What’s funny SJ I was just looking at the QB draft picks of Seattle. What’s interesting is we have drafted many. Further, over half our QB picks were in rounds 9-17. Side note I learned a ton in 6th grade about respecting backup players. Sam Adkins came to my grade school in Oregon. I’m a huge Hawks fan so just awesome (note he was another radio guy for the Hawks). Anyway we all talk about how “bad” guys are. Yes may be true, but Sam was throwing 60 yard passes to us kids with almost no effort. Beautiful spirals. Learned that even backups are better than us mere fans.
People call me “Geno hater” because I criticize him (while simultaneously speaking at the things he does well). About the only Seahawk I ever hated, and you asked SJ, was Rick Mirer. First, went to school in Walla Walla so knew about Bledsoe. Second, everyone so high about Mirer because he was smallish and wore #3 at ND just like a guy who was playing for the Whiners at the time. Everyone thought he was the second coming and he clearly wasn’t. We could have more. We had some good players but no had to go big name QB. Mirer and the Boz wasted supplemental pick two of the worse ever and you all don’t like some recent ones. I lived Seahawks in those days and it was so bad.
He had, to my memory at least, a pretty good rookie season. But maybe I'm just trying to forgive my Mom (may she rest in peace) for getting me his jersey when I had asked for Robinson's.
Thank you Ken. This was superb. The bird’s-eye view of this list tells me that the fans really like the underdogs out of nowhere (and also underdogs with ties to the Northwest). We didn’t trust guys with pedigree—and who could blame us given Stouffer, McGwire, and Mirer were horrifically bad.
More localized thoughts: I like that Stan Gelbaugh sounds like the name of a plumber.
Krieg was probably just as good as Hasselbeck, if not better, when adjusted for era. He had borderline all time great volume numbers when he retired. But Krieg was incredibly streaky, and Hass was very consistent, unusually so for a Seahawks quarterback. I’d probably still list Hass as my all time #2.
Zorn was my personal hero. I was little when he was in his prime so couldn’t judge his quality, but he was the Seahawks to me. I wrote my first fan letter to him in 1981 when he broke his ankle. I followed his coaching career—the early college years were pre-internet for me, so it took some doing—and his two years as head coach of the Redskins nearly killed me as I anguished over every loss.
Whitehurst had one really good pass—a touchdown bomb against the Rams that got us into the playoffs. Without Clipboard Jesus, there’s no Beastquake, and potentially a different trajectory under Carroll. But god he really sucked.
Finally, I am going to upgrade my subscription this month as thanks for this trip down memory lane. I can’t justify the money or time spent but want to thank you, Kenny, for all you do here. When other Seahawks commentators are retreating to podcasts, I appreciate the long form written piece and your consistency and honesty.
What a walk down memory lane! The only guys I had forgotten about (or maybe never knew about) were Matheson, Gilbert, Kemp and Foley. And if I were tasked with listing all the QBs Charlie Frye might not have come to mind. I'm old enough to have watched Zorn play (not many times living in NC pre-cable), but I was a kid and remember little about him other than being disappointed that we benched him for Dave Kreig. Then liking Dave Kreig and him winding up on the Cardinals and being pretty good playing for Buddy Ryan. I subscribed to "Inside the Seahawks" to keep up with the team, and probably didn't form many opinions of my own.
Russ is definitely the best QB this franchise ever had. Hass is probably my favorite, though. I also had Mirer's #3 jersey, which I got for Christmas ...after specifically requesting Eugene Robinson.
Side note, the article says Foley was 0-1 but then goes on to say that he beat the Bears in his lone start.
The stat you did not include with regards to Krieg are his fumbles. I think he owns some records for fumbles by a QB. He'd have a great drive going and then fumble out of nowhere for no reason other than he had the smallest hands in the league.
We all loved him anyways. He was clearly better than Zorn, but that wasn't saying much. Zorn was a lot like Geno this year i.e. he was always being chased around. Broken plays were the norm. Protection would break down in one second and Zorn would be running around. Sometimes he would find his favorite target, Largent, and we would smile.
Zorn didn't have the strongest arm in the league, but we loved him. He was a tough guy and kept getting up. You didn't mention his sacks. He was a sack about to happen. But we had a real football team and even won some games.
Writing all that has worn me out, and I think I will take a nap now.
