INSIDE THE NFL
Plain and Simple
The Seahawks went back to basics and overwhelmed the Colts
by Peter King
Posted: Wed September 17, 1997
While losing their first two games at home, by a combined score
of 76-17 no less, the Seahawks seemed to forget how brutally
simple football can be. Things were so bad in Seattle you would
never have known that this was an organization that committed
$73 million to new acquisitions in the off-season.
"The media writes about coaches as chessmasters and brilliant
tacticians, and they forget what a simple game this is," Seattle
linebacker Chad Brown said on Sunday after the Seahawks had
reversed their course with a 31-3 head slapping of the Colts in
Indianapolis. Brown, a $24 million free-agent pickup, led the
way with three sacks of battered Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh.
"When you just let players play, like our coaches did today, you
see great football. Making this game plan so simple was a great
coaching move."
Faced with the prospect of a lost season if their team went down
to Indianapolis, Seattle coaches unveiled what defensive tackle
Dan Saleaumua called the simplest game plan he had seen in his
11-year pro career: two defensive fronts and three basic
coverages in the secondary. The front seven ate an inexperienced
Colts line for dinner, sacking Harbaugh eight times, and the
Seahawks held the Colts to 118 total yards. Brown ran circles
around two left tackles; defensive end Michael Sinclair did the
same against the right tackle, Tony Mandarich. Defensive tackles
Sam Adams and Cortez Kennedy overpowered the interior, combining
for two sacks and seven stops. Afterward, in a locker room full
of relieved players, Sinclair howled to linebacker Joe Cain,
"Man, we let the big dogs eat today!"
Considering the amount of money Seattle's front office doled out
in the off-season, it was about time. To acquire 10 free agents
and the team's two first-round draft picks, cornerback Shawn
Springs and tackle Walter Jones, new owner Paul Allen spent
$23.46 million on signing bonuses alone. That's pocket change
for Allen, the Microsoft cofounder who made $934 million one
April day when Microsoft stock went up $7. But as free safety
Darryl Williams, the only member of the starting secondary who
isn't new, said before Sunday's game, "Let's be honest. You go
0-2 after the off-season we had, and some doubts start to creep
in."
Still, Bob Whitsitt, the man appointed by Allen to run the
franchise, didn't seem overly concerned last week. "We're
disappointed, but if you're looking for a hatchet, you won't
find it from me," said Whitsitt, who is also the president and
general manager of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers (which Allen
also owns). "This isn't the George Steinbrenner regime."
In fact Whitsitt was surprised anyone would even suggest that he
was ready to push the panic button. "If we'd won our first two,
I wouldn't have been any different," he said last week. Of
course a two-game losing streak in the NFL is roughly equivalent
to a 10-game skid in the NBA. No wonder coach Dennis Erickson,
who in his first two seasons was 15-17, appeared shell-shocked
last Saturday afternoon.
"Haven't slept for two weeks," Erickson said, and he looked it.
"I keep playing these games over and over in my head, a hundred
times. But I haven't doubted my ability to coach. Not for a
second. I've been successful everywhere I've coached, and I'll
be successful here."
Beating the winless Colts was nice, but it's no magic cure.
Seattle still has coverage problems on special teams, and the
Seahawks won't thrive with a vanilla defense every week. Then
there's the issue of how long 40-year-old quarterback Warren
Moon can play as if he's 28, as he did in the RCA Dome (24 of 38
for 270 yards, one touchdown pass and one rushing score). But at
least now Erickson should be able to sleep at night.
Issue date: September 22, 1997
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