Victory Gives Rams a Fresh Start : Pro football: Everett throws two touchdown passes in 21-7 victory over Seattle, Chuck Knox’s former team.
SEATTLE — Even in an exhibition game, even as he was surrounded by a new team, the old rule about the old coach still held Thursday night: Make serious errors against a Chuck Knox football team in the Kingdome, and you lose.
Same old story.
Knox looked like his same old serious self, at least, during the Rams’ 21-7 victory Thursday over the Seattle Seahawks in their exhibition opener. He was wearing the blue baseball cap, white shirt, dark pants and lockjaw grin he wore for nine seasons as the Seahawks’ head coach.
However, the two teams participating in Thursday night’s game in front of 52,360 at the Kingdome looked vastly different than before.
Just months ago, these two teams met here to end their dreary seasons, with Knox at the helm of the Seahawks and John Robinson wrapping up his goodbys as coach of the Rams. Seattle won that game, 23-9, Knox resigned and was replaced by Tom Flores. Then Knox headed south and took over the Rams.
Thursday night was the first look at both teams after the change. Thursday night, with a long hot month and countless possibilities for disaster before the games count, the Rams were the cool victors.
“We were talking about it on the sidelines--just when was the last time we were up by two touchdowns?” said Ram tight end Jim Price, who sat out the rest of the game after receiving a concussion during a sprawling first-quarter touchdown catch.
“It was nice letting the other team make the mistakes for a change and just executing what we do.”
The Rams, a team-wide cacophony of mistakes the past two seasons, were in control throughout. They compiled 304 yards total offense and capitalized on nearly every Seattle miscue, of which there were many.
The Rams did not turn the ball over until the fourth quarter, played good defense despite the absence of injured draft pick Sean Gilbert and starting cornerback Todd Lyght, and generally did not embarrass themselves, a large step from last season.
The Seahawks were the team in trouble, surrendering four sacks, three turnovers and consistently finding themselves in third-and-long situations.
For the Rams, who had not won since last Oct. 13, this meant a little more than the usual exhibition season platitudes.
“They worked hard, and I’m glad they had the chance to get the feeling of winning,” Knox said. “Get some satisfaction out of that.”
Said Price: “It’s nice just to get the taste of winning in people’s mouths again, especially after we went 10 games without winning last year.
“It’s like a new start, like a refreshing feeling.”
If in his postgame analysis, Knox didn’t say he felt extra satisfaction in beating the team that let him go--and he didn’t--others were willing to say it for him.
“Absolutely,” said receiver Jeff Chadwick, who followed Knox to Anaheim from Seattle this off-season. “I have a sweet feeling because of it. I’m sure Chuck does too.”
Early, the Rams did it with defense, with defensive end Bill Hawkins as the centerpiece. He hit Seattle quarterback Kelly Stouffer clean from the blind side to force a fumble, recovered by rookie defensive tackle Marc Boutte, that set up the Rams’ first score--Jim Everett’s line drive 11-yard pass to Price.
“You have a pretty good feeling when the guy has no idea you’re there,” Hawkins said of his first sack. “That’s the best, when that happens.”
Hawkins set up the Rams’ second touchdown with his second sack, pushing Seattle into terrible field position for a second short Rams’ scoring drive. Everett completed a 25-yard pass to Flipper Anderson for the score.
In his one half of play, Everett completed nine of 15 passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
To open the third quarter, the Rams increased their lead to 21-7 on a drive keyed by former Seahawks Derek Loville and Chadwick. Chadwick caught two passes for 27 yards during the drive and Loville converted a key third-and-four run to put the Rams in scoring position.
Backup quarterback Mike Pagel capped the drive and the scoring by floating a pass to tight end Darian McKinney down the middle for a 13-yard touchdown.
Chadwick celebrated his own return to Seattle by catching five passes for 74 yards, each a game high.
After talking about his own success, his thoughts came back to Knox.
“He hasn’t changed,” Chadwick said with a big smile.
But everybody knew that.
Notes
Chuck Knox got a very subdued response when his name was introduced to the Kingdome crowd. No big ovation, no smattering of boos, just a general, polite applause. There was one moderately impolite banner, however. From the Kingdome ring of fame, which might eventually include Knox’s name someday, a banner read: “Grind Chuck.”
Going into the game, Knox said he especially wanted to see the Rams run effectively. That didn’t quite happen (81 yards on 34 carries, a 2.1-yard-per-carry average), but Knox didn’t seem too concerned, explaining that Seattle is a tough defensive team to run against.
Injury Report: Linebacker Tom Homco (broken right hand), tight end Jim Price (concussion), running back Robert Delpino (groin) and defensive end Bill Hawkins (strained right calf).
