. Seattle answered with a 28-yard rushing TD by Curt Warner to tie the game at 7-7. Things would really open up from the 2nd Quarter through the end of the game. The Chiefs scored 14 unanswered points behind a 17-yard passing TD from Kenney to Stephone Paige and a 1-yard rushing TD from Kenney. Byron Walker pulled Seattle closer at 21-14 with an 18-yard receiving TD from Dave Krieg. Former Seahawks Legend Theotis Brown (who was released by the Seahawks in October 1983 and was signed by the Chiefs) scored on a 13-yard run to extend Kansas City’s lead to 28-14 at halftime. Seattle came out hot in the 3rd Quarter with a 17-0 scoring run of their own to pull ahead 31-28. These points came courtesy of a Dan Doornink 27-yard TD catch from Dave Krieg, a 1-yard rushing TD by Curt Warner, and a 42-yard FG from Norm Johnson. Then, it was Kansas City’s turn to go on another scoring streak with another Kenney 1-yard TD run followed by an 18-yard passing TD from Kenney to Carlos Carson as the Chiefs regained the lead at 42-31 early in the 4th Quarter. The Seahawks answered with their own 14-point outburst to wrestle the lead back at 45-42 behind a 1-yard rushing TD from Curt Warner and a 14-yard passing TD from Dave Krieg to Paul Johns. Kansas City pulled ahead again at 48-45 when Theotis Brown stuck it to his former team, catching a 21-yard TD pass from Bill Kenney. The extra point try was no good, leaving Seattle needing only a FG to tie. That turned out to be really handy, as Norm Johnson sent the game into overtime with a 42-yard FG to tie the game at 48-48. The FG was so nice Seattle decided to do it twice as Johnson nailed a game-winning 42-yard FG in OT to give the Seahawks a thrilling 51-48 home victory over the Chiefs in the back-and-forth affair!

This game was “defense optional” as the two teams combined for 962 yards of offense. Dave Krieg was 16/31 for 280 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, and was sacked 6 times by his future team. Curt Warner was a problem for the Chiefs with 32 carries for a then-franchise record 207 yards and 3 TDs. Byron Walker had 4 catches for 75 yards and 1 TD. Steve Largent had 4 catches for 66 yards. Paul Johns and Dan Doornink both picked up receiving TDs for Seattle.

As previously mentioned, there wasn’t much to write home about with this defensive performance. Jeff Bryant and Bruce Sholtz shared the only sack with 0.5 each. At least Seattle won the game!

30 Years Ago

*Bye Week #2 – remember that the 1993 schedule was strange*

1993 record at this point: 5-5

20 Years Ago

Sunday, November 23, 2003

Game Log

Well, I let the cat out of the bag earlier and already ruined the surprise of having two overtime games. This one doesn’t turn out as well for our Seahawks, but let’s see how they got there.

Even more so than the 1983 game, this one got off to a slow start considering the total amount of points scored. Neither team got anything going in the 1st Quarter as each team punted three times. The Seahawks finally got things moving in the early 2nd Quarter and put together a scoring drive with Josh Brown booting a 45-yard FG to put Seattle up 3-0. That was followed by three more punts, with Seattle regaining control of the ball about halfway through the 2nd Quarter. On 3rd and 11 from their own 20, Matt Hasselbeck coughed up the ball on a sack by Terrell Suggs who recovered the fumble and returned it to the 3 yard line. Seattle’s defense stonewalled Baltimore and forced them to kick a 21-yard FG from Matt Stover to tie the game at 3-3. The Seahawks got the ball and worked all the way down the field for a 2-yard passing TD from Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson with 23 seconds left in the half. Surely, that’s not enough time for another score? Wrong! On the Ravens first play following the kickoff, Chester Taylor was hit by Anthony Simmons and fumbled. Ken Lucas picked up the loose ball and returned it to the Baltimore 10 yard line with 8 seconds left. Hasselbeck found Future Ravens Coaching Legend Bobby Engram on the very next play for the TD and in a flash the Seahawks were up 17-3 heading into the locker room.

The Ravens responded after halftime by driving all the way down the field and Anthony Wright – starting in place of an injured Kyle Boller – threw a 13-yard TD pass to Marcus Robinson to cut the Seahawks lead to 17-10. Seattle wasted no time getting that score back as Matt Hasselbeck threw a 38-yard TD to Koren Robinson a few plays later to extend the lead to 24-10. The Ravens punted on their next drive, and Seattle got 3 more points courtesy of a 46-yard FG by Josh Brown. Baltimore clawed (or would that be “caw-ed”?) closer on their next drive when Anthony Wright found his buddy Marcus Robinson for their 2nd passing TD connection of the day, this one a 50-yarder. Matt Hasselbeck said “anything you can do, I can do better” on their next drive as he connected with Darrell Jackson for their second TD of the game on a massive 80-yard score to make the score 34-17. Anthony Wright answered by flipping the triple bird to Hasselbeck with a 25-yard TD pass to who else but Marcus Robinson and the score was 34-24. Hasselbeck ordered a double-double on the ensuing drive by finding Bobby Engram for a 5-yard passing TD, giving him 2 TD passes to both Jackson and Engram to put Seattle up 41-24 very early in the 4th Quarter. Whew. Both teams traded punts and the Ravens took over with about 10 minutes left in the game. They gained one first down before stalling and punting.

Then, things got weird. Dave Zastudil’s punt was muffed by Ken Lucas and recovered by the Ravens at the Seattle 35 yard line. On the very next play, Jamal Lewis fumbled when he was hit by Randall Godfrey and Damien Robinson recovered the ball for the Seahawks. Seattle didn’t gain any traction and lined up to punt, up 41-24 with about 7 minutes left in the game.

Things stayed weird as Tom Rouen’s punt was blocked and returned for a TD by some guy named Ed Reed. No reason to get worried yet, Seattle got the ball back with a 10 point lead and were moving the ball well.

Want more weirdness? Here you go. On 1st and 10 from the Baltimore 31, the eminently reliable Mack Strong was hit by Ray Lewis and fumbled the ball, which Lewis recovered. Seattle’s defense made the Ravens work for it, but Anthony Wright eventually found – guess who – Marcus freakin’ Robinson for his 4th TD catch of the game from 9 yards out and it was 41-38 Seahawks with 1:17 left in the game. Baltimore lined up for the onside kick, and special teams ace Alex Bannister recovered the ball for Seattle. Should be easy enough to ice the game, right?

There is no end to the weirdness in this game. For the full recap, read this article, but the TLDR version is that the game clock should have been restarted, forcing the Ravens to use their third timeout earlier. Instead, when Hasselbeck was stuffed on 4th and 1, the Ravens took over with about 40 seconds left as opposed to the 15ish seconds that should’ve been on the clock. That proved to be pivotal as the Ravens drove within FG range and Matt Stover sent the game into overtime with a 40-yard FG. Seattle won the toss and made it near midfield, but ultimately had to punt the ball to Baltimore. The Ravens drove the ball down the field, converting a 3rd and 15 when Wright found “you-know-who” for a 19-yard gain. Matt Stover eventually gave the final crotch punch to Seattle with the game-winning 42-yard FG to put the Seahawks away 44-41 in OT.

In a strange series of coincidences, both teams had exactly 426 total yards, had 6 sacks, and were 7/18 on third down. Matt Hasselbeck was 23/41 for 333 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT. Shaun Alexander had 22 carries for 72 yards. Darrell Jackson had 7 catches for 146 yards and 2 TDs. Koren Robinson had 4 catches for 64 yards and 1 TD. Bobby Engram had 4 catches for 46 yards and 2 TDs.

This may be hard to believe, but this was the best game of Anthony Wright’s career with 319 yards and 4 TDs. What may be a little surprising is that it was only the 7th highest receiving total in a game for Marcus Robinson, although the 4 TDs were a career high. The 131 yards were nearly 1/3 of his receiving yardage total for the 2003 season.

John Randle led Seattle with 2.0 sacks. Chike Okeafor, Lamar King, Rocky Bernard, and Brandon Mitchell each had 1.0 sack. Anthony Simmons and Randall Godfrey each had 1 FF in the gut-wrenching loss.

10 Years Ago

*Bye Week*

2013 record at this point: 10-1