Seahawks Take Wing Against Saints, 27-3

Whatever quarterback Dave Krieg tried seemed to work, but he didn’t take the credit.

Krieg said he was just following orders from the sidelines Sunday while leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 27-3 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

“The coaches made good calls,” Krieg said. “They were just right. It just seemed like everything was kind of open.”

Krieg found open receivers, particularly on third-down situations.

He passed for 282 yards and a clinching 15-yard touchdown pass to Darryl Turner with 4:08 left in the game as the Seahawks (6-4) wrapped up the victory with a 17-point fourth quarter.

New Orleans Coach Bum Phillips wasn’t so happy with his quarterback, saying he will replace Dave Wilson with either Richard Todd or Bobby Hebert next week against the New York Jets.

“I just said I’d start one of them. I didn’t say which one,” Phillips said.

Wilson was 13 of 22 for 156 yards and was also sacked 8 times for 60 yards in losses.

Todd, last year’s starter after being acquired in a trade with the New York Jets, said he didn’t think that the change of starters should be construed as criticism of Wilson.

“I’ve been in both situations,” Todd said. “A lot of the criticism was unfair to me last year, and it’s probably unfair to Dave this year.”

The Seattle defense allowed New Orleans to keep the ball only four minutes in the final quarter also scored a fourth-quarter touchdown when defensive end Jacob Green picked off Wilson’s tipped pass and ran it 19 yards for a touchdown.

Norm Johnson added field goals of 32 and 26 yards in the final-quarter outburst.

Curt Warner scored a touchdown for Seattle on a one-yard run with 46 seconds left in the first half to make it 7-3 after the Saints (3-7) opened the scoring on Morten Andersen’s 24-yard field goal midway through the first quarter.

Krieg hit 6 of 7 attempts for 61 yards on Seattle’s first touchdown drive, an 11-play, 81-yard march. He also ran the ball twice for 14 yards on the drive.

The drive to Johnson’s field goal was a 15-play march that consumed 8:48. Krieg was 5 for 5 for 58 yards on that drive.

The final touchdown drive was a four-play, 61-yard thrust. The bulk of the yardage came on a 43-yard pass from Krieg to Steve Largent, who has caught at least one pass in 117 straight games.

Largent had five receptions for 110 yards.