I did not include that stat, but that video linked in there goes into detail on "the fumble kings" also. But I appreciate you pointing that out because you're right I didn't write about it and for whatever reason fumbles sort of get lost to statistical history.
There are some Seahawk icons in that list. Zorn, Krieg, Hasselbeck, & Wilson for sure. Seneca Wallace might have been one of the most beloved players that nothing became of. My biggest memory of him was the catch he made in the 1st half of the 2005 NFC Championship game against the Panthers. Hasselbeck's throw was not great, but Seneca caught it on his back shoulder for like 28 yards or thereabouts. I think Matt threw a TD to Stevens on the next play.
The whole Hasselbeck/Dilfer thing was weird. I remember Dilfer was the starter during preseason, and he played really well, and Holmgren even said something like 'that's the best I've seen someone run my offense'. He must have gotten injured or something, as Matt ended up starting almost every game that season. Then Trent and his wife lost a child......which was just terrible.
My feelings for Russell will return some day to where they were in 2012/13, but probably not until he stops playing. He was such an exciting player. I'll never forget the NFC championship game in 2014 against the Packers. He was dreadful for 55 mins. Then, for a reason I will never understand, had 5 brilliant minutes to finish the game, and 2 more brilliant minutes in OT. Never will understand what the hell changed to allow that to happen.
I know Hasselbeck prob has to be considered our 2nd best-ever QB, but for those of us who were with the plucky Seahawks way back in the beginning (where the biggest metric was "at least don't be as bad as Tampa Bay and that god-awful uniform"), having plucky Zorn and plucky Krieg pulling off miracles every week even if flinging it madly all the time, was such a delight. Loved those days even though it was so frustrating, bc of the wild plays those guys would pull off. And yeah Zorn to Largent was a proud proud period, again plucky is the word, two slow cast-offs duking it out with any and all. Was a proud time to be a Hawks fan even though we never really ever sniffed greatness.
And they were both undrafted.
Looking back at this, culturally speaking, you can definitely see why we'd be averse to spending high picks on a QB (Mirer, Stouffer, McGwire) and why we'd feel just as likely to get someone off the undrafted pile, or deeper into the draft.
Extremely insightful piece on perhaps why Seattle is the way it is, with QB's
Zorn was highly entertaining to watch - and that made all the difference in the first years of the franchise, when the talent level was limited.
He was an unexpectedly good athlete, a genuine dual threat, a lefty, and a remarkably game competitor.
As the kids would say, he has the “rizz.” He and Largent quickly became national faces in the NFL who gave the Seahawks early legitimacy - and the fans a reason to cheer no matter how mediocre the team was.
Off the field, he’s a genuinely approachable guy with an impressive memory for people and a great sense of humor.
I was SO disappointed the Patriots took Bledsoe over Mirer. Mirer was the typical overhyped Notre Dame QB living off of Joe Montana's reputation from ND. Nowadays people would see that and he'd go in the 3rd or 4th round.
Hasselbeck had truly elite touch as well exceptional poise. He was a big arm away from being a franchise QB. Second to Wilson on this list, although I won’t argue with anyone who wants to go with Krieg.
Moon was always fun. Any time the Hawks got a first down inside the 50, it was pretty much a lock that one of the next three plays would be a deep pass attempt for six.
Loved Zorn. Really loved Dave Kreig!! When he threw 32 TDs in 84 it would have been a huge deal if Marino wasn't shattering the record that year. He'd have taken us further in 1984 except Ground Chuck had to rediscover the running game the last two games of the season that eere miserable losses to cost us the division. We played the Raiders 1st round in an ugly 10-7 win that had Dan Doornink running like 34 times for 98 yards. Got our asses handed to us next game. They chased Knox out by drafting Dan McGwire who only had hyoe because of his height and his brother. Hated not being able to draft Bledsoe and getting stuck with Mirer. Was shocked when we got that 1st rounder from the Bears for him!
The one that hurts is Favre, since the coaches wanted him. But Behring thought it would be great to have 6’8” QB. Although Favre turned out to be a louse.
I had season tickets the 1st four years of the teams existence back in the Kingdome. It was so loud in there, my ears rang for hours after the game.
The 1st HC was Jack Patera who was fired after a driving while DUI. incident.
