On this date
A look at the memorable moments in Seahawks history that occurred on Dec. 11:
1977: David Sims runs for two touchdowns, Sherman Smith has 149 yards rushing and receiving and another TD and Dave Brown returns an interception for a TD as the Seahawks hold on to win a wild 34-31 game against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium after taking a 34-21 lead at halftime.
1983: In a game that features “the holding call heard ‘round the Pacific Northwest,” the Seahawks win 17-12 over the Giants at the Meadowlands behind two touchdown passes from Dave Krieg to setup the first playoff appearance in franchise history. The Giants’ Jeff Rutledge passes for an apparent game-winning touchdown on a fourth-and-7 play with 30 seconds to play, but a holding call nullifies the score and his final pass is broken up. The win puts the Seahawks in a situation where they earn a wild-card spot with a victory over the Patriots at the Kingdome on the final weekend of the regular season, which they do.
1988: Curt Warner scores four touchdowns and rushes for 126 yards and John L. Williams has 183 yards rushing and receiving in a 42-14 victory over the Broncos at the Kingdome.
1994: Chris Warren runs for 185 yards and a touchdown and Cortez Kennedy has two of the Seahawks’ six sacks of Billy Joe Tolliver in a 16-14 victory over the Oilers in the Astrodome.
2005: Matt Hasselbeck passes for four touchdowns, including two to Bobby Engram; Shaun Alexander rushes for 108 yards and a TD; and a defense led by Lofa Tatupu (interception) and Marcus Tubbs (two sacks) limits the 49ers to 113 yards in a 41-3 victory in Seattle that is win No. 9 in the team’s club-record 11-game winning streak.
On this date
A look at the memorable moments in Seahawks history that occurred on Dec. 4:
1977: Jim Zorn throws touchdown passes to Sam McCullum (65 yards) and Steve Largent (30), but Terry Bradshaw runs for two scores and throws for a third in the Steelers’ 30-20 victory in Pittsburgh.
1983: Tony Dorsett runs for 117 yards and two touchdowns for the Cowboys, while Dave Krieg is sacked eight times and throws two interceptions in a 35-10 loss in Dallas.
1988: Robert Perryman scores on a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter, giving the Patriots a 13-7 victory over the Seahawks in New England. The Seahawks gain only 65 total yards, while Eugene Robinson (17 tackles), Darren Comeaux (11), Dave Wyman (10) and Jeff Bryant (10) pace the defensive effort.
1989: Dave Krieg passes 51 yards to John L. Williams for a fourth quarter touchdown as the Seahawks pull out a 17-16 victory over the Bills at the Kingdome on “Monday Night Football.”
On this date
A look at the memorable moments in Seahawks history that occurred on Nov. 28:
1976: Jim Zorn and Sherman Smith run for touchdowns, but the expansion Seahawks lose to the Giants 28-16 at the Kingdome.
1982: The Seahawks post the third shutout in club history, but first at the Kingdome, as Kenny Easley and John Harris intercept passes, Norm Johnson kicks three field goals and Steve Largent catches five passes for 109 yards in a 16-0 victory over the Steelers.
1988: Dave Krieg ties his club record by passing for five touchdowns and Curt Warner (130) and John L. Williams (105) become the Seahawks’ first tandem to rush for 100 yards in a same game during a 35-27 victory over the Raiders at the Kingdome on “Monday Night Football.”
1999: The Buccaneers intercept Jon Kitna five times in a 16-3 victory at the Kingdome, the start of a 1-5 finish for the Seahawks after they started their first season under coach Mike Holmgren 8-2.
2005: Mike Holmgren presents the game ball from a 24-21 overtime victory the day before to the 12th Man for the crowd’s help in generating 16 Giants’ penalties, including 11 false starts.
On this date
A look at the memorable moments in Seahawks history that occurred on Nov. 13:
1977: The defense posts the first shutout in franchise history by intercepting three passes to limit the Jets to 25 passing yards – and 124 total yards – and Jim Zorn throws two touchdown passes in a 17-0 victory at Shea Stadium.
1983: Steve Largent catches eight passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns, but the Cardinals scored five points in the final seven minutes to pull out a 33-28 victory in St. Louis.
1988: Dave Krieg returns after missing seven games with a shoulder separation and directs a 10-play drove to setup Norm Johnson’s game-winning 46-yard field goal with one second remaining in a 27-24 victory over the Oilers at the Kingdome. John L. Williams also runs for 102 yards and a touchdown.
