Seahawks 24, Rams 22

SEATTLE (AP) The thrilling has seemingly gotten so routine for Josh Brown, he barely reacts to it now. <br/><br/>The Seahawks' unflappable kicker calmly made a 38 yard field goal with 9 seconds left

Sunday, November 12th 2006, 7:45 pm

By: News On 6

SEATTLE (AP) The thrilling has seemingly gotten so routine for Josh Brown, he barely reacts to it now.

The Seahawks' unflappable kicker calmly made a 38 yard field goal with 9 seconds left as Seattle rallied to beat St. Louis 22-20 on Sunday to seize control of the NFC West.

It was Brown's fifth game winning field goal since October 2, 2005, when he clanged a potential winner from 47 yards off the left upright at the end of regulation in an overtime loss at Washington.

After this one, his second to beat the Rams (4-5) in less than a month, Brown simply bowed his head into holder Ryan Plackemeier while the rest of the Seahawks (6-3) jumped and ran in jubilation on the sideline.

``Another day at the office,'' Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said, sighing. ``My goodness.''

Brown probably would not have gotten the chance without Nate Burleson's first Seattle heroics.

His team stalled with just 10 total yards in 2 plus quarters, Burleson ran a punt back 90 yards to give Seattle a 21-16 lead midway through the 4th quarter. Burleson, who became the punt returner last week after falling out of Seattle's crowded receiving rotation, ran through an arm tackle and behind a block by Marcus Trufant. He then juked punter Matt Turk and sped to the reviving score.

``Oh, that was nice, because we were struggling pretty good on offense there,'' Holmgren said.

The return was the second longest punt return in Seattle history to a 94-yard romp by Charlie Rogers, September 26, 1999 at Pittsburgh. It was also the Seahawks' first punt return for a score in three years.

The Rams responded by driving to the Seattle 14 behind 7-9 passing by Marc Bulger. Steven Jackson, who ran for 93 yards on 18 carries, then bulled the final 14 yards, carrying four Seahawks across the goal line, for a 22-21 lead with 2:30 left. A holding penalty on center Richie Incognito nullified Torry Holt's catch of Bulger's 2 point conversion pass, and Bulger's next conversion pass was incomplete.

A personal-foul penalty on Incognito at the end of the touchdown play meant Jeff Wilkins had to kick off from the 15. Josh Scobey returned that 33 yards to the St. Louis 49 with 2:23 to go. Two runs by Maurice Morris for 15 yards and a 10 yard pass from Seneca Wallace to Darrell Jackson pushed Seattle to the Rams 20 with 13 seconds left.

Brown then won yet another game.

Wilkins appeared to have kicked his fourth field goal to give St. Louis a 19-14 lead in the opening minute of the 4th quarter. But just before the ball was snapped, first-year Rams coach Scott Linehan threw his red challenge flag at a sideline official to dispute a ruling of an incomplete pass to Kevin Curtis.

A replay review overturned the call to give Curtis a 5 yard reception. Linehan then chose to go for a 4th & 1, but Bulger's pass to a well-covered Joe Klopfenstein fell incomplete.

Wilkins easily made a 35 yard field goal for a 16-14 lead after St. Louis took advantage of starting a drive from midfield.

Seattle led only 14-13 at halftime despite outgaining St. Louis 243-119. Morris, starting his sixth consecutive game while league MVP Shaun Alexander heals a broken left foot, had 79 of those yards. Morris finished with 124 yards on 21 carries.

Seneca Wallace, in his third NFL start while Matt Hasselbeck recovers from a sprained knee, completed 15 of 23 throws for 161 yards and two first-half touchdowns, to Darrell Jackson and Jerramy Stevens.

Bulger was 26-40 for 215 yards and an interception.