This Week in Seahawks History: The Chuck Knox era begins!

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. We’ve now got some regular season history to discuss, including the first game in charge for the first coach to take Seattle to the playoffs.

40 Years Ago

Sunday, September 4, 1983

Game Log

The first regular season game with Chuck Knox as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks took place on the road at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs. Seattle’s first snap on offense was a 60-yard run by rookie RB Curt Warner, who fumbled but the Seahawks recovered. Seattle took a 3-0 lead with a Norm Johnson 34-yard FG. Kansas City scored on a Bill Kenney 9-yard TD pass to Henry Marshall to put the Chiefs up 7-3, which would still be the score heading into halftime. The Seahawks inched closer when Norm Johnson hit his second FG, this one from 48 yards away to make the score 7-6. Kansas City scored the next 10 points which included a trick play Carlos Carson 18-yard TD pass to Jewerl Thomas and a Nick Lowery 19-yard FG. That Carson TD pass the only attempt of the WR’s 11-year NFL career, so he made it count. The Seahawks would pull closer at 17-13 in the 4th Quarter when Curt Warner scored his first NFL TD on an 18-yard pass from Jim Zorn. That would end up being the final score as the Seahawks took the loss.

Jim Zorn was 19/43 for 206 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. Curt Warner nearly broke the 100-yard rushing mark in his first NFL action with 93 yards on 12 carries including a 60-yard scamper. He was also the leading receiver for the Seahawks with 6 catches for 72 yards and 1 TD. Steve Largent added 55 yards on 4 catches.

Jacob Green started off his 1983 campaign with 2.0 sacks in the loss.

30 Years Ago

Break! The first game of the season for the 1993 squad will fall in next week’s article. The interesting thing about the 1993 season is that it was the only time in NFL history (for now) that each team got two bye weeks as they ran an 18-week schedule. Seems like the NFL could be heading that way if they expand the regular season to 18 games at some point…17 games is too weird.

20 Years Ago

Friday, August 29, 2003

Game Log

Seattle sure loves to play the Broncos in the preseason…although this result was less than ideal.

The first half was a battle of late FGs. Jason Elam hit a 39-yarder near the end of the 1st Quarter to put Denver up 3-0. Seattle tied the score at 3-3 when Josh Brown nailed a 52-yard FG as time expired in the 2nd Quarter. The Broncos scored back-to-back 1-yard TD runs in the 3rd Quarter from Mike Anderson and Cecil Sapp to go up 17-3. Jason Elam hit a 31-yard FG in the 4th Quarter to put the final nail in the coffin for the Seahawks as they lost the 2003 preseason finale 20-3.

The yardage total was pretty close with the Broncos only outgaining the Seahawks 260-231. However, Seattle was an astounding 0/11 on third downs and 0/2 on fourth downs. Denver also blocked a punt. Yeah, not a great game.

Matt Hasselbeck was 4/5 for 44 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Trent Dilfer was 10/17 for 92 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Seneca Wallace contributed an INT of his own on 5/11 passing for 41 yards. Maurice Morris was the leading rusher with a paltry 26 yards on 7 carries. Special teams dynamo Alex Bannister was the leading receiver with 5 catches for 71 yards.

The Seahawks defense forced two turnovers of their own with INTs from Solomon Bates and Kris Richard. Chad Brown and Norman Hand each had 1.0 sack in the loss.

10 Years Ago

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Game Log

If you like kickers and field goals, this is the game for you!

Seattle scored first on a Robert Turbin 3-yard TD run – which (spoiler alert) would be the only TD of the game. Steven Hauschka tacked on a 56-yard FG to put the Seahawks up 10-0. From this point on, Seattle would convert 2 FGs for every 1 that Oakland made. Justin Medlock kicked a 45-yarder near the end of the 1st Quarter, but Hausch Money came back with FGs of 22 and 51 yards to make the score 16-3. Medlock kicked a 37-yarder before halftime to pull the Raiders closer at 16-6 as the teams headed into the locker room. Hauschka kicked a 43-yard FG in the 3rd Quarter and a 53-yard FG in the 4th Quarter as Seattle coasted to a 22-6 victory.

Russell Wilson went 3/3 for 68 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT in the final tune-up for the regular season. Tarvaris Jackson was 12/17 for 119 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT as he locked up the backup QB job. Spencer Ware led Seattle with 16 measly yards rushing on 7 carries. Fellow rookie RB Christine Michael had a 1.15 YPC average with 15 yards on 13 carries. Jermaine Kearse and offensive preseason star Stephen Williams each had 50 yards receiving for Seattle.

On defense, the Seahawks had 4 sacks with 1.0 each from Chris Maragos, Bruce Irvin, and defensive preseason star Benson Mayowa. Ty Powell and Jaye Howard split the other sack with 0.5 each.