Many younger fans don't know that the Hawks were the 1st expansion team prior to free agency to play 500 ball in just their 5th year.
(Zorn to Largent ) number 10 to 80= 7 was a poster used by the team. Zorn was a much under rated QB and was the 2nd best in the Hawks history if you consider how bad expansion teams were back then. He was a marvelous scrambler, a talent that kept him alive during the early years. If I'm not mistaken he was either the number 1 or 2 rusher on the team.
Zorn and Largent were best friends, did milk commercials together and arrived to the games in Jim's old beater VW.
Dave Krieg doesn’t get enough love. No one expected anything from him. Yet, he came in when Zorn was injured and led the team year after year against a Don Coryell/Dan Fouts Charger team, Dan Reeves/Elway Broncos, and the Tom Flores/Marcus Allen Raiders. And, we got a surprising number of wins. And soapdish Krieg (his fumbles were notoriously bad) kept us in games with dramatic throws to Largent, Turner, or Tice. Dave’s hard scrabble playing earned his mudbone nickname. Other QBs have come and gone, but none were tougher than Krieg.
We never had a Tom Brady or a Dan Marino in Seattle. Our QB heroes have always been flawed. But, I’d take Krieg over 23/25 of that list every day of the month.
I had a love/hate relationship with Kreig. Those fumbles, remember KC game and the sacks and fumbles by one Thomas (respected him)? But those horrible errant passes to Largent who still made the catch while getting clobbered. I would yell obscenely at the TV while simultaneously cheering Largent. If looks could kill, Largent would have incinerated Kreig. How Largent came down with some of those passes I still can’t imagine. But we were winning because Milton College Kreig could get the ball to playmakers.
Good stuff. Was very interesting. I’ve watched the Seahawks since their first year (Yeh I’m 70) I’ll always be a fan. No matter how frustrated I get with them & You!
What’s funny SJ I was just looking at the QB draft picks of Seattle. What’s interesting is we have drafted many. Further, over half our QB picks were in rounds 9-17. Side note I learned a ton in 6th grade about respecting backup players. Sam Adkins came to my grade school in Oregon. I’m a huge Hawks fan so just awesome (note he was another radio guy for the Hawks). Anyway we all talk about how “bad” guys are. Yes may be true, but Sam was throwing 60 yard passes to us kids with almost no effort. Beautiful spirals. Learned that even backups are better than us mere fans.
People call me “Geno hater” because I criticize him (while simultaneously speaking at the things he does well). About the only Seahawk I ever hated, and you asked SJ, was Rick Mirer. First, went to school in Walla Walla so knew about Bledsoe. Second, everyone so high about Mirer because he was smallish and wore #3 at ND just like a guy who was playing for the Whiners at the time. Everyone thought he was the second coming and he clearly wasn’t. We could have more. We had some good players but no had to go big name QB. Mirer and the Boz wasted supplemental pick two of the worse ever and you all don’t like some recent ones. I lived Seahawks in those days and it was so bad.
He had, to my memory at least, a pretty good rookie season. But maybe I'm just trying to forgive my Mom (may she rest in peace) for getting me his jersey when I had asked for Robinson's.
lol hear you. Robinson and defense much better jersey. :-)
Thank you Ken. This was superb. The bird’s-eye view of this list tells me that the fans really like the underdogs out of nowhere (and also underdogs with ties to the Northwest). We didn’t trust guys with pedigree—and who could blame us given Stouffer, McGwire, and Mirer were horrifically bad.
More localized thoughts: I like that Stan Gelbaugh sounds like the name of a plumber.
Krieg was probably just as good as Hasselbeck, if not better, when adjusted for era. He had borderline all time great volume numbers when he retired. But Krieg was incredibly streaky, and Hass was very consistent, unusually so for a Seahawks quarterback. I’d probably still list Hass as my all time #2.
Zorn was my personal hero. I was little when he was in his prime so couldn’t judge his quality, but he was the Seahawks to me. I wrote my first fan letter to him in 1981 when he broke his ankle. I followed his coaching career—the early college years were pre-internet for me, so it took some doing—and his two years as head coach of the Redskins nearly killed me as I anguished over every loss.
Whitehurst had one really good pass—a touchdown bomb against the Rams that got us into the playoffs. Without Clipboard Jesus, there’s no Beastquake, and potentially a different trajectory under Carroll. But god he really sucked.
