Bengals Ground the Seahawks : Cincinnati Stops Stumbling Seattle in a Rush, 21-13

The AFC Jest, uh, West can rest easy. The Seattle Seahawks did this miserable division proud in Saturday’s playoff game, which is to say they lost, 21-13, to the Cincinnati Bengals--and in grand, predictable, AFC Jest style, too.

What a floor show the Seahawks offer. They fake injuries. They fumble. They throw interceptions. Ground Chuck turns into Ground Stuck, what with a paltry 18 yards rushing. They miss crucial extra points.

The Seahawks even tease a Riverfront Stadium audience of 58,560 with a furious fourth-quarter comeback that, of course, falls AFC Jest short.

Back West, the Raiders were probably applauding, the Denver Broncos tipping a cap, the San Diego Chargers punching their fists into the air. The AFC West reputation lives:

When in doubt, lose.

How desperate did it become for the Seahawks? Well, every time the Bengals appeared ready to bolt to the line of scrimmage, their no-huddle offense stoked to go, a Seahawk nose tackle would crash to the ground in supposed agony. Joe Nash was stricken four times with the mysterious ailment, and Ken Clarke, Nash’s understudy, was felled twice.

Miraculously, they returned to the lineup--but not before the Seahawks were able to insert an extra defensive back or two into the secondary.

“I feel sorry for the poor guy,” Bengal quarterback Boomer Esiason said of Nash. “He got hurt so much. But he’ll have a lot of time now to sit back and let it heal.”

Nash wasn’t talking afterward, what with the pain and all.

And so much for all that talk of playoff experience. The Seahawks, led by the legendary Chuck Knox and a veteran playoff quarterback, Dave Krieg, were thought to hold an intangible edge, as if knowledge could triumph over talent.

They would have been better off with the Bengal home-field advantage--9-0 this season. Or as an added bonus, the Bengal offensive line--meaty and overpowering--and running backs Stanley Wilson, James Brooks and Ickey Woods, who bullied their way to 254 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.

“I felt that we could run on them,” Woods said. “I pretty much think we can run on everybody.”

This wasn’t exactly how the Bengals planned it. Sure, they had the league’s No. 1 rushing attack, but Esiason said he had been assured by Bengal coaches that the game plan would be as wide as the Ohio River. Instead, Esiason finished the day with only 7 completions in 19 tries for a modest 108 yards. It marked the third consecutive game that Esiason has attempted only 19 passes.

“For a while there, I felt like Jamelle Holieway, always handing the ball off,” he said.

There are worse fates than watching Wilson score twice on runs of 3 yards apiece, or Brooks dash through gaping holes for 72 yards, or Woods lumber for 126 yards and 1 touchdown, a 1-yard run that led to the league’s most overrated dance step, the Ickey Shuffle. Esiason could have had Krieg’s job, which was win a game with running backs Curt Warner and John L. Williams doing the Seattle Freeze.

Warner checked out of Riverfront Stadium with 11 yards on 8 carries. Williams gained 6 yards.

And in one of your better pregame prophecies, Bengal Coach Sam Wyche all but guaranteed that Williams would fumble the ball away at a crucial moment. Sure enough, with the Seahawks trailing, 21-0, in the second quarter but the ball on the Bengal 8, Williams plowed into the line and lost the ball.

It was his first fumble of the season.

Things got worse for the Seahawks, though it’s difficult to imagine how after a first half that saw them earn only 3 first downs and gain not a single yard rushing.

Meanwhile, the Bengals were scoring on three of their five first-half possessions. They couldn’t be stopped, not even with starting right tackle Joe Walter out with a season-ending knee injury. Brian Blados took his place and played as if he had been there all season. He even persuaded the rest of the offensive line to wear tiny 63 patches--in honor of Walter, his best friend.

Blados was assigned to the Seahawks’ Jacob Green, their all-time sack leader. Green left here with not a one.

“But he played the run really well,” Blados offered.

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Bengals were still ahead, 21-0, Nash had dropped to the turf three times and Clarke once, and the Seahawks had botched two scoring chances inside the Cincinnati 10.

They also said they were victimized by a bad call and subsequent television review that cost them a touchdown.

With the ball on the Bengal 11, Krieg found wide receiver Brian Blades crouched in the end zone. The ball, thrown low, zoomed toward Blades’ hands.

Blades said he caught the pass. The officials didn’t. Three plays later, the Seahawks failed to convert on a fourth-and-2 play from the Cincinnati 3.

“I think I was robbed,” Blades said.

Said Krieg: “All I saw was the live version of it and it looked good to me. He thought he caught it; I thought he caught it.”

Maybe it was all related to a bizarre Krieg Cold Theory. Someone tabulated Krieg’s record when the game-time temperature is 45 degrees or lower. He’s 3-9.

The temperature at kickoff? A chilly 42 degrees. . . and dropping.

Krieg had other explanations. More believable ones, too.

“I think they kind of stunned us a bit,” he said. “It was like a boxing match or something. I just wish we would have gotten a score in the first half.”

Or even the third quarter. Instead, the Seahawks waited until the final period to start annoying the Bengals.

Williams caught a 3-yard swing pass with 11:40 remaining to cut the lead to 21-7. Then Krieg sprinted for a 1-yard score with 6:05 left to put the Seahawks within eight points--which, of course, would be only seven when Norm Johnson kicked the extra point.

But Johnson missed wide right. It was his first botched extra point in 41 tries.

The errant kick meant the Seahawks needed two scores, not one, in the the final 6 minutes.

“When he missed, I said, ‘At least we can win and not go to overtime,” Krieg said. “I was that confident that we could come back and score 10 points.”

Krieg was wrong, of course. Such is the law of the AFC Jest.