A Long Day for Elway as Seattle Wins

Fredd Young and Terry Taylor were missing, but John Elway must have thought the Seattle Seahawks still had too many players on defense.

The Seahawks harassed Elway into a day reminiscent of his rookie season and knocked off the two-time American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos, 21-14, Sunday.

“When John struggles, our offense struggles,” Denver Coach Dan Reeves said.

“We did not execute well offensively all day long. The Seahawks seemed to be a step ahead of us in the play calling.”

Seattle played without Young, who ended a contract dispute last week and was expected to be activated but missed Saturday’s team plane to Denver, and Taylor, who was suspended 30 days for drug use.

But the Seahawks sacked Elway 3 times, deflected 6 of his passes and forced him to throw 2 pass interceptions.

“Any time you can hold an offense like Denver’s in check like that it is a great accomplishment on the defense’s part,” Seattle Coach Chuck Knox said.

Dave Krieg broke a 7-7 tie in the third-quarter on scoring passes of 3 yards to Ray Butler and 14 yards to Curt Warner as the Seahawks won in Mile High Stadium for the first time since 1984.

Melvin Jenkins picked off a pass by Elway on the second play of the second half and returned it 20 yards to the Bronco 6-yard line. Three plays later, Krieg hit Butler in the end zone to break the tie.

“We haven’t had a history of winning here,” Krieg said. “In fact no one has had a history of winning here, especially in season openers.”

Elway hit Mark Jackson with a 20-yard scoring pass with 4:14 left, but the Seahawks ran out the clock.

Krieg completed 14 of 30 passes for 168 yards, while Elway was 21 of 45 for 257, but was 9 of 24 in the second half.

Tony Dorsett, playing in his first regular season game for the Broncos, gained just 32 yards in 9 carries and lost a fumble.

Warner gave the Seahawks a 7-0 lead on a 5-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second quarter. Steve Largent caught a 6-yard pass from Krieg during the drive, extending his NFL-record streak of consecutive games with at least one reception to 153. Largent left the game in the third quarter with a concussion after being hit by safety Mike Harden.

Denver tight end Clarence Kay was carried off the field on a stretcher in the first quarter and taken to a hospital for X-rays on his neck and back, but tests were negative. The injury was diagnosed as a bruised spinal cord.