Can a coach be worth six victories? One national publication predicted last year's Seahawks would win only three games. Despite losing the entire linebacking corps to injuries and starting the season 0-3, ... coached the Seahawks to a ... record and within a breath of making the playoffs.
Ever since their inception, the Seahawks have had to make do with undersized, undrafted free agents starting at quarterback.
1997? Dennis Erickson? Warren Moon?
Think again, sportsfans. The year is 1991, the coach is Chuck Knox and the QB just has to be Dave Krieg.
It's the year of Zubaz pants, Dan McGwire, Chuck-and-Duck, the Redskins and the No Fun League.
The year when Todd Marinovich was a round one draft pick and Keenan McCardell was a round twelve pick.
A very interesting year indeed.
Seattle came out of 1990 with a 9-7 record and was the best team to miss an AFC playoff spot. Knox had worked his usual miracles with a banged-up team, struggling to live without Steve Largent and Curt Warner.
The 7 losses included 5 games decided by a TD or less. The 9 wins included 3 in OT.
According to the experts - the same ones who'd written us off for 1990 - Seattle was flattered by the 9-7 record.
With an older team this season and quite a few shaky areas, Knox will have to do another unbelievable job if he is to keep the 1991 Seahawks in the playoff hunt.
With a Top 10 defense, the Seahawks will keep the games low-scoring and close, but fourth-quarter turnovers by Krieg or missed last-second field goals by Johnson could cost them games.
How Seattle managed nine victories last season is still a mystery ... Fifth place beckons for the team this season.
The rest of their predictions weren't much more inspiring.
Petersen's Preview
predicted:
Raiders
(Super Bowl contender)
Chiefs
Broncos
Seahawks
Chargers
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Pro Football Weekly
said:
Chiefs
Raiders
Broncos
Chargers
Seahawks
|
And Pro Football
Illustrated said:
Chiefs
Raiders
Chargers
Broncos
Seahawks
|
(For the record, it finished Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, Seahawks, Chargers)
One grim sentence says it all about the 1991 draft:
The Seahawks had three quarterbacks (McGwire, Browning Nagle and Brett Favre) rated almost side by side, and when all three were still on the board they decided on McGwire because of his size and the team owner, who was very much in favor of his selection.
And just when did Ken Behring become a draft guru?
OK, we might have ruined Brett Favre along the way but we were so close ...
Here's some more news about what might have been:
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ROUND | WE PICKED | INSTEAD OF |
2 | Doug Thomas (WR) | Ernie Mills, Ed McCaffrey,
Yancey Thigpen, Shawn Jefferson,
Jake Reed |
3 | David Daniels (WR) | Ed McCaffrey, Yancey Thigpen,
Shawn Jefferson
|
5 | Harlan Davis (DB) | Harry Colon |
Not to mention Bryan Cox (round 5), Merton Hanks (round 5), Ben Coates (round 5),
Harry Boatswain (round 5) and Leon Lett (round 7 - well we had to get lucky somewhere!). |
Dan McGwire.
Dan McGwire.
DAN McGWIRE.
Remember the name? Sure you do.
The team's first-round pick is the tallest quarterback in the history of the NFL. At 6' 7 7/8", 243 pounds, McGwire is big and hard to tackle. With the revised in-the-grasp rule, McGwire's size and ability to shrug off tacklers, like Roman Gabriel and Terry Bradshaw used to, will be a tremendous asset ...
Dan McGwire. Terry Bradshaw. The similarity is staggering, isn't it ?????
McGwire has the deep arm that incumbent Dave Krieg lacks, and, unlike Krieg, he can throw all the passes in the book. Although McGwire has a howitzer for an arm, he is a much more accurate short-to-medium-range thrower and must break some bad habits if he is to improve his deep accuracy.
Like not being able to pass very well?
Krieg cannot carry a team. The Seahawks feel that, in time, McGwire will be able to carry them on his broad shoulders. McGwire is also a better all-around athlete, although his quickness and speed are not assets.
And just in case you thought Dan's Mom put that report together, let's move on to Petersen's:
With top-ranked QB Dan McGwire still on the board with the 16th pick on round one, the Seahawks had no choice but to make him their No. 1 selection. With Dave Krieg nearing the end of his pro career
??????????
and Kelly Stouffer failing to materialize as an effective starting QB, the 6-8, 240 pound McGwire could be at the helm of the Seahawk attack a lot sooner than he may even realize.
Aren't we glad we passed on that dud Brett Favre?
And it just got better.
DOUG THOMAS
Doug Thomas rates as more of a developmental prospect, making his mark at Clemson more as a track star than a gridiron player.
Thomas was a bit of a reach. He is a true burner who can catch the ball away from his body and is improving by leaps and bounds. However, he is still very green. He did not catch a lot of passes at Clemson, but he did return two kickoffs for touchdowns and showed why he was the ACC sprint champ on those returns.
Doug Thomas has 4.42 speed and is a superb open-field runner, but played in a run-oriented attack at Clemson and is an unproven receiver.