2005: The Seahawks pick up win No. 5 in what will become a club-record 11-game winning streak as Shaun Alexander runs for 165 yards and three touchdowns a 31-16 victory over the Rams in Seattle.
Cyber surfing: Tuesday
Good morning. Here’s what’s “out there” about the Seahawks for today, Nov. 1:
Mike Sando at ESPN.com has his “silver linings” from the Seahawks’ loss to the Bengals on Sunday, including this one: “Seattle finished with two 100-yard receivers even though starter Mike Williams did not play. Sidney Rice caught seven passes for 102 yards. Ben Obomanu caught four passes for 107 yards. Rookie Doug Baldwin came relatively close to joining them, catching five passes for 73 yards. The team has upgraded dramatically at wide receiver.”
Danny O’Neil at the Seattle Times looks at what has been a season-long problem of the Seahawks: penalties. Offers O’Neil: “At 2-5, the Seahawks have lots of room for improvement, and nowhere is that more evident than the penalties. Seattle has been penalized 60 times this season, fourth-most in the NFL.”
Eric Williams at the News Tribune looks at how losing is affecting coach Pete Carroll, who hasn’t been 2-5 since his first season at USC. Says Carroll: “We do have to push aside what’s gone on behind us. We can’t do anything about that. That’s a discipline that we talk about and we deal with this topic a lot. It happens in games sometimes, in particular. So we’ve got to do it one day at a time and both sides of the ball – my meeting as well with the full team, we all addressed what’s going on right now, what the issue is and how we want to get in focus, and we want to play like we’re capable of playing and catch the balls we’re supposed to catch and stay (onside) when we’re supposed to stay (onside) and give ourselves a chance to play like we’re capable of playing.”
Christian Caple at PI.com has the word on Tarvaris Jackson stepping back in as the starting QB after coming on to replace Charlie Whitehurst on Sunday. Says Caple: “Carroll said Jackson came out of the game fine, physically. His performance Sunday indicated to Carroll that he would be ready to play again this week.”
Scott Johnson at the Everett Herald continues his “Game of My Life” series with a look at former fullback John L. Williams. Says Johnson: “As he once promised fellow dual-threat running backs Thurman Thomas and Roger Craig during the week leading up to one of his two Pro Bowl appearances, Williams found a way to do things that few other runners had ever done. During a 10-year career he caught 546 passes, which marked the second-most receptions by an NFL running back when he retired in 1995.”
Here at Seahawks.com, we take a look at Richard Sherman’s big day in his first NFL start in our “Monday metatarsal musings”: “Sherman was served from the entire NFL smorgasbord of situations and emotions in his first NFL start. The rookie gave up a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Simpson in the first quarter. He got his first interception as a pro in the third quarter – at the Seahawks’ 9-yard line – to stop a Bengals’ scoring threat and help set up a 25-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka. He finished with five tackles and three passes defensed – to tie and set career highs in the seventh game of his NFL career. ‘First start, everything goes,’ Sherman said with a smile.”
We’ve also got a look at Jackson’s status; another strong effort by the defense in “Monday in Hawkville”; and Tony Ventrella has video reviews of Sunday’s game and Carroll’s Monday news conference.
On this date
A look at the memorable moments in Seahawks history that occurred on Sept. 4:
1983 – Curt Warner, the team’s first-round draft choice, breaks a 60-yard run on his first NFL carry in an opening-day loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City.
1988 – The Seahawks open their 13th season with a 21-14 win over the two-time defending AFC champion Broncos in Denver. Curt Warner scores two touchdowns and John L. Williams has 161 yards rushing and receiving.
1994 – The Seahawks win their first season opener since 1988, as Chris Warren runs for 100 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-7 win over the Redskins in Washington. The win gives coach Tom Flores his 100th victory as a head coach in the NFL.
The MVP of the MVPs
The Steve Largent legacy just keeps on growing, despite the fact that it was 21 seasons ago that he caught his final pass for the Seahawks.
Even when you’re not really looking for something to further justify his Hall of Fame career, there it is: Just another nugget that does exactly that.
The latest is Largent being the MVP of the MVPs in franchise history. The award was voted on by the players from 1976, the team’s inaugural season; through 1998. The first winner was quarterback Jim Zorn. The last was linebacker Chad Brown.
In between, however, it was difficult to wrest the award from the sure-handed wide receiver who retired after the 1989 season as the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions (819), receiving yards (13,089) and touchdown catches (100).
In an 11-season span from 1977-87, Largent was voted the team MVP five times (1977, 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1987). There are seven other multiple winners, but each won the award twice – including running back Chris Warren, the only player to win it in back-to-back seasons (1994-95).
