This Week in Seahawks History: A double dose of preseason victories over the Chargers

This Week in Seahawks History 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. Let’s get to the second week of August, which includes multiple preseason wins over the same opponent.

40 Years Ago

Friday, August 12, 1983

Game Log

Coming off a loss in the first preseason game, the 1983 Seahawks looked to right the ship against the Green Bay Packers. Sadly, this game also didn’t start out on the right foot as Jim Zorn threw a pick-six to Mike McCoy on the first drive to give Green Bay the early 7-0 lead. The Seahawks answered with 14 straight points behind rushing TDs from Cullen Bryant and Theotis Brown to take a 14-7 lead. Green Bay QB Rich Campbell scored on a 4-yard rushing TD to even the score at 14 all. Seattle took the lead back when David Hughes scooted in from 2 yards out for a 21-7 lead. The Packers tied the score just before halftime when Campbell threw a 6-yard TD pass to John Jefferson. Seattle pitched a shutout in the second half and scored 17 points behind a passing TD from Dave Krieg to Byron Walker and another one on the ground from Hughes. Sandwiched between those was a FG from Norm Johnson to give the Seahawks a 38-21 victory – technically the first win for Chuck Knox as the head coach in Seattle.

Jim Zorn was 10/14 for 134 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Dave Krieg was 6/12 for 115 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. I couldn’t use Ground Chuck last week, but I certainly can this week since the Seahawks rushed 57(!!) times for 243 yards. Eric Lane led the team with 58 yards on 10 carries but didn’t find the endzone. Curt Warner only got 1 carry for 3 yards in this one. Byron Walker caught 3 passes for 71 yards and a TD to lead the receivers.

Kerry Justin picked off his 2nd pass of the preseason and fellow DB Gregg Johnson also had an INT. The Seahawks had 6 sacks in the victory, led by Jacob Green with 2.0.

30 Years Ago

Saturday, August 14, 1993

Game Log

Another crappy start to write about here. Minnesota wasted no time as Jim McMahon found Cris Carter for a 19-yard TD pass on the first drive of the game. The Vikings scored 9 more points in the 2nd Quarter behind 3 FGs from some kicker named E. Lange. Seriously, I spent way too much time trying to find out about that guy – I’m guessing it’s Eric Lange who was a college kicker for the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes in 1991-1992. Hey, there’s a chance someone in his family will read this so I’m trying to be thorough!

Anyway, the Seahawks finally scored in the 3rd Quarter when Chris Dugan kicked a 43-yard FG to make the score 16-3. Seattle pulled closer at 16-10 when rookie #2 overall pick Rick Mirer found TE Larry Stayner (now Dr. Larry Stayner, practicing in Montana) from 1 yard out. Seattle had a chance as they were in Vikings territory at the two-minute warning, but Rick Mirer went to the Dr. Stayner well one time too many and he was picked off by LB Dave Garnett who took it to the house and put Minnesota up for good 23-10.

Rick Mirer was 10/18 for a nice 69 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Dan McGwire was 8/14 for 64 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. John L. Williams was the leading rusher with only 24 yards on 4 carries. Mack Strong was once again the leading receiver for the Seahawks with 5 catches for 27 yards.

There weren’t really any notable performances on defense for Seattle. On the Vikings side, though, future Seahawks Legend John Randle had 6 tackles, 1.0 sack, and 1 FF. He really was a beast.

20 Years Ago

Saturday, August 9, 2003

Game Log

Shaun Alexander started the preseason off right for the 2003 squad with a 1-yard TD run in the 1st Quarter. His running mate Maurice Morris chipped in a 1-yard TD run of his own in the 2nd Quarter to give Seattle a 14-0 lead at halftime. Following a scoreless 3rd Quarter, Josh Brown booted FGs of 29 and 47 yards in the 4th Quarter as the Seahawks went up 20-0. San Diego – where the Chargers should still be located – avoided the shutout when future Survivor: Redemption Island contestant (yes, I’m being serious) Grant Mattos caught a 13-yard TD pass from Seth Burford to make the final score 20-7 in favor of Seattle.

Matt Hasselbeck was 8/11 for 75 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Personal favorite rookie QB Seneca Wallace was a nice 6/9 for 78 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Maurice Morris led the Seahawks with 46 yards on 8 carries and 1 TD. Shaun Alexander added 12 yards and a TD on 4 carries and another 23 yards receiving on 2 catches. Rookie WR and Seneca’s brother Taco Wallace chipped in 41 yards on his lone reception.

Terreal Bierria had an interception. Future Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard had 2 tackles and a pass defensed in the win.

An interesting nugget from this game is the fact that both Drew Brees and Doug Flutie were on the Chargers roster in the 2003 preseason. Not that they were effective since they combined to go 12/20 for 73 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT.

10 Years Ago

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Game Log

And here we are with 2013…did anything cool happen this season?

Turns out that 2013 team was pretty good. And the roster was DEEP as evidenced by how they boat raced the San Diego Chargers again a mere 10 years later.

San Diego actually got on the board first this time with a Nick Novak FG in the 1st Quarter to take the 3-0 lead. That would hold for nearly the entire 2nd Quarter until Brady Quinn found Jermaine Kearse for an 11-yard receiving TD to give Seattle the 7-3 lead at halftime. The Seahawks blew the game open after halftime by scoring 17 more unanswered points. Carson Wiggs (??) kicked a 22-yard FG, Spencer Ware ran it in from 6 yards out, and Stephen Williams caught a 42-yard TD pass from Tarvaris Jackson to put Seattle up 24-3. The Chargers got 7 points back in the 4th Quarter when Ladarius Green caught a 21-yard TD pass from Brad Sorenson, but the Seahawks answered right back with another Tarvaris Jackson TD pass – this time to Derrick Coleman as Seattle finished with the 31-10 victory.

Russell Wilson was 2/6 for 23 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Brady Quinn was 6/11 for 59 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Tarvaris Jackson was a nearly perfect 8/9 for 128 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT and a sterling 158.3 passer rating. Rookie RB Christine Michael had 16 carries for 89 yards in his debut. His fellow backfield rookie Spencer Ware added 32 yards on 7 carries and a TD. Stephen Williams led the receivers with 2 catches for 83 yards and a TD.

Byron Maxwell and Chris Maragos had 1 INT each from former Seahawks Legend Charlie Whitehurst. UDFA rookie Benson Mayowa had 1.5 sacks with future Seahawks assistant special teams coach Heath Farwell picking up the other 0.5 sack. Malcolm Smith also had 1.0 sack in the victory.