The Monday night stage still belongs to Jerry Rice, and the Seahawks receiver proved it last night.

Rice caught the game's opening touchdown, then made a fantastic catch in traffic in the fourth quarter that led to the score that gave Seattle a 32-29 lead.

"I was not the primary guy on that play," Rice said of his 27-yard touchdown catch. "Matt (Hasselbeck) threw it up at the last second. I was all juiced up for Monday night and I was excited. So to start that way really got me going."

Later, with Bobby Engram and two Dallas defenders on his hip, Rice snatched a Hasselbeck pass out of the air for a 33-yard gain over the middle.

Rice finished with eight catches for 145 yards. He eclipsed the 4,000-yard receiving mark for Monday night games (4,029) and now has 14 career 100-yard games on Mondays.

Another Rice milestone: His touchdown pushed him ahead of Brian Mitchell (23,330) for first place in career yardage. Rice entered the game with 23,324.

Alexander shines in fourth

The Cowboys held Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander to eight rushing yards in the first quarter and 27 on 10 carries at halftime.

But he came up big in the crunch, scoring two touchdowns and gaining 38 of his 83 yards in the final quarter. Thirty-two came on one play, a touchdown that gave Seattle a 10-point lead.
 

"We had called it earlier," Alexander said of the run off the left side. "I knew the way the defense was set up, it was going to be a big run. I was trying to say when we had the situation again, let's go make it right."

Warren arrested

Former Seahawks running back Chris Warren is in trouble with the law.

Warren, the Seahawks' career rushing leader, was arrested in Virginia on Friday on a federal warrant for failure to pay $137,147 for two children who live in Washington state.

Warren, 36, was arrested by the Fairfax, Va., Sheriff's Department and turned over to U.S. marshals. When the former Pro Bowl player is returned to Seattle, he will face charges of criminal non-support.

Officials from the state's Department of Social and Health Services referred Warren's case to the U.S. Attorney General's office when local efforts failed to produce the $5,000-per-month child support payments Warren owes.

For failure to pay for six months, Warren was placed on the DSHS Most Wanted Web site in May at the request of the mother of his two daughters.

Warren played in Seattle from 1990 to 1997 and with the Dallas Cowboys from 1998 to 2000.

Bannister on the mend

Alex Bannister, the wide receiver and special-teams bullet who is out for the season, is feeling much better after surgery to repair a broken right collarbone last month.

"Too bad I'm on IR," he said, referring to his status on injured reserve.

Bannister, a special-teams Pro Bowler last season, has clearly lost weight, even though he is a slim 6 feet 5 to begin with. He is rehabilitating the injury but is still seen in the locker room at team headquarters in Kirkland from time to time.

"I haven't been able to lift weights, but I'm eating good and everything," Bannister said. "My strength in my shoulder isn't there. My range of motion is, but my strength isn't."

Millen steps in

Hugh Millen, the former University of Washington quarterback and local pro and college football broadcast analyst, had to serve emergency duty last night.

Millen was a game-day replacement for radio commentator Boomer Esiason on Westwood One-CBS Radio's broadcast of the Seahawks-Cowboys game. He worked alongside play-by-play man Marv Albert.

Millen got the call yesterday morning when Esiason was unable to fly from New York because of illness.

No rain again

Though the weather forecast called for a 50 percent chance of rain yesterday, the game kicked off without a drop. There has been only one Seahawks game in the history of Seahawks Stadium-Qwest Field during which rain has fallen. It happened briefly in the first quarter during a game on Nov. 16, 2003, against the Detroit Lions.

Notes

• K Josh Brown booted his 16th consecutive field goal, a 21-yarder in the third quarter. The kick tied him with former Seahawk Todd Peterson for most consecutive made field goals in franchise history.

• Hasselbeck posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the first half, completing 14 of 16 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns.

• CB Bobby Taylor did not play for the third straight game because of a knee injury.

• Former Mariner Edgar Martinez raised the 12th man flag before kickoff, receiving a thunderous ovation.

Seahawks on "MNF"
Seattle is 12-8 on "Monday Night Football." The results:
Date	Opponent	Result
Oct. 29, 1979	At Atlanta	W, 31-28
Nov. 26, 1979	N.Y. Jets	W, 30-7
Nov. 17, 1980	Oakland	L, 19-17
Nov. 16, 1981	San Diego	W, 44-23
Oct. 29, 1984	At San Diego	W, 24-0
Nov. 12, 1984	At L.A. Raiders	W, 17-14
Sept. 23, 1985	L.A. Rams	L, 35-24
Nov. 25, 1985	At San Francisco	L, 19-6
Oct. 6, 1986	San Diego	W, 33-7
Dec. 8, 1986	L.A. Raiders	W, 37-0
Nov. 9, 1987	At N.Y. Jets	L, 30-14
Nov. 30, 1987	L.A. Raiders	L, 37-14
Nov. 28, 1988	L.A. Raiders	W, 35-27
Dec. 4, 1989	Buffalo	W, 17-16
Oct. 1, 1990	Cincinnati	W, 31-16
Nov. 30, 1992	Denver	W, 16-13*
Nov. 1, 1999	At Green Bay	W, 27-7
Oct. 2, 2000	At Kansas City	L, 24-17
Oct. 14, 2002	San Francisco	L, 28-21
Dec. 6, 2004	Dallas	L, 43-39
*Overtime