Seahawks history with season openers

By Kshell

The Seahawks led by Pete Carroll take on the San Francisco 49ers this sunday down in San Francisco. This will be the second straight season that the Seahawks open their season with the 49ers. The Seahawks are 6-3 since moving to the NFC in their openers. The Seahawks are led by the new face of their franchise safety Earl Thomas who appears to be the only jersey that is safe to buy nowadays. The Seahawks are also opening up with a new era of quarterback play with Tarvaris Jackson making the start. This will be the first time since 2000 when Jon Kitna started against the Miami Dolphins that Matt Hasselbeck won't be starting for the Seahawks. The Seahawks are a team in transition heading into this opener against the 49ers just like last season. What I'll do in this following post is I'll bring up the Seahawks history in season opening games.

I'll start with last years season opening win over the 49ers. You can read more in depth about the win by clicking on this link . The Seahawks were expected to do horribly last season while the 49ers were predicted by many to win the division. The Seahawks were being dominated in the first quarter and a half trailing only 6-0 as the 49ers had to settle for two field goals and were stuffed on a fourth and goal. The Seahawks finally scored when Matt Hasselbeck after hitting Mike Williams with a long pass scored on a one yard quarterback keeper. Then shortly after that Jordan Babineaux intercepted an Alex Smith pass which set up a Hasselbeck touchdown pass to Deon Butler. To start the third quarter Marcus Trufant then intercepted Smith's pass and went for a 32 yard touchdown to give the Seahawks a commanding 21-6 lead.  Hasselbeck would later hit Deion Branch for a three yard touchdown to go up 28-6. The Seahawks would win 31-6 as Hasselbeck would go 18-23 for 170 yards passing with two touchdowns and another one rushing. The Seahawks had began the Pete Carroll era with a win. Prior to Carroll only the coach he replaced Jim Mora Jr. the year before had won his first season opening game which the Seahawks shutout the Rams 28-0.

The Seahawks as a franchise begin in 1976 and in that year they played their first ever game at home against the St.Louis Cardinals. The Seahawks at first played like an expansion team as they trailed to the Cardinals 23-3. Jim Zorn would then start the comeback as he would hit Sam McCullum for a 15 yard touchdown to pull within 23-10. That was also the first touchdown in Seahawks franchise history. After allowing another touchdown the Seahawks were trailing 30-10. Zorn then hit McCullum for a 72 yard touchdown bombs to pull within 30-17. Zorn on the following drive scored on an eight yard touchdown run to pull within 30-24. The comeback would stop just short as the Seahawks would fall 30-24. Zorn would finish the game 17 of 37 passing for 292 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He would also rush for 26 yards with a touchdown. McCullum finished with four receptions for 112 yards with two touchdowns. Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent finished with five receptions for 86 yards as well.

The Seahawks would lose their first eight season openers including losing all four at home in the 1970's. In 1983 at Kansas City the Seahawks had highly drafted running back Curt Warner take his very first career of his NFL career for a 60 yard touchdown. The Seahawks would lose that game and would have to wait until 1984. The Seahawks were playing at home to the Cleveland Browns and because of a scheduling conflict with the Seattle Mariners the Seahawks were playing on a Monday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Most of the fans were at work and the game wasn't on t.v. The Seahawks would destroy the Browns 33-0 as they were building from the momentum of their AFC Championship game appearance from the year before. In that game though the Seahawks would lose second year running back Warner for the season. That year the Seahawks would go 12-4 but lose to Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins in the second round of the playoffs.

The Seahawks as a franchise have struggled in season openers. In the 1970's the Seahawks went 0-4, in the 1980's went 4-6 and in the 1990's went 2-8. The Seahawks are 13-22 all-time on season openers and 6-10 at home with 7-12 on the road. Then everything changed with the Matt Hasselbeck era. Hasselbeck went 7-3 in season opening games including 4-0 at home. Mike Holmgren was 5-5 in season opening games but began his career 1-3. In 2003 the Seahawks blew out the New Orleans Saints 27-10 which includes a famous knockout by rookie safety Ken Hamlin. The Seahawks were led by Shaun Alexander as he ran for 108 yards with a touchdown while catching another touchdown. Hasselbeck completed 12 of 23 passes for 137 yards with two touchdowns. That was the start of the Seahawks making five straight playoff appearances and winning six of their next eight season opening games.

In conclusion, the Seahawks haven't had the best history of season openers but lately they are 6-2(.750) which is good to know.  The season opener is pretty important as of 1990 only 24% of week one losing teams have made the playoffs. In years the Seahawks have made the playoffs they are 7-4 in season openers but did lose in 2005 the year they made the Super Bowl. The season is almost here and hopefully this Sunday can add to the list of many great Seahawks openers in the past. This is a divisional game against another team many expect to do poorly. Hopefull Jackson can light it up by hitting Mike Williams early and often. Carroll is 13-1 in season openers dating to his NFL and college days. Carroll will be looking to gain some revenge on Jim Harbaugh as he makes his 49ers debut down in San Francisco. The Seahawks open the season this Sunday and I'm sure everyone who is tired of watching the Mariners sucking are excited!