Finally, I am going to upgrade my subscription this month as thanks for this trip down memory lane. I can’t justify the money or time spent but want to thank you, Kenny, for all you do here. When other Seahawks commentators are retreating to podcasts, I appreciate the long form written piece and your consistency and honesty.
What a walk down memory lane! The only guys I had forgotten about (or maybe never knew about) were Matheson, Gilbert, Kemp and Foley. And if I were tasked with listing all the QBs Charlie Frye might not have come to mind. I'm old enough to have watched Zorn play (not many times living in NC pre-cable), but I was a kid and remember little about him other than being disappointed that we benched him for Dave Kreig. Then liking Dave Kreig and him winding up on the Cardinals and being pretty good playing for Buddy Ryan. I subscribed to "Inside the Seahawks" to keep up with the team, and probably didn't form many opinions of my own.
Russ is definitely the best QB this franchise ever had. Hass is probably my favorite, though. I also had Mirer's #3 jersey, which I got for Christmas ...after specifically requesting Eugene Robinson.
Side note, the article says Foley was 0-1 but then goes on to say that he beat the Bears in his lone start.
The stat you did not include with regards to Krieg are his fumbles. I think he owns some records for fumbles by a QB. He'd have a great drive going and then fumble out of nowhere for no reason other than he had the smallest hands in the league.
We all loved him anyways. He was clearly better than Zorn, but that wasn't saying much. Zorn was a lot like Geno this year i.e. he was always being chased around. Broken plays were the norm. Protection would break down in one second and Zorn would be running around. Sometimes he would find his favorite target, Largent, and we would smile.
Zorn didn't have the strongest arm in the league, but we loved him. He was a tough guy and kept getting up. You didn't mention his sacks. He was a sack about to happen. But we had a real football team and even won some games.
Writing all that has worn me out, and I think I will take a nap now.
I did not include that stat, but that video linked in there goes into detail on "the fumble kings" also. But I appreciate you pointing that out because you're right I didn't write about it and for whatever reason fumbles sort of get lost to statistical history.
There are some Seahawk icons in that list. Zorn, Krieg, Hasselbeck, & Wilson for sure. Seneca Wallace might have been one of the most beloved players that nothing became of. My biggest memory of him was the catch he made in the 1st half of the 2005 NFC Championship game against the Panthers. Hasselbeck's throw was not great, but Seneca caught it on his back shoulder for like 28 yards or thereabouts. I think Matt threw a TD to Stevens on the next play.
The whole Hasselbeck/Dilfer thing was weird. I remember Dilfer was the starter during preseason, and he played really well, and Holmgren even said something like 'that's the best I've seen someone run my offense'. He must have gotten injured or something, as Matt ended up starting almost every game that season. Then Trent and his wife lost a child......which was just terrible.
My feelings for Russell will return some day to where they were in 2012/13, but probably not until he stops playing. He was such an exciting player. I'll never forget the NFC championship game in 2014 against the Packers. He was dreadful for 55 mins. Then, for a reason I will never understand, had 5 brilliant minutes to finish the game, and 2 more brilliant minutes in OT. Never will understand what the hell changed to allow that to happen.
Man what a trip down memory lane, OMG.
I know Hasselbeck prob has to be considered our 2nd best-ever QB, but for those of us who were with the plucky Seahawks way back in the beginning (where the biggest metric was "at least don't be as bad as Tampa Bay and that god-awful uniform"), having plucky Zorn and plucky Krieg pulling off miracles every week even if flinging it madly all the time, was such a delight. Loved those days even though it was so frustrating, bc of the wild plays those guys would pull off. And yeah Zorn to Largent was a proud proud period, again plucky is the word, two slow cast-offs duking it out with any and all. Was a proud time to be a Hawks fan even though we never really ever sniffed greatness.
And they were both undrafted.
Looking back at this, culturally speaking, you can definitely see why we'd be averse to spending high picks on a QB (Mirer, Stouffer, McGwire) and why we'd feel just as likely to get someone off the undrafted pile, or deeper into the draft.
Extremely insightful piece on perhaps why Seattle is the way it is, with QB's
Zorn was highly entertaining to watch - and that made all the difference in the first years of the franchise, when the talent level was limited.
