Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 12, 1994 TAG: 9412130041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HOUSTON LENGTH: Medium
\ Former Ferrum and Virginia football player Chris Warren almost outgained the Houston Oilers' offense and helped the Seattle Seahawks ease two weeks of misery.
Warren, involved in an auto accident that paralyzed teammate Mike Frier on Dec.2, rushed for a career-high 185 yards on 30 carries and scored on a 33-yard run. That kept alive Seattle's slim playoff hopes with a 16-14 victory Sunday.
Seattle (6-8) rushed 50 times for 266 yards.
The Oilers (1-13), trying to regroup under new coach Jeff Fisher, lost their 10th straight game and looked bad doing it - until they scored twice in the final 4:23 on Billy Joe Tolliver's 36-yard pass to Webster Slaughter and Ernest Givins' 78-yard punt return.
Tolliver completed a two-point conversion pass to Haywood Jeffires following Slaughter's touchdown catch. Givins took Seattle's next punt back 78 yards and did a flip into the end zone with 2:53 to play.
But the two-point try failed when Todd McNair caught a pass and was tackled at the 1 by Robert Blackmon.
The Oilers' Bubba McDowell grabbed the ensuing onside kick, but Oilers' hopes ended moments later when cornerback Orlando Watters intercepted Tolliver's pass at the Seattle 34 and the Seahawks ran out the clock.
The Oilers couldn't make their offense work most of the game against a Seahawks defense that came in yielding 343.7 yards per game, 24th in the NFL. The Oilers finished with 208 total yards.
Warren, who suffered fractured ribs in the auto accident, plagued the Oilers defense. He had a 32-yard run in the third quarter that set up Mack Strong's 13-yard touchdown run. Warren sat out the final 10 minutes of the game.
Seattle beat the Oilers with seldom-used quarterback Dan McGwire subbing for injured Rick Mirer.
The Oilers didn't wait long to start making mistakes.
Lorenzo White fumbled on the first play of the game when hit by defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy. Kennedy recovered at the Oilers' 25-yard line and set up John Kasay's 40-yard field goal with only 1:37 elapsed.
Seattle expanded its lead to 10-0 in the second quarter. McGwire completed a 29-yard pass to Brian Blades to the Oilers' 42, setting up the 33-yard touchdown run by Warren.
Houston's offense was so inept it didn't cross midfield until midway in the third quarter.
There were 31,453 fans at the game, the smallest crowd of the season. There were 14,358 no-shows.
by CNB