Warren the Man for Seahawks

In the fourth quarter, Seattle gave the ball to Chris Warren and won. Washington gave it to Heath Shuler and lost.

Warren gained 61 of his 136 yards in the final period, including a punishing five-yard run for the Seahawks’ final touchdown as Seattle won its third game in a row with a 27-20 victory Sunday over the Redskins.

In an inconsistent game between inconsistent teams, Seattle (5-6) took advantage of five turnovers, including two interceptions thrown by Shuler in relief of struggling starter Gus Frerotte. It was a change of pace for the Seahawks, who came into the game with the league’s worst turnover ratio.

“It wasn’t real pretty, but we’ll take the win,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson said. “We finally got on the right side of the turnover scare. We turned it over twice. Thank God we got five.”

Warren, who needs only 23 more yards to reach 1,000 for the fourth consecutive year, helped put the game away when he dragged three Redskins into the end zone to give the Seahawks a 24-13 lead with 7:46 to play. It was Warren’s fourth 100-yard effort in five games.

“He seems to get better as time goes on in the game,” Erickson said. “He’s the type of runner that once he starts getting a feel of where those holes are, he just gets better and better.”

Warren then had four consecutive carries on Seattle’s next possession to set up Todd Peterson’s 47-yard field goal that gave the Seahawks a two-touchdown lead with 3:16 remaining.

“They [the Redskin defense] got tired because we wore them down,” Seahawk tackle Ray Roberts said. “We have some big offensive linemen, and we came out and pounded them down a little bit. