SEATTLE – A no-huddle offense on the opening drive.
An onside kick to start the second half.
A Nebraska-like toss play on fourth-and-1.
These weren’t the highlights from a year of high school football. Just a few of the magic tricks the Buffalo Bills dropped on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon.
And wouldn’t you know it? Just about every one of them worked.
If there is an easy explanation for how the not-so-mighty Bills knocked the Seahawks back to reality with a 38-9 pasting on Sunday, it’s that Buffalo pulled lots of rabbits out of its hat.
“We knew they were going to come in with some tricks. It was just about how we responded to them,” Seahawks defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs said. “And we didn’t respond very well.”
Buffalo coach Mike Mularkey actually started the, uh, malarkey, the day before the game. Hoping to snap his team’s six-game road losing streak – including four losses this season – he changed up the typical Saturday schedule.
First, there was the cuisine. Based on a conversation he had last week with a number of head coaches across the NFL, Mularkey decided to serve cheeseburgers because that seemed like the most popular meal of winning teams.
Then he abruptly broke up a team meeting Saturday afternoon to take his team for a walk along the downtown waterfront.
Mularkey continued his unconventional ways on Sunday, when the Bills turned so many tricks that you’d have thought Heidi Fleiss was in charge.
Buffalo opened the game with a no-huddle offense that drove 60 yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead. The key third-down conversion on that drive came on a roll-right, throw-back-left screen play that looked like it had been plucked straight from the playbooks of nearby Lackawanna High.
A drive in the second quarter included two plays in which wide receiver Lee Evans ran the ball.
The trickery, and an impressive scoring drive over the final three minutes of the first half, helped the Bills take a 17-3 lead into halftime. But the comfortable advantage wasn’t enough to bring out the conservative in Mularkey.
The opening kickoff of the second half saw Buffalo kicker Rian Lindell tap the ball 11 yards before falling on it at the Bills’ 40. The onside kick was so perfect that no Seahawks player was even close enough to challenge him for the ball.
“I just do what they tell me,” said Lindell, who played at Washington State University before spending three seasons with the Seahawks. “After looking at the photos from upstairs, it looked like there was an opening on that side, so we went to it.”
The Bills exposed a Seattle special teams unit that has been riddled by injuries and the domino effect. The Seahawks have been shuffling personnel all year long, and new linebacker Curtis Randall got caught Sunday.
Playing in only his second game since coming off the practice squad, Randall was at the center of the five up-men on Seattle’s kickoff return team.
“It was the perfect play at the perfect time,” Randall said. “It was right after the half, and we’re really not expecting them to go out and do something like that.”
Seahawks linebacker Niko Koutouvides, who is also an up-man on the return team, was baffled by how easy the Bills made it look.
“I think we should have been a little closer to the ball, but guys were expecting the ball to be kicked deep,” Koutouvides said. “It was a perfect kick.”
The most important trick play of the day came early in the fourth quarter, when Buffalo passed up a field goal attempt when leading by 21 points. The Bills originally lined up in kick formation, then called timeout and decided to go for a first down on fourth-and-1.
With the offensive personnel in short-yardage formation, quarterback Drew Bledsoe took the snap and stepped toward the right side of the line as if he were going to dive forward. Instead, he stopped abruptly and made a backward, overhand throw to Willis McGahee, who caught the lateral in stride and ran 30 yards for a touchdown. McGahee went untouched until Seahawks safety Terreal Bierria tried unsuccessfully to push him out of bounds at the Seattle 2.
“It was a real nice play,” Seahawks defensive tackle Cedric Woodard said. “Everybody, even in the stands, was thinking quarterback sneak. I’ve never seen that before. It was just a good play.
“Fourth and this much? Everybody’s thinking sneak. It was just a good play. They caught us off balance.”
Too often, the Bills caught Seattle off balance Sunday.
There weren’t any fumblerooskies, statue-of-liberties or hook-and-laterals, but Buffalo tried just about everything else.
“All those things, you hope when you call them, they’re big-play potential,” Mularkey said. “Obviously, they look bad when they don’t work. But when they do, they give you a chance for big plays.”
Hawks notes
hawks notes
Linebackers exposed
The youth of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense was exposed Sunday, particularly at the linebacker position.
Injuries to outside linebackers Chad Brown and Anthony Simmons forced Seattle to rotate four players who had a combined 18 career starts entering this season. All four came into the NFL as middle linebackers, yet three are now playing on the outside.