Like most of Largent’s team records, the gap between him and the player or players sitting at No. 2 equates to the distance between Seattle and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“The thing I’ll remember about Steve Largent is that I had the experience of coaching one of the all-time great professional football players,” Chuck Knox, who was Largent’s coach from 1983-89, said the week of Largent’s final game. “He has made more plays, does more things over and over again, than most people.”
The MVP award was sponsored by the Marcus Nalley company, and here’s the list of players who proved to be chips off the ol’ Largent:
Player, wins (years)
WR Steve Largent: 5 (1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987)
QB Jim Zorn: 2 (1976, 1978)
SS Kenny Easley: 2 (1982, 1984)
RB Curt Warner: 2 (1983, 1986)
FB John L. Williams: 2 (1988, 1990)
FS Eugene Robinson: 2 (1991, 1993)
DT Cortez Kennedy: 2 (1992, 1996)
RB Chris Warren: 2 (1994, 1995)
WR Sam McCullum: 1 (1980)
WR Brian Blades: 1 (1989)
FS Darryl Williams: 1 (1997)
LB Chad Brown: 1 (1998)
A show of hands
What’s harder to fathom: That Steve Largent led the Seahawks in receiving in each of the franchise’s first 12 seasons? Or, that he’s not the single-season leader in receptions?
Brian Blades and Joey Galloway rank second to Largent in terms of consecutive seasons as the leading receiver with three – Blades from 1993-95; Galloway from 1996-98.
Only three players who were not wide receivers have led the team in receiving: fullback John L. Williams (1988, 1990 and 1992), tight end John Carlson (2008) and running back Ricky Watters (shared the lead in 2000).
Largent actually ranks fifth when it comes to single-season receptions, however. Each of the totals that rank ahead of his 79 receptions from 1985 came after he retired following the 1989 season. But in yardage totals, he has the franchise record (1,287 from ’85), as well as three of the top four marks and five of the top seven.
The Hall of Fame receiver also has the top single-season (18.7 yards in 1979) and single-game (27.8 in 1979) per-catch averages. But Darryl Turner tops the career list for receivers with at least 100 catches (18.5). Largent is second (15.98).
Turner also has the mark for most TD catches in a season (13 in 1985) – one more than Largent (1984) and Galloway (1997).
The fewest receptions to lead the team in a season? Also Largent, with 33 during the 14-game 1977 season. For a 16-game season, it’s 57 by Galloway 1996. The fewest receiving yards? Largent again, with 493 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. For a 16-game season, it’s Williams, with 556 in 1992.
The leading receivers in the first three installments of the series of articles looking back at the 35-year history of the Seahawks: 1979, Largent (54 receptions for 705 yards and four TDs); 1983, Largent (72 for 1,074 and 11); 2005, Engram (67 for 778) and Joe Jurevicius (10 TDs).
For the record
The best single-season reception totals in franchise history:
Player (year) No.
Bobby Engram (2007) 94
Darrell Jackson (2004) 87
Brian Blades (1994) 81
Blades (1993) 80
Steve Largent (1985) 79
T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2009) 79
Koren Robinson (2002) 78
Blades (1989) 77
Largent (1981) 75
Largent (1984) 74
John L. Williams (1992) 74
Williams (1990) 73
Largent (1983) 72
Joey Galloway (1997) 72
Largent (1978) 71
Largent (1986) 70
Blades (1991) 70
Jackson (2001) 70
The best single-season receiving-yardage totals in franchise history:
Player (year) Yds.
Steve Largent (1985) 1,287
Koren Robinson (2002) 1,240
Largent (1979) 1,237
Largent (1981) 1,224
Darrell Jackson (2004) 1,199
Largent (1978) 1,168
Largent (1984) 1,164
Bobby Engram (2007) 1,147
Jackson (2003) 1,137
Brian Blades (1994) 1,086
Jackson (2001) 1,081
Largent (1983) 1,074
Largent (1986) 1,070
Joey Galloway (1995) 1,037
Largent (1980) 1,064
Blades (1989) 1,063
Galloway (1997) 1,049
Galloway (1998) 1,047
Blades (1991) 1,003
The best single-season TD-catch totals in franchise history:
Player (year) No.
Darryl Turner (1985) 13
Steve Largent (1984) 12
Joey Galloway (1997) 12
Largent (1983) 11
Largent (1977) 10
Turner (1984) 10
Galloway (1998) 10
Derrick Mayes (1999) 10
Joe Jurevicius (2005) 10
Jackson (2006) 10
