Patriots Sneak Past Seahawks

It took a whole year for Steve Grogan to get out of the New England Patriots’ doghouse and off the bench.

Now they can’t get him out of the lineup.

Grogan threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Irving Fryar with 2:39 left Sunday to lift the Patriots to their sixth straight victory, a 20-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

“It’s like a chess game,” said Grogan, an 11-year veteran who took over for injured Tony Eason at the outset of the streak. “Sooner or later you match the right pattern to what the defense is running.”

When Grogan fell into disfavor in New England last season, the Patriots turned to Eason and seemed determined to stick with him through thick and thin. Grogan played only in the exhibition season, until Eason went down and there was no one else to turn to.

Grogan threw for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Seahawks (6-5) and for the season has completed 82 of 152 attempts for 1,266 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Safety Fred Marion set up the winning touchdown for New England (8-3) when he intercepted Dave Krieg’s pass--after it was tipped by linebacker Larry McGrew--and returned it 83 yards to the Seattle 15.

“We had to come up with a big play,” Marion said. “We talked about it before we went on the field. We knew a field goal or any points would give them the lead.”

Two plays later, Grogan found Fryar in the end zone for the winning touchdown.

Krieg completed 19 of 43 passes for 223 yards and was intercepted 3 times while failing to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 29 games. His streak of 28 was the second longest in NFL history.

New England opened the scoring on the first play of the second period when Fryar scored on an eight-yard reverse. Seattle narrowed the gap to 7-6 on field goals of 32 and 31 yards by Norm Johnson.

Seattle went ahead on Krieg’s three-yard run, but New England tied the score, 13-13, with 10:35 left when Grogan hooked up with Craig James on a 23-yard scoring pass. Tony Franklin’s conversion attempt sailed wide to the left.