“It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but you’ve got to do what’s asked of you,” said rookie Niko Koutouvides, who played both outside and middle linebacker on Sunday. “We’re thin; we’ve had a couple guys go down.”
While no one linebacker made a habit out of being out of position Sunday, the Bills took advantage of the inexperienced unit by rushing for 148 yards and four touchdowns. Buffalo also had success throwing to wide-open tight ends and running backs throughout the day.
Asked whether the linebacking corps was affected by the injuries, Isaiah Kacyvenski scoffed.
“It shouldn’t be,” he said. “We’re coached very well by (coordinator Ray Rhodes) and (linebackers coach) John Marshall. There should be no loss from whoever comes in as far as quality of play. We just have to be in the right spot.
“When the first guy goes down, it shouldn’t matter. We have to step in and play just as well.”
Kacyvenski led the Seahawks with 10 tackles Sunday, while middle linebacker Orlando Huff added seven. Solomon Bates, who started in place of Brown, had six tackles. Koutouvides finished with five.
Where’s Shaun gone? After moving to the top of the NFL in rushing through last weekend, Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander fell on hard times Sunday.
He had a season-low 39 yards on 13 carries in the loss to Buffalo. The last time he had less yards in a game was in a Nov. 17, 2002, loss to the Denver Broncos.
“It was just a matter of time before a team figured out what they need to do to slow us down,” said Alexander, who had five 100-yard rushing efforts in Seattle’s first nine games. ” (Buffalo) did it, so congratulations. And now we’ll move to our next phase.
“We’ve been on Phase 1 for so long, and it’s been awesome; it’s been a fun ride. But now it’s time to go to Phase 2.”
He would not comment on precisely what “Phase 2” will entail.
Alexander still leads the NFL in rushing, although his lead narrowed. Alexander now has 1,190 yards this season, four more than Edgerrin James of the Indianapolis Colts.
Tale of two big men: While Buffalo’s Sam Adams continues to perform at a Pro Bowl level, the Seahawks got a bit of a boost from their own defensive tackle Sunday.
First-round pick Marcus Tubbs had his most productive game of the season, making three tackles while helping clog up the middle at times.
“It’s a disappointing loss, but I feel like I did some good things,” Tubbs said. “But there are also some things I need to work on. This is how you get better: just by playing the game.”
Tubbs was indirectly tied to a small confrontation at the end of the first half. He replaced Rashad Moore on the final play of the second quarter, causing Moore to grouse as he walked off the field. Moore wandered along the sideline, then got into a shouting match with defensive line coach Dwaine Board.
Head coach Mike Holmgren interrupted, yelling at Moore until the situation was diffused.
“He wanted to play more,” Holmgren said of the reason for the exchange. “He has had a (strained left) shoulder all week, and he was frustrated. That’s what it was.”
Moore refused comment after the game.
Adams, who owns a local indoor football league team called the Everett Hawks, was credited with just one tackle but helped shut down Alexander. Adams also lined up in Buffalo’s offensive backfield on two of Willis McGahee’s four touchdown runs.
Boo birds: Seahawks punter Ken Walter, who was signed last Wednesday, got a rude welcome to his first Seattle game. Following a 29-yard punt on the Seahawks’ opening possession, Walter was booed by the home fans.
He wasn’t the only one. The crowd booed the Seahawks throughout the afternoon. Based on the final score, Seattle deserved it.
Quick slants: In the Bills’ last two trips to Seattle, they have beaten the Seahawks by a combined score of 80-32 while piling up 1,013 yards of total offense. Buffalo had 579 yards of offense in a 42-23 win over the Seahawks to close out the 2000 season. … After scoring a total of 36 points in their first four road games this season, the Bills had 38 on Sunday. … The first 3:06 of Sunday’s second half included two interceptions and a successful onside kick. … Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin had his second and third interceptions of the season. … Cornerback Ken Lucas had his team-high fifth interception. … The Bills converted 7 of 8 third downs in the first half and 9 of 15 for the game. Seattle was 3 of 9. … Seahawks cornerback Bobby Taylor and Bills cornerback Troy Vincent, who were teammates in Philadelphia last season, both missed the game with knee injuries. … Seahawks right tackle Chris Terry did not attend the game so he could attend to his ill mother in Florida. Floyd Womack replaced him in the starting lineup. … Defensive end Chike Okeafor injured his ankle in the second quarter, but returned in the second half. The injury will be re-evaluated today.
Scott M. Johnson, Herald writer
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
