Streak Hitter Krieg Comes Up With Home Runs : Seahawk Quarterback Is Able to Pick Raider Defense Apart in 37-0 Victory

SEATTLE — When was the last time you saw the Raider defense destroyed by a passer--any passer?

It happened as recently as Monday night, in the Kingdome, if you could bear to watch.

In one of their worst beatings as a Los Angeles football club, the Raiders were taken out of the game in the first half by a journeyman quarterback, Dave Krieg, who led the Seattle Seahawks to a 37-0 rout.

“Dave has never played better than in our last two games,” Seattle Coach Chuck Knox said afterward, meaning this game and the one in Dallas Thanksgiving Day, when the Seahawks beat the Cowboys, 31-14.

That was half the story here. The other half was written by the Raider defense, which failed at both the line of scrimmage and in the secondary.

Partly because Howie Long isn’t what he used to be before he was hurt, the Raiders couldn’t put much pressure on Krieg’s pocket.

And, in the secondary, there were more open spaces between Raider defensive backs and their quarries than, perhaps, you’ve ever seen before.

“(The Raiders) mixed in some zone defenses with a lot of combination coverages,” Knox said. “They’re not the man-to-man (defensive) team they used to be. And what happened tonight was that Dave found the single (covered) guy quickly and got him the ball before they reacted.”

It isn’t easy for a man-to-man team to adjust to different kinds of defensive patterns. For one thing, this particular team’s linebackers weren’t chosen for their ability to play pass defense.

And so the Raiders’ whole defensive network unraveled slightly in Seattle on a night when the other team’s quarterback was playing like an All-Pro.

There were, of course, other reasons for the Raider organization’s fifth straight Kingdome defeat. Seahawk halfback Curt Warner was one reason. This season, Warner has been disabling run defenses the way Marcus Allen did before he was injured. The Raiders also had problems here in their offensive line, making it a long night for their quarterbacks.

But this was a game that was won and lost when the Raider pass defense couldn’t hold Krieg in the 24-0 first half.

Krieg, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 243 yards, is known in the National Football League as a streak hitter. Only six weeks ago, in fact, Knox benched him for two games.

How could he play so poorly then and so sensationally now?

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Knox said.

Said Krieg: “I didn’t think I was playing that bad.”

Said Seattle assistant coach Ken Meyer: “I think Dave was trying to do too much (when he slumped). We had lost some of our best players, and he was trying too hard. It’s kind of the way it is with (Jet quarterback) Ken O’Brien now. You try to do too much, you can’t do anything.”

Earlier in the season, with Krieg in good form, the Seahawks started 5-2. But when injuries cost them their two most valuable players--safety Ken Easley and center Blair Bush--they felt it. And, maybe, Krieg felt it the most.

That’s a likely explanation. Another possible explanation was inadvertently suggested by Knox when he said: “You have to remember that Krieg is an overachiever. He doesn’t have the strongest arm in the league.”

Krieg’s strengths are his field presence and the fact that he’s hard to fluster. He is more stable psychologically than almost any other quarterback.

When he feels comfortable with his arm, he equals almost any passer in his ability to find the open receiver.

It’s tough to make a living as a passer Krieg’s way, but he has been an overachiever since his days at Wisconsin’s Milton College, and he must be used to it now.

In any event, his first pass Monday night was a perfect bomb to wide receiver Byron Franklin, who was open by five yards. His second was dropped. And his third was thrown for a touchdown to Steve Largent, who was coming across on the Raider two-yard line at a moment when the Raiders’ defensive backs were all in the end zone, playing combination, maybe, or zone or whatever.

Thereafter, Krieg hit everything he was aiming at until the game was effectively over. In the entire first half, he threw only three incompletes. One was the drop. One was a strike that the Raiders’ Sammy Seale played right.

The third was a last-second Hail Mary pitch.

There was, in other words, too much Krieg, too little rush, too much confusion in the Raider secondary, and too much noise. Jim Plunkett couldn’t overcome all that.