Falcons Can’t Keep Seahawks Down

The Seattle Seahawks may have lost a 12-point lead in the final quarter, but they didn’t lose their poise.

Dave Krieg’s fourth touchdown pass, a 12-yarder to Paul Skansi with 35 seconds left, gave the Seahawks a 30-26 victory over the winless Atlanta Falcons Sunday.

The defeat was the 15th in 16 games for the Falcons (0-6).

The victory kept the Seahawks (4-2) tied for the AFC West lead with the Raiders and Denver.

“We gave up the lead, but we didn’t quit and die,” said Seahawk running back Curt Warner. “This isn’t a game for doubters. We were confident when we were in the huddle on that last drive.”

There were four touchdowns, a field goal and a safety in the 33-point final period as Seattle grabbed a 21-9 lead, and fell behind, 26-21, before pulling out the victory.

Seattle converted two fourth-down situations into first downs on the winning touchdown drive.

Curt Warner rushed four yards for a first down on a fourth-and-one play at the Seahawks’ 43. Krieg hit Largent with a 10-yard pass with Seattle on the Atlanta 22 with fourth down and four. Largent went out of bounds to stop the clock with 42 seconds left.

“We battled and scraped and we came back,” Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox. “That showed a lot of character.

“We came down the field at the end and scored. That’s the main thing.”

The Seahawks trailed, 26-21, when they started on their own 14-yard line with 5:17 to go. They went 86 yards in 16 plays, all but one in the air, for the game-winning touchdown.

Krieg, who completed 33 of 51 passes for 405 yards, found Skansi all alone in the back of the end zone.

With 20 seconds to go, Randy Edwards caused Atlanta quarterback Dave Archer to fumble on a play that started on the Falcons’ 20, and the ball bounced out of the end zone for a Seattle safety.

Krieg also had scoring passes of 12 yards to Steve Largent, 32 yards to Charle Young and 24 yards to Byron Walker. His pass to Walker gave Seattle its 21-9 lead.

Archer, starting ahead of 10-year veteran Steve Bartkowski, rallied the Falcons in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Billy Johnson and a 37-yard scoring pass to Anthony Allen for a 23-21 lead.

Mick Luckhurst kicked his fourth field goal of the game, a 40-yarder, for Atlanta’s final points before Kreig marched the Seahawks to the deciding touchdown.