In Seattle, This Disease Is Called Fumbleitis

The disease is fumbleitis.

It has turned the usually dependable Ground Chuck offense into the Upchuck Attack. Twenty-seven times this season, the Seattle Seahawks have launched the football onto the playing field. Nine times it has been recovered by the enemy.

“If it continues long enough, the coach gets fired or you replace the player,” offensive coordinator John Becker said. “Ultimately, one or two will happen.”

What has caused this sickness has escaped the collective minds of the coaches and players. Each looks at the other bewildered. Fumbleitis has affected the concentration of the entire offense. Blockers aren’t blocking. Receivers aren’t receiving. Runners aren’t running.

“This really is not like us,” quarterback Dave Krieg said. “I don’t know what is causing the fumbles. I just don’t know. It’s weird.”

The season has been so weird that NFL Films could devote its entire NFL Follies films to the Seahawks’ first nine games. They’ve had a field-goal snap hit a holder’s helmet earhole. Pitchouts have become an adventure. Quarterback exchanges can be humorous.

If anything, the Seahawks have found more unusual ways to put the football on the ground than those cavalier days when the expansion franchise entered the league.

Overall, the Seahawks, thanks to their eight-fumble performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, are running away with this year’s fumble championship. The 27 fumbles lead the Redskins by four and the next four most-frequent bobblers--Denver, Green Bay, Detroit and the Houston Oilers--by seven.

Quarterback Dave Krieg is tied for most individual fumbles with Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien with 11. Krieg, who had 10 or 11 fumbles a year between 1983 and 1987, has fumbled five exchanges with center Grant Feasel, two pitchouts to running backs, one on a play-action fake when the ball hit the body of fullback John L. Williams and three while being sacked.

Rypien, benched by Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs a week ago, fumbled 11 of the 12 times he was sacked this year.

“I’ve always thought that wherever there is a problem with the quarterback-center exchange, it’s got to be the fault of the quarterback,” Krieg said. “He’s got his hands in there and if you can’t get the ball, you stay in there longer. That’s what my first coach taught me.”

The NFL record for fumbles in one season is held by past and current quarterbacks for the Oilers--Dan Pastorini in 1973 and Warren Moon in 1984. Each had 17. Typically, quarterbacks fumble more than other players because they handle the ball more. Last year’s fumble champions were quarterbacks Randall Cunningham of the Philadelphia Eagles with 12 and Ken O’Brien of the New York Jets with 11.

Each year, half a dozen to a dozen quarterbacks will have 10 or more fumbles.

Halfback Curt Warner, having his most difficult season, leads Seahawks’ running backs with six fumbles. Five have been on runs. The other was on a short pass reception.

Fullback John L. Williams has fumbled on a carry and on a reception. Wide receiver Brian Blades fumbled twice against the Chiefs. Receiver Louis Clark had one in the season opener against the Eagles. Special teams have tossed in four. Free safety Eugene Robinson fumbled once after an interception.

“If you analyze what we’ve been doing on offense and defense, we are minus five in the giveaway-takeaway ratio,” Coach Chuck Knox said. “That’s a big factor. Historically, that has been a strength of our football team. We’ve usually said if you are even in the giveaway-takeaway, you’re going to be a .500 team.”

In reality, the numbers should look worse. There have been 23 dropped passes this year. Seahawks have been sacked 27 times, 10 more than the defense has recorded. The Seahawks have thrown 12 interceptions.

That means 84 of the team’s 591 offensive plays have been screwed up.

Twenty-two turnovers have been converted into 44 points. Subtract that from total points allowed and you find the defense has surrendered 131 points in nine games.

On Tuesday, Knox and his staff reviewed every aspect of the offense. What was the conclusion?

Knox said that the plays used were fine but the execution needs to improve, that the play calling was good and that the personnel needs to be examined.

“I don’t think that there are going to be any major changes,” Knox said.

Ah, except those fumbles. If those things don’t stop, well, you get the picture.