RENTON — Officially, it's the 1990s that the Seahawks are throwing it back to this weekend with their retro uniforms and marking Lumen Field to be reminiscent of the Kingdome.
The uniforms bring back even deeper — and happier — memories than the '90s, which were mostly a lost decade when the Seahawks never won more than nine games in any season and saw Ken Behring try to move the team to Los Angeles.
Dave Krieg, a quarterback for the Seahawks from 1980-91, cackled, "I used to wear them!" when asked what he thought of the throwback uniforms the team will unveil for Sunday's 1:05 p.m. game against the Browns.
He began to reminisce, recalling many of his former teammates.
"Names," Krieg said. "Just all the names."
Krieg stopped at one point after reciting Herman Weaver, the punter from 1977-80, who had the affectionate nickname "Thunderfoot."
"What a character," Krieg said. "He looked just like the guy (Marshall Matt Dillon) from Gunsmoke."
To Krieg and others of that era, that is the real importance of this weekend — allowing a celebration by the current team to serve as a remembrance of what came before.
And not just the '90s that the Seahawks are technically remembering this weekend, but also the formative period from 1976 and through the '80s.
It was an era when the Seahawks first became the most successful second- and third-year expansion team in NFL history under Jack Patera. In the '80s under Chuck Knox, they became a perennial playoff contender while building one of fiercest home-field advantages in the league.
"It's long overdue," said Krieg, adding that for years he has pestered team president Chuck Arnold about why the team hasn't done a throwback uniform game. "I was like, 'What's wrong with wearing the old uniforms and remembering the first team that ever went to the playoffs and darn near to the Super Bowl that first year? Why can't you throw some homage to that era?'"
The answer was a simple, if unsatisfying, one — the NFL's one-helmet rule, which existed from 2013-21.
The NFL instituted the rule for safety reasons, requiring players to wear just one helmet during games and practices all season, the thought being it would help in the league's goal to reduce the number of concussions.
That prevented the Seahawks from going with retro uniforms since there was no easy way to convert their regular blue helmets to silver during the season. Quickly painting them wasn't practical. Other teams, whose base color of their helmet remained the same, could just switch decals when they went with a retro look.
Once the Seahawks found out about the rescinding of the one-helmet rule in June, 2021, they began planning for the retro uniforms.
Supply and productions issues meant they had to wait until this year.
It will be the first time since 2001 the Seahawks have worn the silver helmets and what the team refers to as "royal blue" and "apple green" colors. The team changed its look when it moved into what is now Lumen Field in 2002.
"Kind of just a modernized version of what we had," said Paul Moyer, a safety for the Seahawks during the glory years of the Knox era from 1983-89. "I always thought that was the coolest look, so I'm really excited about it."
Moyer likes them enough he has plans to go buy a few — with one caveat.
"I'm going to go down and get a couple and get 21 and pull [Devon] Witherspoon's name off of it," said Moyer with a laugh. Moyer, who is part of the team's gameday broadcast crew, wore that number during his playing career.
"I told him he's probably had more big hits in his career already than me, but he's still got a ways to go to catch me in interceptions (Witherspoon has one, Moyer had 11)," Moyer said. "So I'm gonna say I'm still the best 21 so far."
Moyer says the team's look Sunday won't be exactly like the old days noting how much bigger shoulder pads used to be.
"When we wore those jerseys they certainly weren't tailored to make our bodies look good," he said.
The hats many players have worn this week are a replica of the one Knox wore during what may have been his signature Seahawk victory — the 1983 divisional playoff win at Miami when the Seahawks were an eight-point underdog.
That game that first popped to the mind this week of Jeff Bryant — a defensive end taken sixth overall in 1982 and is still third all-time in sacks with 63 — when he thought of the team's retro weekend.
"No one expected us to win," Bryant said. "That was a long flight and we had fun on the plane ride back. I remember that very well."
Among the touches on the uniforms is a commemorative patch of the Kingdome embroidered into the inside neck where the current uniforms have a 12.
Former players consider that a fitting homage to a stadium that for all of its faults, became one of the toughest places to play in the NFL and compelled the Seahawks to retire the No. 12 in honor of the fans near the end of the 1984 season.
Bryant recalls numerous times he used to stop briefly during games to look up at the roof and marvel at it all.
"It was incredible how that came about," he said. "It was a great place and the fans were always extra loud — it would be hard to simulate that now."
The Seahawks will also wear the retro jerseys for a game at Dallas on Nov. 30. The Cowboys wear white at home which allows Seattle to wear its dark blues on the road.
It's expected the team will continue to wear the throwback uniforms annually for at least a few more years — it's one of the team's four allowed jerseys — meaning this won't be a one-time walk down memory lane.
To Krieg, only one thing is missing.
"I think they should bring back The Wave as long as they are on this," he said of the ubiquitous cheer which grew to be a phenomena of the time when it was popularized Husky Stadium in 1981 and became a fixture at the Kingdome.
The Wave, to be clear, still erupts every once in a while in these parts to varying degrees of enthusiasm.
But Krieg thinks for one day, The Wave should break with the force it once did.
"Can you just imagine?" he said. "(The Browns) would have no idea what they are in for. Hopefully people will remember back to how we used to do it."
More important may be simply having a reason to remember some of the yesterdays of a franchise that has 48 rich years of history.
