Seattle, Oakland Look Past Preseason

With two meetings to come in the regular season, Seattle and Oakland are downplaying the Seahawks’ exhibition victory.

“We play these guys two more times in games that matter,” Seahawk quarterback Rick Mirer said. “I’m sure they’re over there thinking we can have this one as long as they win the ones that count.”

Mirer threw a touchdown pass and Ronnie Harris scored on a punt return and on a pass reception as the Seahawks held off Oakland 24-19 Thursday night.

Quarterback Jeff Hostetler suggested Oakland would look markedly different against the Seahawks in the two regular-season games.

“We were pretty bland,” he said. “We wanted to check their match ups, their personnel.”

Hostetler, who started Thursday’s game but hit only 4-of-10 passes for 81 yards, was the early target of Seattle’s defenders who realize they will likely face him during the season.

“We know the type of speed they have at receiver, so we had to put pressure on them,” said defensive end Antonio Edwards. “Our defensive backs can’t hold them that long. We took it upon ourselves to put a lot of pressure on Hostetler.”

The pressure worked through most of the first half, as the Seahawks built a 21-0 lead, starting with Mirer’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Mack Strong late in the first quarter. Mirer completed 8-of-10 for 108 yards in 1 1/2 quarters.

Harris scored Seattle’s second touchdown when he broke through Oakland’s punt coverage. He started up the middle, dodged a couple of defenders at midfield and veered right, going the last 40 of the 78 yards unchallenged.

John Friesz, who relieved Mirer midway through the second quarter, threw a 39-yard scoring pass to Harris.

“Harris makes plays,” said Seattle coach Dennis Erickson said. “He had a heck of a game. I don’t know what more he could do out there.”

Todd Peterson had a 24-yard field goal for the Seahawks midway through the fourth quarter and Seattle withstood two fumbles by Jimmy Gary in the final 4 1/2 minutes.

David Klingler threw an end zone interception after Gary’s first fumble. Joe Aska’s 1-yard touchdown run, set up by the second fumble, still left the Raiders short.

Oakland’s final possession ended when Jay Bellamy intercepted Klingler’s pass in the final moments. Klingler finished 12-of-27 for 235 yards. He had a touchdown pass of 20 yards to Andrew Glover.

While happy with their 2-0 exhibition record, the Seahawks were cautious about being too optimistic for the regular season.

“The fact is we came out and returned well, but they’re going to erase these four games after they are over, so we want to make sure we win number five,” said linebacker Dean Wells.

“It’s the preseason, so I don’t want to get too overly excited about it,” Erickson said. “But we’ve made marked improvement over a year ago.”

The Raiders are 1-2 in exhibition play.

The game was the Raiders’ first in the renovated Oakland Coliseum after commuting to their home games from Los Angeles last season. The $100 million stadium reconstruction was part of the deal that lured the Raiders back after a 13-year stay in Southern California.

But only 38,219 of 62,500 seats were filled, and the game wasn’t televised locally. Raiders cornerback Albert Lewis said the low turnout was an anomaly.

“The timing was a little bit off,” he said. “It’s a Thursday, not a Sunday. I think when the regular season comes along the stands will be filled.”