Coming into the 1999 NFL season the Seattle Seahawks had not
finished with a winning record in nine years and they had last qualified for
the postseason in 1988. After two straight 8-8 records, Head Coach Dennis
Erickson was dismissed in favor of Mike Holmgren, who had won two NFC
Championships and a Super Bowl in Green Bay.
Among changes for the Seahawks was the insertion of 27-year-old
Jon Kitna (pictured above) as the starting quarterback. A backup in his first two seasons, Kitna
was largely untested, having appeared in nine games and gotten his most
extensive action in the World League of American Football. There was
established talent on offense as well, however, in veteran RB Ricky Watters and
WR Joey Galloway.
The Seahawks lost their opener to Detroit and just squeaked by the Bears in
Week 2. On September 26 they faced a big test as they traveled to Pittsburgh to face the
Steelers. Seattle was 1-5 overall at Three Rivers Stadium and the Steelers had
won big just two weeks earlier, moving the ball with ease in a 43-0 blowout of
Cleveland, and improved to 2-0 with a close win at Baltimore.
Under Head Coach Bill Cowher, Pittsburgh had made it to the playoffs in six
consecutive seasons, including an AFC title in 1995, before dropping to 7-9 in
’98. The Steelers had an effective ground game featuring “The Bus”, RB Jerome
Bettis, and the defense was tough. The biggest question remained at
quarterback, where Kordell Stewart was as inconsistent as he was an impressive
athlete.
It was the home-opening game for the Steelers and there were
57,881 fans in attendance at Three Rivers Stadium. It didn’t take long to deflate
their enthusiasm. The Seahawks scored the first two times they touched the ball
– without running a play from scrimmage.
Kordell Stewart’s second pass of the game was deflected off
the hands of WR Will Blackwell and intercepted by Seattle safety Merton Hanks, who returned it
23 yards for a touchdown. Just two minutes later, RB Charlie Rogers fielded
Josh Brown’s high 62-yard punt at his six yard line and ran down the sideline
for a 94-yard touchdown. Seattle
was ahead by 14-0 with only 3:20 run off the clock and the home crowd booing.
On their first offensive play, the Seahawks proved they
could move the ball effectively when Jon Kitna connected with WR Mike Pritchard
for a 51-yard gain. It set up a 45-yard Todd Peterson field goal and the score
remained 17-0 at the end of the opening period.
It was all anticlimactic from there. Peterson kicked three
field goals in the second quarter, from 51, 41, and 26 yards, the last
following an interception by safety Jay Bellamy. The ineffective Steelers,
error-prone and dominated by Seattle ’s defense,
didn’t make it inside the Seattle
38 until the third quarter.
Kordell Stewart was pulled at halftime and replaced by
backup QB Mike Tomczak, although he fared little better. Two drives inside the Seattle 25 came up empty
when Tomczak tossed interceptions, snuffing out any comeback hopes for the home
team. Kris Brown finally got the Steelers on the board in the fourth quarter
with a 33-yard field goal and, after Peterson kicked his club-record fifth
field goal from 38 yards out, Tomczak threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to WR Troy
Edwards. It did little to soften the blow of losing badly to Seattle by a score of 29-10.
While they didn’t score any offensive touchdowns, the
Seahawks had the most total yards (341 to 272) and first downs (16 to 15). The
Steelers turned the ball over five times, all on interceptions, to two suffered
by Seattle .
Jon Kitna completed 18 of 29 passes for 265 yards, and while
none were for touchdowns, none were intercepted either. Ricky Watters ground
out 98 yards on 29 carries. Mike Pritchard caught 6 passes for 90 yards and WR
Sean Dawkins gained 105 yards on his 5 receptions.
For the Steelers, Kordell Stewart was successful on just 7
of 14 throws for 61 yards with no TDs and three interceptions while Mike
Tomczak went to the air 27 times and completed 14 for 159 yards and a TD with
two picked off. Jerome Bettis was held to just 39 yards on 11 rushing attempts.
Troy Edwards led the receivers with 6 catches for 72 yards and a TD and WR
Courtney Hawkins contributed 5 receptions for 63 yards.
“That was huge for us,” said Jon Kitna of the big win. “We
talked all week about wanting to start fast. And it didn’t matter if it was on
offense or defense.”
“I thought our quarterback performance was very bad,” summed
up Bill Cowher.
Jon Kitna had a promising but uneven season, throwing for
3346 yards and 23 touchdowns, but of his 16 interceptions, 10 came in the last
six regular season contests and he was picked off twice in the playoff game.
Todd Peterson had a good year kicking the ball, setting a
club record with 16 straight successful field goals on his way to booting 34 in
40 attempts. Charlie Rogers led the NFL with a 14.5-yard average on his 22 punt
returns – the 94-yard return against the Steelers was his lone touchdown.
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