Chargers Put a Muzzle on Seahawks : Pro football: All quiet on the Seattle front after Lewis’ punt return, Miller’s fumble recovery spark first Charger victory in Kingdome since 1980.

They yelled, they booed, and the noise rained down upon the Chargers in the Kingdome again, but this time 59,646 fans were only whispering sweet nothings.

Not since 1980 when Dan Fouts was the starting quarterback and punt returner Nate Lewis was a youngster of 14, had the Chargers enjoyed such serenity in the raucous Kingdome.

Sunday, the Chargers muzzled the local screamers and broke a 7-7 tie with 24 consecutive points, including Lewis’ 63-yard punt return for a touchdown, and overran the Seahawks, 31-14, to snap an eight-game losing streak in the Kingdome.

“They were telling me that people didn’t think we could win here,” Lewis said, “so we came here to prove them wrong.”

The Chargers (4-5) had lost three games in a row to Seattle and 10 of the last 12, but this one was over before they changed ends in the fourth quarter. The Chargers had a 31-7 lead, and the Seahawks (3-5) were trying to cross the 50-yard line for only the second time all day.

“I’ll tell you, one of the best things about this win is to see the way that our special teams did the job,” linebacker Billy Ray Smith said. “Because that’s always been Seattle’s trademark. They assume immediately they are going to win that phase of the game outright, and boy, our guys took it to them.”

Lewis’ touchdown return, the first for the Chargers since 1987 when Lionel James went 81 yards against the Cardinals, came with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

“I had one in college at Georgia against Clemson for 73 yards,” said Lewis, who was a seventh-round pick from Oregon Tech after transferring from Georgia. “All I had to do was get past the kicker, and no kicker is going to tackle me. That would be embarrassing.”

Lewis, projected to make his living in the NFL as a wide receiver, became the team’s punt returner only last week after Scott Schwedes was released.

He now has run back seven punts for an average return of 14.8 yards; New York’s Dave Meggett began the weekend as the NFL’s leading punt returner with an average return of 13.5 yards.

“It’s designed to part the inside blockers and he did it to perfection,” said Larry Pasquale, special teams coordinator. “Whether he knows it or not, he did a little wiggle, and that’s the wiggle we’re looking for to shake him free. That’s a tremendous feat against a team like that.”

Lewis’ punt return became a harbinger of disaster for the Seahawks. Defensive lineman Les Miller fell on a Dave Krieg fumble in the end zone 32 seconds later, and in less than a minute, the Chargers had two touchdowns, and a 31-7 advantage.

“I thought we were still in the game when we were down 17-7,” Seattle Coach Chuck Knox said, “but then in a short span of about three plays they get 14 points.”

Linebacker Leslie O’Neal forced the fumble, and was credited with a 30-yard sack. But he would also have been credited with the touchdown had the ball not squirted out from under him.

“I’m just a scoring machine,” Miller said after swiping the ball from O’Neal, and collecting the third touchdown of his career. He recovered a fumble earlier this season in the end zone against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and did the same thing against the Kansas City Chiefs in 1987.

The Seahawks had won three of their last four games, and were coming off a bye week. And at times, it appeared they all hadn’t returned to work.

“The bye didn’t have anything to do with it,” Knox said. “The bye didn’t return a punt on us. The bye didn’t miss a tackle or miss a block or anything like that. They just beat us, and that’s all there is to it.”

The Chargers’ defense limited Tampa Bay to 157 yards, eight first downs and two-of-10 in third-down conversions a week ago. They gave up 194 yards to the Seahawks, and Seattle converted only three of 10 third-down opportunities.

“It makes a big difference when our offense controls the ball like they did,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “And then we went out there, we did a good job of stopping them on first down and putting them in long-yardage situations. In those situations, we’re at our best.”

While the Chargers’ defense sacked Krieg four times and forced an interception, the offense was rolling.

The Chargers, who have scored on their first possession in seven games, went 72 yards in 11 plays to earn a 7-0 lead. Running back Ronnie Harmon, left unguarded on a safety blitz, took a short pass in the flats, then went 11 yards for the score.

The Seahawks drew even early in the second quarter on running back John L. Williams’ zig-zag 21-yard touchdown run. Williams appeared to be pinned down for a loss after taking a pitch and running right, but he reversed himself and ran across the field to post his first rushing touchdown against the Chargers in eight meetings.

When the Chargers took possession, they went ahead to stay on Billy Joe Tolliver’s 45-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Quinn Early. It was the Chargers’ longest completion of the season, Early’s first touchdown since 1988 and the longest reception of his pro career.

“I went to the sideline and I told Billy I needed justice,” Early said, after a diving catch in the first quarter at the goal line was negated by an official’s ruling that the ball had hit the turf. “So he came back to me on the post pattern.”

Tolliver said he would have been looking for Anthony Miller on the play, but the Seahawks came with the blitz. “At least, I think they were blitzing,” he said.

Tolliver, who was six of 17 for 41 yards with an interception in his NFL starting debut in Seattle last season, was 11 of 24 for 145 yards with two touchdowns Sunday. He has now thrown 94 passes in a row without an interception.

The Chargers moved to the Seattle two-yard line on their first possession of the second half, and kicker John Carney extended the team’s lead to 17-7 with a 20-yard field goal.

A restless crowd began booing their heroes a few moments later after Lewis took Rick Donnelly’s 46-yard punt and returned it the distance.

“It’s the new streak of the ‘90s,” Plummer said. “That’s something Dan (Henning, coach) emphasized all week. It had been kind of a joke among us that the 1990 Chargers had not lost in the Kingdome, but I think a lot of guys took it to heart.”