Hawks Stun Bills Seattle’s Defensive Domination Produces Victory Over Buffalo

All it took for Seattle to win was nine quarterback sacks, five forced turnovers, a missed tackle by sure-fire Hall of Famer Bruce Smith and a couple of hideous throws by Canton-bound quarterback Jim Kelly.

Even with all that, it wasn’t easy.

Of course, if you had taken the beating Buffalo’s Kelly took, you might have tossed a couple up for grabs, too. The Seahawks squeezed out 20 points after Buffalo turnovers and upset the Bills 26-18 on Sunday as 41,373 watched in the Kingdome.

The defense supplied the defense and the offense as Seattle improved to 6-8. Coupled with New England’s win, Buffalo (9-5) dropped out of the AFC East lead.

“I don’t care who the quarterback is. When you don’t have time, you disrupt the offense,” said Hawks safety Darryl Williams, who punctuated two interceptions with 73 return yards and added a fumble recovery. “You have to tip your hat to our defensive line.”

Kelly passed for 324 yards, but more important figures were the 25-30 times he was hurried or knocked down. The punishment first left Kelly frustrated, as evidenced by his second-quarter tirade at tight end Lonnie Johnson and a sideline scream session at his linemen. Finally in the fourth quarter, Michael Sinclair sacked Kelly and forced a fumble that Sam Adams scooped up at the Bills’ 13. Kelly injured his shoulder on the play.

Seattle’s Lamar Smith, subbing as Chris Warren watched with a muscle cramp in one leg, slipped out of Bruce Smith’s grasp and scored on a 12-yard run. Seattle led 26-11 with 8:41 remaining.

Kelly lasted one more possession before two more sacks ushered his battered body to the bench. Backup Todd Collins directed a TD drive to make it 26-18 and the Bills regained possession as an on-sides kick bounded off the hands of Seattle’s Carlester Crumpler to Buffalo’s Eric Moulds. Seattle’s “Hands Team,” comprised of sticky-fingered ball-handlers picked to receive an onsides kick, sort of lived up to its name. It handed Buffalo another chance.

But Collins was intercepted by Jay Bellamy to end Buffalo’s final threat. “Every time I looked up I was chasing somebody,” said Bills center Kent Hull, referring to the turnovers.

“They had a lot of different schemes and a lot of tricks that confused me and the tackle,” Johnson said. “They would show us something, then take it away when the ball was snapped.”

The Hawks blitzed 70 percent of the time - by defensive coordinator Greg Mc Mackin’s estimation, - to come within two sacks of the club record set 10 years ago against the Raiders.

Sinclair had three sacks, two after he sprained his foot, to give him 12 on the season. Denver’s Alfred Williams entered Sunday with a league-leading 13.

Cortez Kennedy and Antonio Edwards each added two sacks, and Robert Blackmon and Michael McCrary had one apiece. The linemen and blitzers could freely pursue Kelly because the Hawks built an early lead and generally swallowed up the Bills running game.

“Our defense gave us the ball so many times,” Hawks offensive lineman James Atkins said, “we had to do something.”

They did, though just barely. Thurman Thomas fumbled on the Bills’ first play and Williams recovered at Buffalo’s 44. Seattle quarterback Rick Mirer led Joey Galloway perfectly on a 27-yard TD pass for a 7-0 lead.

Williams’ interception and 39-yard return set up the first of Todd Peterson’s four field goals. Peterson added two 3-pointers in the second quarter - one after Sinclair’s fourth-down sack of Kelly and the other following an interception on a poorly thrown pass - and Seattle led 16-0.

“That was an unbelievable defensive effort,” Hawks coach Dennis Erickson said. “They made the plays when they had to. Offensively, we had no consistency.”

Buffalo closed to 16-8 with a TD just before half. Seattle tacked on Peterson’s last field goal midway through the third quarter following Warren’s 51-yard run.

Mirer started 3 of 4 for 100 yards, but finished just 9 of 23 for 147. His main contribution was the TD pass to Galloway.

Seattle’s offensive shortcomings were familiar - failures on third down and in the red zone. The Hawks converted only 13 percent on third down, far below their league-worst average of 32.1 percent.

, DataTimes