Solving St. Louis: Hawks finally beat Rams

ST. LOUIS — This had been their house of horrors, a place where nothing seemed to go right and the home team was practically unstoppable.

For the past three seasons, since the Seahawks and St. Louis Rams became NFC West adversaries, the Seahawks could not solve the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. And defeating the Rams at all, home or away, had been a tall order, as Seattle had lost four in a row to St. Louis.

All is forgotten now, because the Seahawks broke through yesterday.

Not only did their 37-31 victory shatter their overall losing streak against the Rams, it also was Seattle's first win in St. Louis since 1997. And it came with first place in the NFC West on the line, bearing long odds because the Rams entered the game with the NFL's best home-field record since 1999, 40-9.

Players maintain that this year's Seahawks are different. The past doesn't faze them.

"We expected to win," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.

So who could blame punt returner Jimmy Williams for forming his fingers into the letter W, holding it up for Rams fans behind the Seahawks' bench, and playfully shouting "West side!" at the Midwesterners as he trotted off the field?

The West's best, for at least another week, are wearing Seahawks blue.

"The way we won this game ... and having some ups and downs in the game and being able to stay resilient, is going to be huge in the long run for our confidence," tight end Jerramy Stevens said.

Ups and downs only begin to describe the day. The Seahawks trailed only 14 seconds into the game, thanks to a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Rams' Chris Johnson.

The Seahawks shook off that punch and got their offense in sync early. Hasselbeck was on target when given time to throw. The two new starters at wide receiver, Joe Jurevicius and D.J. Hackett, made catches early and established confidence. Running back Shaun Alexander eventually wore down the Rams' defense.

This was a slugfest, and it quickly became evident that the team that got more defensive stops would be left standing.

With injuries to key players on both teams affecting play, the Seahawks took a 14-7 lead with 1:37 left in the first quarter on Hasselbeck's 29-yard touchdown pass to Stevens. Thanks to a coverage mix-up, Stevens was so open that he slowed for the catch and still ran untouched into the end zone.

"I really thought that I was going to get hit as soon as I caught the ball," Stevens said.

Yards after catch proved critical. When Jurevicius caught a ball at the St. Louis 17 and ran in for another score, Seattle led 21-14 with 9:05 left in the second quarter.

By halftime, the Seahawks were nursing a 24-21 lead but were already without four starters — two defenders who were injured during the game and two receivers who were unable to play. That only seemed to motivate them more.

"We're a bunch of no-names going into a tough game, and I think we showed we can play tough football," Jurevicius said.

The Seahawks built a 34-21 lead in the third quarter after Josh Brown's field goal and Alexander's second touchdown run, and led 37-28 with 7:38 left. But plenty of time remained for the Rams to make a comeback, as they have so often in past wins over the Seahawks.

"Everybody knew they were going to get their yards," cornerback Marcus Trufant said. "The Rams have a pretty potent offense. We just wanted to try and contain them and not let them do too much."

St. Louis drove for a Jeff Wilkins field goal with 3:54 to play. Its defense, unable to make consistent stops all game, forced a Seattle punt. And that's when the Rams, not the Seahawks, made the critical mistake of the game.

Shaun McDonald replaced return man Terry Fair, who had been on defense the previous series. McDonald caught the punt and was stripped of the ball by Jordan Babineaux, with J.P. Darche falling on the ball for the Seahawks.

Fair, activated for the first time this season, had asked to be substituted, Rams coach Mike Martz said.

"We don't do that, and Terry is not familiar with that," Martz said, "God bless him, he [McDonald] just tried to make something happen."

All the Seahawks had to do was run a few plays for Alexander and kneel to let the game clock expire and put an end to the Seahawks' frustration against the Rams.

"They owned us last year," Alexander said. "We knew it was something that just had to be done if we were ever going to get the monkey off our back. We feel like we're [defending] division champs, but we knew we had to beat them so we could claim it to our own selves."

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