| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
SEATTLE (AP) -- Rookie Rian Lindell was the Seattle Seahawks'
hero at a time when they needed a hero the most.
Lindell's 48-yard field goal as time expired ended Seattle's
five-game losing streak and gave the Seahawks a 17-15 victory over
the winless San Diego Chargers on Sunday.
|  | | Rian Lindell, right, kicked the game winner as time expired just over a month after signing with the Seahawks as a free agent. |
"I knew I hit it well, it had good rotation, I was just hoping
it would get there," Lindell said.
Lindell was signed as a free agent Sept. 26 after the Seahawks
cut rookie kicker Kris Heppner.
"What a huge kick," veteran guard Pete Kendall said. "He
bailed 52 of us out of that game."
Lindell was 6-for-8 in field goals as the Seahawks went 0-5 in
October. He missed a 21-yarder in a loss to Indianapolis.
"I've learned I've got to kick all my field goals all the
same," Lindell said. "I've got to kick them as hard as a I can."
The Chargers dropped to 0-9, losing their second straight game
on a field goal in the final seconds. Oakland's Sebastian
Janikowski beat San Diego 15-13 on a field goal with 13 seconds
left last Sunday night.
San Diego has lost five games by three points or fewer.
"It's sickening to lose another game like that," coach Mike
Riley said.
|
TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
|
Question on the Chargers: Is Mike Riley's job in jeopardy?
Donahoe: You cannot blame Mike Riley completely for the Chargers' 0-9
record. But as is usually the case, the head coach gets too much credit when
a team wins and too much blame when it loses. So his job probably is in
jeopardy. Riley and his staff should be encouraged by the Chargers' effort
in recent weeks. Riley is an outstanding coach who is in a difficult
situation. When the Chargers selected Ryan Leaf several years ago, they
anticipated that he would be their quarterback of the future. Up to this
point, that move has not worked out. Riley has been hurt by this move and
some other personnel decisions in San Diego.
Question on the Seahawks: What can Seattle take from this game to
build on for the future?
Donahoe: Basically, they'll take the win. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't
artistic, but they found a way to win the football game. And any time that
you win in this league, it's great for the morale and spirit of your
football team -- from the players to the coach to the entire organization.
For the Seahawks, it will help them continue to work as they battle through
some of the problems that have contributed to an up-and-down season.
Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director
of football operations.
|
San Diego had 398 total yards to Seattle's 128. The Chargers had
a big advantage in possession time, 39:51 to 20:09.
"I constantly was looking at the scoreboard," San Diego safety
Rodney Harrison said. "They had 77 yards and 14 points. You can't
go by the stats."
Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said, "We were lousy on offense.
We're not playing with any confidence."
Seattle drove from its own 34 to the San Diego 30 to position
Lindell for his winning field goal. The Seahawks overcame a holding
penalty on Christian Fauria that wiped out a 14-yard touchdown run
by Ricky Watters with 1:15 to go.
On a third-and-16 from the San Diego 37, Jon Kitna eluded a
tackle by Neil Smith and threw an 18-yard pass to rookie Darrell
Jackson to put the Seahawks in field-goal range.
The Chargers took a 15-14 lead with 5:40 left on John Carney's
28-yard field goal.
Moses Moreno came off the bench to replace the injured Jim
Harbaugh at quarterback and drive the Chargers 73 yards in 14 plays
in 9:12 to position Carney for his third field goal of the day.
Harbaugh said he had to come out of the game because of a pulled
muscle in his abdomen. He said he injured it in practice Thursday
and aggravated it during the game.
"It came to the point where I couldn't get anything on the
ball," said Harbaugh, who was 22-for-32 for 236 yards and one
touchdown with one interception. "My balls were starting to
loop."
In the third quarter, the Chargers got a 41-yard field goal from
Carney and then used Harrison's interception of a pass by Kitna to
get the ball back at the Seattle 44. Harbaugh passed 10 yards to
Curtis Conway for a touchdown to cut the Seahawks' lead to 14-12,
but Harbaugh failed on a 2-point conversion run.
Two fumbled center snaps between Roman Fortin and Harbaugh led
to two Seattle touchdowns to give the Seahawks a 14-3 lead.
Chad Brown's recovery of Harbaugh's fumble on the first play of
the second quarter gave Seattle the ball on the San Diego 21. Five
plays later, Kitna passed 10 yards to Sean Dawkins for the
Seahawks' first touchdown.
Harbaugh's second fumble was recovered by George Koonce at the
San Diego 33. Kitna found Fauria for a 10-yard TD pass four plays
later.
San Diego got a 19-yard field goal by Carney on the final play
of the opening half.
Game notes
San Diego has Miami, Kansas City, San Francisco, Carolina
and Pittsburgh left on its schedule. No team has ever gone 0-16
since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. The 1976
expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14. ... Chargers PR Nate
Jacquet suffered a concussion. ... Early in the first quarter,
Watters and Junior Seau of the Chargers grabbed each other's face
masks after Watters dropped a third-down pass from Kitna. "Ricky
wanted a hug and I said no," Seau said. ... Seahawks CB Willie
Williams suffered a sprained neck for the second straight week. He
will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test on Monday.
| |
ALSO SEE
San Diego Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
|
