This Week in Seahawks History: Big-name coaches on opposing sidelines

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. There’s a lot more good than bad to remember when looking back at these old Seahawks games, so let’s get started!

40 Years Ago

Sunday, September 25, 1983

Game Log

What a matchup of heavyweight coaches to kick off this week as Joe Gibbs brought Washington to the Seattle Kingdome to take on against Chuck Knox and the Seattle Seahawks. Washington got on the board first with a John Riggins 1-yard TD run. Seattle came back with a Norm Johnson 27-yard FG to make the score 7-3. Washington widened the lead when Charlie Brown (insert joke here) caught a 64-yard TD pass from Joe Theismann to pull ahead 14-3. Jim Zorn cut the deficit to 14-10 with a 13-yard TD pass to Steve Largent, but Washington responded with another long TD pass – this time a 47-yarder from Theismann to Alvin Garrett – as the Redskins headed into halftime with a 20-10 lead. After a scoreless 3rd Quarter, Washington padded their lead with a 4-yard TD pass from Theismann to Rick Walker. Steve Largent caught a 7-yard TD pass from Zorn to make the score 27-17 and that deficit would hold as the Seahawks fell at home.

Jim Zorn was 20/40 for 241 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Curt Warner had 15 carries for 34 yards. Steve Largent had a second consecutive 100-yard game with 8 catches for 130 yards and 2 TDs.

The Seahawks defense, unfortunately, didn’t do much of note as they didn’t force any turnovers and allowed 2 explosive passing TDs.

30 Years Ago

Sunday, September 19, 1993

Game Log

Another big fish tuna coach for the 1993 game as Bill Parcells was in his first year as the head coach of the New England Patriots. This matchup also featured the #1 and #2 overall picks of the 1993 NFL Draft with QB Drew Bledsoe squaring off against QB Rick Mirer as each sought their first NFL victory. Brian Blades scored the only points of the first half with a 4-yard TD catch from Rick Mirer (his first TD pass as a pro) and the Seahawks led 7-0. Seattle extended the lead to 17-0 in the 3rd Quarter with a 24-yard John Kasay FG and a Chris Warren 15-yard rushing TD. The Patriots gave Seahawks fans anxiety as they pulled within 3 points following a Ben Coates 25-yard TD reception from Drew Bledsoe and a Sam Gash 4-yard rushing TD, but Scott Sisson’s game-tying 54-yard FG hit the crossbar as the Seahawks held on win 17-14 for their first victory of the 1993 season.

Seattle nearly doubled up New England in time of possession at 38:20 – 21:20. Rick Mirer was 12/16 for 149 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and was sacked 4 times. Mirer had blurred vision after a hit and was replaced by Stan Gelbaugh, who threw the other Seahawks INT. Chris Warren was a workhorse with 36 (!!) carries for 174 yards. Brian Blades had 6 catches for 50 yards and a TD.

Dwayne Harper and Eugene Robinson each had 1 INT against the former Coug Bledsoe. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Cortez Kennedy had 2.0 sacks and a fumble recovery.

20 Years Ago

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Game Log

Seattle almost lost a game in the 4th Quarter in 1993, so how about pulling out a late victory 10 years later? The Seahawks special teams scored first when Arlen Harris muffed a Tom Rouen punt, and it was recovered in the end zone by Orlando Huff for a TD and the 7-0 lead. St. Louis would even the score at 7-7 following a Matt Hasselbeck interception when Marc Bulger ran it in from 3 yards out. Bulger proved he could score through the air as well when he hooked up with Isaac Bruce for a 7-yard passing TD in the 2nd Quarter. Jeff Wilkins extended the Rams lead to 17-7 later in the quarter with a 28-yard FG. Seattle got 3 points back when Josh Brown nailed a 36-yard FG to head into halftime down 17-10. The Rams got the ball after halftime and drove into the Seattle redzone before settling for a 33-yard Wilkins FG. They would add another 33-yard Wilkins FG and were ahead 23-10 heading into the 4th Quarter. Seattle started their comeback with a 15-yard passing TD from Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson to make the score 23-17 early in the final frame. Reggie Tongue picked off Bulger on the ensuing drive and the Seahawks offense was back on the field. They drove to the St. Louis 17 yard line before stalling and sent out the usually reliable Josh Brown…who did his future team a favor by missing the 35-yard FG.