He was an unexpectedly good athlete, a genuine dual threat, a lefty, and a remarkably game competitor.
As the kids would say, he has the “rizz.” He and Largent quickly became national faces in the NFL who gave the Seahawks early legitimacy - and the fans a reason to cheer no matter how mediocre the team was.
Off the field, he’s a genuinely approachable guy with an impressive memory for people and a great sense of humor.
I was SO disappointed the Patriots took Bledsoe over Mirer. Mirer was the typical overhyped Notre Dame QB living off of Joe Montana's reputation from ND. Nowadays people would see that and he'd go in the 3rd or 4th round.
Hasselbeck had truly elite touch as well exceptional poise. He was a big arm away from being a franchise QB. Second to Wilson on this list, although I won’t argue with anyone who wants to go with Krieg.
Moon was always fun. Any time the Hawks got a first down inside the 50, it was pretty much a lock that one of the next three plays would be a deep pass attempt for six.
Loved Zorn. Really loved Dave Kreig!! When he threw 32 TDs in 84 it would have been a huge deal if Marino wasn't shattering the record that year. He'd have taken us further in 1984 except Ground Chuck had to rediscover the running game the last two games of the season that eere miserable losses to cost us the division. We played the Raiders 1st round in an ugly 10-7 win that had Dan Doornink running like 34 times for 98 yards. Got our asses handed to us next game. They chased Knox out by drafting Dan McGwire who only had hyoe because of his height and his brother. Hated not being able to draft Bledsoe and getting stuck with Mirer. Was shocked when we got that 1st rounder from the Bears for him!
" And the Mariners could have had Stephen Strasburg and the Sonics should have kept Scottie Pippen." Yeppers, what could have been.
The one that hurts is Favre, since the coaches wanted him. But Behring thought it would be great to have 6’8” QB. Although Favre turned out to be a louse.
I had season tickets the 1st four years of the teams existence back in the Kingdome. It was so loud in there, my ears rang for hours after the game.
The 1st HC was Jack Patera who was fired after a driving while DUI. incident.
Many younger fans don't know that the Hawks were the 1st expansion team prior to free agency to play 500 ball in just their 5th year.
(Zorn to Largent ) number 10 to 80= 7 was a poster used by the team. Zorn was a much under rated QB and was the 2nd best in the Hawks history if you consider how bad expansion teams were back then. He was a marvelous scrambler, a talent that kept him alive during the early years. If I'm not mistaken he was either the number 1 or 2 rusher on the team.
Zorn and Largent were best friends, did milk commercials together and arrived to the games in Jim's old beater VW.
And Patera’s brother was a pro wrestling heel. Interesting family.
Dave Krieg doesn’t get enough love. No one expected anything from him. Yet, he came in when Zorn was injured and led the team year after year against a Don Coryell/Dan Fouts Charger team, Dan Reeves/Elway Broncos, and the Tom Flores/Marcus Allen Raiders. And, we got a surprising number of wins. And soapdish Krieg (his fumbles were notoriously bad) kept us in games with dramatic throws to Largent, Turner, or Tice. Dave’s hard scrabble playing earned his mudbone nickname. Other QBs have come and gone, but none were tougher than Krieg.
We never had a Tom Brady or a Dan Marino in Seattle. Our QB heroes have always been flawed. But, I’d take Krieg over 23/25 of that list every day of the month.
I had a love/hate relationship with Kreig. Those fumbles, remember KC game and the sacks and fumbles by one Thomas (respected him)? But those horrible errant passes to Largent who still made the catch while getting clobbered. I would yell obscenely at the TV while simultaneously cheering Largent. If looks could kill, Largent would have incinerated Kreig. How Largent came down with some of those passes I still can’t imagine. But we were winning because Milton College Kreig could get the ball to playmakers.
Zorn
Good stuff. Was very interesting. I’ve watched the Seahawks since their first year (Yeh I’m 70) I’ll always be a fan. No matter how frustrated I get with them & You!
So many memories.
Moon’s win against the hated Chiefs
Seneca Wallace - excellent runner that everyone tried to make stay in the pocket. As good as any of the running QBs today
Saw McGuire at SD state and thought he was a plodder I suspected to he would be a TE somewhere. Shocked when drafted by Seattle as a QB !
So many great games win or lose come to mind over the years.