Sounds like a good solid second-round pick to me!
And after all that, we did manage to pick someone who was a dud without needing to prove it to anyone:
DE Mike Sinclair did little to excite.
Adventure follows Dave Krieg. He's the Indiana Jones of quarterbacks. What other quarterback can survive a 16-fumble, 20-interception season with a 9-4 finish? ... Krieg makes up for limited skills with great leadership and an uncanny ability to improvise.
Derrick Fenner proved he had the skills to be a top pro back.
Up front, the Seahawks boast a pair of good pass-blocking tackles in Andy Heck and Ron Mattes.
Which ol' Indiana Jones might have questioned after Derrick Thomas used Andy as a doormat for 7 sacks at KC in 1990.
Like the rest of this unit, free safety Eugene Robinson is solid, but unspectacular. He has a nice blend of size and speed, and makes few mistakes. However, he plays too deep and gets caught staring into the backfield, leaving his cornerbacks without help in deep zone. Robinson supports the run well, but tends to overrun plays.
Chris Warren is another big back with speed and moves. Although a big lick can slow him for several plays, he has the raw talent to develop into a featured back.
A power plant with quick, strong hands, Kennedy can control blockers and stack up the inside running game. His wide body may be his undoing in getting to the quarterback. Although quick off the mark, his lack of speed and short arms reduce his rush to body-on-body battles.
For 1991, Pro Football Weekly rated Dave Krieg 24th best QB. Behind Joe Montana (1), Warren Moon (3), Jay Schroeder (14), Steve De Berg (17) and Steve Young (23).
They rated
| • John L Williams | -- best FB and best receiving FB |
| • Derrick Fenner | -- 24th RB |
| • Brian Blades | -- 31st WR |
| • Bryan Millard | -- 13th offensive guard |
| • Andy Heck | -- 16th offensive tackle and OT in the All-Speed Team |
| • Jacob Green | -- 19th DE |
| • Dave Wyman | -- 22nd MLB |
| • Terry Wooden | -- 24th OLB |
| • Chuck Knox | -- 8th coach |
| • Chris Warren | -- 2nd RB prospect (behind Leroy Hoard) |
| • Norm Johnson | -- 3rd best at kickoffs |
They couldn't find a Seahawk to nominate in
• 14 tight ends
• 18 centers
• 20 defensive tackles and nose tackles
• 35 cornerbacks (!)
• 25 safeties (!!)
• 8 punters
• 11 place kickers
• 20 underrated players
With all that firepower going our way, how many opponents did we leave trembling in their boots?
Um ... not many.
Pat Swilling put Indiana Jones out for 6 weeks after a crunching tackle in the opening loss against New Orleans.
With Jeff Kemp taking over, we went 3 and 3, losing all 3 games in the AFC West. Krieg took the remaining 9 games, going 4 and 5. We lost 6 games by a TD or less.
By the end of the sorry affair, of course, Krieg and Knox were on their way as Tom Flores took us out of Ground Chuck and into the vertical stretch.
And into oblivion.
Football fans in Seattle are going to be viewing a different product this fall.
Gone is Ground Chuck, the grind-it-out style of conservative football favored by Chuck Knox ... Arriving, as one scribe has begun calling it, is Air Tom, a pass-happy attack that new coach Tom Flores used when he coached the Raiders to two Super Bowl titles in the '80s ...
Arriving is - well, that's a good question. Flores has spent the offseason trying to come up with the quarterback best suited to run his offense, Kelly Stouffer or Dan McGwire ...
The new Seahawk regime wants to turn the Kingdome into a big-play mecca ...
Any of this sound familiar????
Also sure to benefit are Doug Thomas and David Daniels, a pair of speedy wideouts who did little but stretch legs as rookies under Knox last year but hope to stretch defenses this fall. As complements to a pretty good starting duo of Brian Blades and Tommy Kane, the Seahawk quarterback will have a lot of talent to aim at.
Which just proves how wrong everyone can be if they try really hard.
Of the 28 head coaches in 1991, Marty Schottenheimer is the only one who's stayed where he was back then. Dan Reeves is the only other head coach to keep a top job since then.
Nine head coaches were dumped before 1992 started. Pretty much the average performance.
The New York Card Company was offering to sell you the 1991 Star Pics Pro Prospects set of 112 cards for $19.95.
Don't miss out on the incredible investment potential of 1991 Star Pics Football Pro Prospects Premiere Edition!! Order early - before prices soar!!
Just think - that little gold mine could be earning you as much as, ooh, 4 bucks a set these days. Aren't you glad you ordered early?
The 6 teams at the bottom of their Divisions after 1991 were:
• Indianapolis (1 -15) (Isn't that scary?)
• Cincinnati (3 - 13)
• San Diego (4 - 12)
• Phoenix (4 - 12)
• Tampa Bay (3 - 13)
• L.A. Rams (3 - 13)
I have no idea what this tells me, but it's spooky.
 
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