Seahawks All Aglow Over Moon

Let’s see, they award an expansion franchise to Cleveland in 1998, almost two years later Peter O’Malley is pictured turning the first shovel of dirt for the new football stadium in Chavez Ravine, and come early September, 2002, Warren Moon, the former Hamilton High quarterback, goes full circle and starts for Los Angeles’ new NFL team.

Two months later the Los Angeles Stars are pounding San Diego like every other team in the league, and Warren Moon is celebrating his 46th birthday.

OK, so everything is delayed a year or two while Los Angeles Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas argues who should throw out the first football. George Blanda was 48 before he retired, and Moon looks like a youngster in comparison to Blanda.

Put away the walker and no need for Geritol. Moon, about to turn 41, burns as brightly as his pre-NFL, Grey Cup-winning days in Edmonton, pulling the Seahawks out of 14-0 hole Sunday and leading Seattle to a 37-31 victory over the Chargers in front of 64,616 in Qualcomm Stadium.

Blanda was throwing touchdown passes at 43, and there’s no reason to believe Moon won’t be doing the same after adding another notch to his resume and beating yet another wannabe quarterback in San Diego’s Craig Whelihan.

Moon, courted by San Diego and Coach Kevin Gilbride, who had worked with him in Houston, after Minnesota made no effort to retain him, signed with the Seahawks because he felt General Manager Bobby Beathard held Whelihan in higher regard.

Gilbride, meanwhile, snuck into the Seahawk locker room after the game and sought a private audience with Moon. A public relations official refused to confirm Gilbride was even in the room, so there was no chance to ask if Gilbride had met with Moon to bemoan the fact he had gotten away.

How much would Moon have meant to the Chargers (4-6) this season after the injuries suffered by quarterbacks Stan Humphries and Jim Everett? In Seattle, Moon has single-handedly resurrected the Seahawks (6-4), who started the season with John Friesz at quarterback and who were sitting 0-2 after two home games and getting blasted, 35-14, by the Denver Broncos.

“Making the adjustment to throw the ball [with Moon] has been the biggest deal; it’s made a total difference,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson said. “The guy has been just great, and we’re getting blitz after blitz every week.”

Does it make sense to try and trick a guy as old as the blitz itself?

“Not really, because you saw what happened during the game,” Erickson said. “If you can cover, OK, then do it. But if you can’t . . .”

The Chargers can’t, but they did anyway. They blitzed and they blitzed and they got beat deep and got beat deep and lost.

The Chargers went ahead 14-0, and led 14-3 when Moon zapped them with a flick of his wrist, a 30-yard scoring strike between two defenders to wide receiver Joey Galloway with 22 seconds left in the first half.

“An awesome throw,” Erickson said. “Just awesome.”

Less than three minutes to play and the Chargers are ahead, 31-27, and they haven’t learned a thing. They rush Moon and he goes up top again to Galloway for a 40-yard touchdown that was the winner.

“On the last drive I was ticked off with myself for what I had done on a few of the earlier series and so I had to get my poise back,” said Moon, who completed 24 of 45 passes for 295 yards. “I went into the huddle and told everyone to just do their job and we’d get it done.”

Three plays into the Seahawks’ decisive drive, Seattle was confronted by a third and 10 from their 27 when Moon was chased from the pocket. Now picture a 40-year-old man running on grass and being pursued by a pair of defenders waiting for their 25th birthdays.

Moon left them behind, then before stepping out of bounds, completed a 20-yard pass to Carlester Crumpler, a tight end who had yet to enter kindergarten while Moon was playing football for West L.A. Junior College.

“The arm’s fine,” said Moon, who also ran 12 yards for a first down on a drive that eventually resulted in one of Todd Peterson’s three field goals. “For as well as I take care of myself, I’m not surprised how I’m holding, but as much as I’m throwing the football, yes, I guess I am. The last three weeks I’ve thrown it about 140 times and that’s when there’s a possibility of getting hit.”

Moon, who has thrown 10 touchdown passes in his last three games, has captured the fancy of his younger teammates, who regard his exploits as commonplace.

“You watch him come out in practice and the first pass he throws might wobble a bit and then he throws the ball up in the air to check the spin almost as if there’s something wrong with the ball rather than the way he’s thrown it,” Friesz said. “And usually it is the ball, because this guy throws the perfect spiral almost every time. He’s just phenomenal to watch.”

A third-string quarterback at Hamilton High, recruited to play anything but quarterback and forced to go on to West L.A. before getting the chance from Coach Don James to play at the University of Washington, Moon has continued to exceed expectations.

He was the Rose Bowl most valuable player, he won five Grey Cups with Edmonton in the Canadian Football League and has designs on ending his career in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Some people measure Hall of Fame qualifications in the number of championships won, and while Moon has never made it to the Super Bowl, the team he has played for has advanced to the playoffs the last nine years. And with a favorable schedule in Seattle, he could make it 10 in a row.

“After last season, my confidence was shaken for the first time in my life,” Moon said. “I had to prove to myself I could still play. A lot of people left me for dead after last season. They were pouring scoops of dirt on my coffin, but I was banging on the lid to get out. You know, I guess you could say the corpse has been resuscitated.”