Seattle forced a 3-and-out to send their offense back on the field. Unfortunately, St. Louis forced a 4-and-out as the Seahawks turned the ball over on downs at their own 41 yard line. Good thing Seattle’s defense stepped up again when Anthony Simmons intercepted Bulger at their own 25 yard line with just over 3 minutes left in the game. Hasselbeck led the Seahawks all the way down the field and finished it off with a 3-yard passing TD to Koren Robinson for the 24-23 lead with about a minute left. The Seahawks defense held firm and Seattle pulled off the thrilling comeback victory!

Matt Hasselbeck was 22/39 for 256 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Shaun Alexander had 58 yards on 14 carries. Koren Robinson had 7 catches (on 14 targets) for 95 yards and 1 TD. Darrell Jackson added 50 yards and 1 TD on 2 catches.

Seattle’s defense didn’t record any sacks, but Anthony Simmons and Reggie Tongue each had 1 INT. Orlando Huff also had the opening TD on the muffed punt recovery.

10 Years Ago

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Game Log

After winning by the skin of their teeth in 2003, how about a nice, easy blowout? Too bad it had to come at the expense of former Seahawks Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley. Oh well, such is life.

The 1st Quarter wasn’t that exciting with the teams trading punts on their first two drives. Seattle drove down the field on their second possession with chunk plays from Golden Tate, Marshawn Lynch, and Luke Willson, but it was Zach Miller who got the TD on a 1-yard pass from Russell Wilson. The score would stay at 7-0 until early in the 2nd Quarter when Zach Miller scored again on a 4-yard TD pass from Wilson. Seattle forced a punt on the next drive and their offense took the ball all the way to the doorstep of the endzone before settling for a Steven Hauschka 21-yard FG and the 17-0 lead. After another Jaguars punt, Russell Wilson was sacked near midfield and fumbled. Jacksonville drove to the Seahawks 18 yard line, but Bobby Wagner had enough of that and intercepted Chad Henne with just under a minute left in the half. The Seahawks went on a classic explosive drive and scored on a 14-yard TD pass from Wilson to Sidney Rice to go into halftime up big at 24-0.

Jacksonville received the 2nd half kickoff and gave the ball right back to the Seahawks after 3 plays when Brandon Mebane recovered a Denard Robinson fumble. Seattle took advantage of the field position and Sidney Rice did his best Zach Miller impression with his 2nd TD catch of this game, this one from 23 yards away. After getting into Seahawks territory, the Jaguars punted again, pinning Seattle at their own 2 yard line. A few plays later, Russell Wilson gifted Jacksonville’s Paul Posluszny an INT and the Jaguars turned that into their first TD when Maurice Jones-Drew scored a 2-yard rushing TD to put the score at 31-7. Seattle and Jacksonville both punted on their next drives, and the Seahawks got the ball back with Tarvaris Jackson in at QB. He and rookie RB Christine Michael led a scoring drive punctuated by a 35-yard TD pass from Jackson to Doug Baldwin. Jacksonville added 3 points to pull within 4 scores at 38-10 with a 33-yard Josh Scobee FG. The Jaguars scored another TD halfway through the 4th Quarter when Jordan Todman ran it in from 3 yards away to make the score 38-17. Tarvaris Jackson led another scoring drive, this time running it in himself for a 5-yard rushing TD to stretch the lead to 45-17. To add insult to injury, Kam Chancellor intercepted Chad Henne on the next drive and Christine Michael salted the game away.

The Seahawks offense put up 479 total yards in this game. Russell Wilson was 14/21 for 202 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT. Tarvaris Jackson was 7/8 for 129 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT for a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He also had 1 rushing TD. Marshawn Lynch had a nice 69 yards on 17 carries. Christine Michael had 9 carries for 37 yards in mop-up duty. Golden Tate didn’t have any TDs, but he filled up the stat sheet with 29 yards rushing and 88 yards receiving. Sidney Rice had 5 catches for 79 yards and 2 TDs. Luke Willson was right behind in terms of yardage with 5 catches for 76 yards. Doug Baldwin and Zach Miller made the most of their limited touches as Baldwin had 1 catch for 35 yards and a TD while Miller had 2 catches for 5 yards and 2 TDs.

Bobby Wagner and Kam Chancellor both had 1 INT. Clinton McDonald and Michael Bennett each had 1.5 sacks in the easy victory.