Warren Steals Show in Seahawks’ Win : AFC: Attention focuses on Mirer and Bledsoe, but running back rushes for 174 yards in 17-14 victory over New England.

The battle of the NFL’s top two draft picks wasn’t even close. And for most of Sunday’s game, neither was the contest between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.

Chris Warren ran for 174 yards and a touchdown as the Seahawks won, 17-14. The Patriots rallied for 14 points in the final quarter and just missed a tying field goal with 30 seconds remaining as Scott Sisson’s 54-yard attempt bounced off the crossbar.

Seattle’s Rick Mirer, meanwhile, won his rookie quarterback duel with New England’s Drew Bledsoe.

Mirer, chosen No. 2 in the draft, completed 12 of 16 passes for 117 yards and his first NFL touchdown before being knocked out with blurred vision after taking a hit across the face late in the third quarter. Stan Gelbaugh finished for the Seahawks. The injury to Mirer was not serious.

“It does make me feel good to beat them, because they were the only team to pass on me,” Mirer said.

Bledsoe, the top draft pick, consistently threw behind and above receivers and had two passes intercepted. He completed 20 of 44 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown, but much of that yardage came in the fourth quarter after the Seahawks had taken a 17-0 lead.

“Rick had the motivation to come in and do well against the team that passed him over. I had the motivation that we had to get our first win,” Bledsoe said. “If I had thrown the ball the way I was supposed to and done my job, we would have won the game.”

Brian Blades caught a four-yard touchdown pass from Mirer, and Warren had a 15-yard touchdown run for the Seahawks (1-2). John Kasay added a 24-yard field goal.

The Patriots (0-3) got a 25-yard touchdown pass from Bledsoe to tight end Ben Coates and a four-yard scoring run by Sam Gash.

Warren, who set a Seattle record with 36 carries, became the third running back in as many weeks to gain more than 100 yards against the Patriots. Buffalo’s Thurman Thomas had 114 yards against New England two weeks ago and Detroit’s Barry Sanders had 148 last week.

“It felt like clockwork,” said Warren, “It’s easy to run when your offensive line is pushing their defense back off the line four and five yards.”

The Seahawks rushed for 209 yards and held the Patriots to 51.

The only points of the first half came on the game’s opening drive. The Seahawks went 67 yards in 10 plays, capping the drive with Mirer’s touchdown pass to Blades. Warren ran six times for 32 yards and Mirer scrambled for 19 yards on a third-and-10 play at the New England 40.

Kasay’s field goal, which made the score 10-0, came at the end of a 16-play drive during which Mirer completed five of six passes for 56 yards. Mirer was injured with the ball at the New England 11.

Seattle made the score 17-0 with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter on Warren’s touchdown run. The Patriots pulled within 10 points on Coates’ touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 17-14 on Gash’s touchdown with 5:54 remaining.