The Only Knock on Knox Is Super Bowl : Coach Who Has Never Been There Faces Rams, Dickerson Tonight

Chuck Knox of the Seattle Seahawks ranks fifth in career victories (114) among active National Football League coaches and has the seventh best winning percentage (64.4%).

He is the only coach to take three different teams to the playoffs. One was tonight’s opponent, the Rams, five consecutive times in the ‘70s. Then there have been the Buffalo Bills and the Seahawks, twice each. That’s nine playoffs in 12 years with teams that were losers the year before he arrived.

But no other coach has been to the playoffs so often without getting to the Super Bowl. Before reaching the end of his rainbow, Knox keeps running into a wall.

If he’s such a great coach, the devil’s advocate asks, why hasn’t he been to the Super Bowl?

The response comes from a surprising source, Pat Haden, who says: “Because he has never had a great quarterback.”

Haden was one of five starting quarterbacks whom Knox had in five years with the Rams, from 1973 through 1977. In some ways, Haden was a lot like Dave Krieg: bright, not physically impressive, runs a little, adequate but not an extraordinary arm.

Now some people around the league believe that Knox may have found the Northwest Passage to the Super Bowl with Krieg, who threw 32 touchdown passes last season and is ranked first among NFL quarterbacks after two games this season with eight scoring passes and no interceptions.

No interceptions--that’s the part that Knox likes. The Seahawks haven’t lost a fumble, either.

Three traits seem to follow Knox, wherever he goes: His teams play tough defense, don’t burp up the ball, and the quarterback, while handing off a lot, is usually ranked among the passing leaders.

This year it’s been two out of three, but that isn’t bad. The Seahawks, like the Rams, are 2-0 and widely regarded as a Super Bowl contender.

But Knox says: “If our offense had not played outstanding ball the first two games (28-24 at Cincinnati, 49-35 at San Diego), we would be 0 and 2 right now, because our defense has not played well.”

The last time the Rams played in Seattle, in 1979, they won, 24-0, limiting the Seahawks to a league record minus-7 yards. That game also ended the most successful phase of Haden’s NFL career; he caught the little finger of his passing hand in a seam of the Kingdome carpet and broke it. Up to that moment he had completed a team record 13 consecutive passes.

Enter Vince Ferragamo; on to the Super Bowl for the Rams.

Knox was long gone to Buffalo by then, but he continued to get the most out of quarterbacks with limited abilities. Haden was 12-4-1 as a starter for Knox and played in the ’77 Pro Bowl. James Harris was the most valuable player in the ’74 Pro Bowl. Joe Ferguson produced for a while at Buffalo, and Krieg--a free agent from a defunct little college named Milton--is a star at Seattle.

“I guess maybe it’s the style,” Knox says. “We work very hard on the fundamentals and techniques.”

But somewhere, that extra ingredient has been lacking. In Los Angeles, Knox’s critics said his offense lacked imagination.

“I don’t think people (in general) said we were dull,” Knox said last week. “Certain media down there did. We’ve always tried to do what we had to do to win.”

The Rams figure to show the strongest defense the Seahawks have faced. And the Seahawk offense is playing much better than any the Rams have seen.

When the ball changes possession, the level of play may drop to mediocre--dull even--except for one factor: the return of Eric Dickerson.

“I expect they’re gonna run him,” Knox said, offering no special insight.

How effective Dickerson can be in his first action since breaking O.J. Simpson’s NFL single-season rushing record last season is questionable.

Ram Coach John Robinson noted in Dickerson’s first practices last week: “Obviously, he has a lot of spring in his legs from not having a lot of activity. When a guy comes in fresh, he always looks very fast--especially when he is very fast.

“I suppose the thing I worry most about is fumbling . . . getting hit and the ball coming loose.”

That would not be a new experience for Dickerson. Last season he fumbled 16 times, losing 12. But, 2,105 yards forgives a lot. Even Knox might look the other way.

Knox said: “If there’s one position where you can come right back and play, it’s running back. It’s not like he’s a rookie who missed (learning) everything. He’ll fit right in. He’ll be quicker and faster than ever.”

That’s what Seattle fans have been saying about their runner, Curt Warner, who crowned his comeback from a severe ’84 knee injury with 169 yards rushing last week against San Diego.

“Getting Curt Warner back has really helped us,” Knox said. “His presence on the field opens up a lot of other things besides just his running. It makes defensive linemen more concerned with the run (and) takes a bit off the pass rush.”

This is only the second time that Knox has coached against the Rams since he left them eight years ago. The first was a highly emotional 10-7 overtime win in Buffalo in 1980.

“No special thoughts,” Knox said. “When we played ‘em in Buffalo, some of the players we had with the Rams were still there.”

Six of the current Rams played for Knox: Nolan Cromwell, Reggie Doss, Carl Ekern, Dennis Harrah, Jackie Slater and Doug Smith. Others, such as Isiah Robertson, Bill Simpson and Ron Jessie, followed him to Buffalo. One, tight end Charle Young, caught up with him at Seattle after a three-year stopover in San Francisco.

The oddity is that Young, acquired in a trade with the Eagles for Ron Jaworski, didn’t start for Knox with the Rams. Now, at 34, he plays regularly for the Seahawks after being acquired on waivers from the San Francisco 49ers in 1983.