Defensive pressure, quick starts do trick for Seahawks

This time, the Seahawks got off to a good start. The finish was pretty nice, too.

The Seahawks had a pair of good starts in their 33-6 drubbing of the St. Louis Rams on Sunday — an opening-drive touchdown in the first half and a 91-yard kickoff return for a TD by Nate Burleson to start the second.

In between and afterward, defensive end Darryl Tapp was a sack machine, dropping Rams quarterback Marc Bulger four times to tie a Seahawks record in front of 68,164 at Qwest Field. Josh Brown booted four field goals. Backup tight end Will Heller — starting in place of injured Marcus Pollard — caught two touchdown passes and the Seahawks found the perfect remedy for their recent struggles in a winless and battered Rams team.

"It goes without saying how pleased we are with the win," coach Mike Holmgren said. "Clearly, I think our best football's still ahead of us, but it was a great win."

Great, because Seattle is going into its bye week with a 4-3 record and in first place in the NFC West after the Arizona Cardinals (3-4) lost Sunday.

The Seahawks have struggled to be consistent in several areas, but now they can take some time off, nurse injuries and come back fresh for the nine remaining games of the regular season.

Some of the game Sunday wasn't well-played by the Seahawks, though, filled with mistakes of various sorts. A couple of penalties. Off-target and dropped passes. A few pass-protection breakdowns. A failed fourth-down conversion that led to a Rams field goal.

But that was the offense. Give the game ball to the defense for setting the tone, making up for offensive inconsistency after the first drive of the game and rising up like it hadn't in three weeks.

Tapp led a quarterback-pressure parade with four sacks, one made with a giant club-like protector over the broken bone he suffered in his right hand in the first half. Tapp made mincemeat of St. Louis right tackle Milford Brown and others, pounding an already wounded Bulger (ribs). Linebackers Julian Peterson and Leroy Hill and defensive end Patrick Kerney each had a sack as the Seahawks swarmed Rams ball carriers and allowed just 53 rushing yards. They held St. Louis to 41 yards of total offense and two pass completions in the first half.

Despite a better effort by the Rams' offense after halftime — they gained 62 yards on their first possession — the Seahawks' pressure on Bulger didn't let up.

"We had to get some things corrected before going into the bye week," Tapp said. "We got that bad taste out of our mouths [from the defeat last week] and we can analyze what happened in the first half of the season that hopefully won't happen in the second half."

The Seahawks got virtually no pass rush on New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees in their 28-17 loss Oct. 14. They made errors on special teams, and the offense put up big numbers but not enough points.

This game was almost a complete reversal. The pass rush was practically unstoppable. The Seahawks were solid enough on special teams and Burleson's first career kickoff return for a touchdown — which gave Seattle a 17-6 lead — was his second big return in less than a year against the Rams. He returned a punt 90 yards at Qwest Field last year.

And the defense? Seven sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and three interceptions.

"We just wanted to come out and start really playing like a team," safety Deon Grant said.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck sizzled with five completions on the Seahawks' opening drive, the last of those a 1-yard toss to Heller off a bootleg to Hasselbeck's right. It was the Seahawks' first opening-drive score since beating Cincinnati 24-21 on Sept. 23.

"We did a nice job of getting to the line of scrimmage, calling the play and just running it," Hasselbeck said.

Running back Shaun Alexander ran hard, even if he had only 47 yards to show for it.

The Seahawks' final touchdown came two plays after a Peterson interception in the fourth quarter, Hasselbeck to Heller for 11 yards.

Grant picked off a deep pass from Bulger with 1:20 left, then did a victory dance in celebration to mark the Seahawks' fifth consecutive victory over the Rams (0-7).

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com