BOB, GROZ AND TOM
Groz Remembers: Seahawks’ win over Eagles reminiscent of late push in 1986
Dec 4, 2017, 2:28 PM | Updated: Dec 6, 2017, 1:47 pm
Sunday's win wasn't the Seahawks' first notable late-season victory over the Eagles. (AP)
(AP)
Remember back in 1986 when the Seahawks became the best team in football the last five weeks of the season?
I was thinking about it Sunday night as the Seahawks were pounding the Philadelphia Eagles into submission. The ’86 team was 5-6 and a big disappointment after a 3-0 start, and some thought they were just playing out the string when a win over the Eagles propelled them on an unlikely run. It was a lousy Eagles team coached by Buddy Ryan, and the Seahawks still nearly blew a 21-6 lead before holding on to win 24-20.
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Suddenly the Seahawks were unbeatable, annihilating the Cowboys and Raiders in back-to-back weeks, crushing the lowly Chargers and burying the division champion Broncos the final week of the season.
The five-game tear had the Hawks at 10-6, and it all started with a home win over the Eagles. That team was certainly different than the 2017 team, as the Seahawks were led by a 1,400-plus yard season from Curt Warner.
The bad news is that 10-6 wasn’t good enough for the playoffs and Seattle missed out on the postseason for the second straight year. The good news is the current team is 8-4, and if Seattle runs the table it will be at 12 wins and making another playoff appearance.
There was a silver lining for the ’86 team. Buoyed by the acquisition of a plucky young linebacker from Stanford named Dave Wyman, they returned to the playoffs in 1987.
