Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994 TAG: 9409070110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Warren's football homecoming was all he could hope for, and after spending about $700 for tickets for his family and friends, the budding Seattle star took home a souvenir to savor, even if the game ball went to Seahawks coach Tom Flores for his 100th NFL victory.
Warren, the former Virginia and Ferrum running back, had the seventh 100-yard rushing game and the first two-touchdown day of his NFL career in the Seahawks' 28-7 steamrolling of the Washington Redskins. Warren played in his first Pro Bowl last season and someday he's hoping for some Super Bowl experience. As enjoyable afternoons go, however, this one ranked right up there.
``I guess I had about 50 people here,'' said Warren, who was born in Silver Spring, Md., played at Robinson High in Northern Virginia and still lives in Fairfax in the off-season. ``I bought about 20 tickets [from the club allotment] and I had brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles here. About 30 more people snuck in somehow.''
When Warren swept right end 12 yards for a first-quarter touchdown to tie the game at 7, he celebrated by slapping hands with two spectators who obviously were thrilled with his first TD of the year and 13th in his career, which is starting its fifth season. Family matters, maybe?
``No,'' Warren said, smiling. ``I just saw a couple of Seahawks' shirts in the middle of a bunch of Redskins' shirts.''
He may play for Seattle, but Warren was sleepless in his mother's suburban home the night before the game. How enthused was he about playing in his old backyard, albeit in a stadium he rarely entered as a youth in Redskins' country?
``I was ready to play Friday night when we stepped off the plane,'' Warren said.
And play he has. It isn't because Seattle has played indoors - at the crumbling Kingdome - that Warren's NFL accomplishments haven't been fully appreciated. It's because the Seahawks have hardly been a success and because their home is a coast away from the media centers of the NFL universe.
``I don't think many people know that we led the AFC in rushing last season and were fourth in the NFL,'' Warren said.
He's right. Seattle trailed only the Giants, Cowboys and 49ers on the ground. Warren has become the strength in that power game behind an underrated offensive line. A fourth-round draft pick from Ferrum in 1990, Warren, after playing primarily as a punt and kick returner his first two pro seasons, rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 1992 and '93.
He's one of only two AFC backs to reach 1,000 both years. The other is Buffalo's Thurman Thomas. They join NFC stars Emmitt Smith of Dallas, Detroit's Barry Sanders and Rodney Hampton of the Giants with that distinction. And Warren reached 1,072 yards last season in only 14 games before he missed the final two Sundays with an injury.
``Chris is good because he's just a really tough guy,'' said Ray Roberts, the left tackle from Virginia who was Seattle's No. 1 draft pick in 1992. ``His combination of size, speed and power is what the NFL wants in a back. And he knows how to run with the ball.''
The 6-foot-2, 226-pounder runs in an upright style that is much glide and stutter-step as strength and speed. Roberts believes Warren's stardom in Division III at Ferrum after he left UVa for academic reasons has contributed to his NFL success, too.
``In Division III, he had a chance to put up big numbers,'' Roberts said. ``That did a lot for his confidence, and confidence is a big part of playing in the NFL.''
And in the Seahawks' dressing room after their first season-opening win in six years, Warren's status was evident. He was the last to remove his uniform because he was on the club's postgame radio show. He was the last player out of the shower to talk with the media, too. Finally, a PR type had to tell the surrounding scribes, ``That's all the questions Chris can take.''
He was definitely the homecoming king.
by CNB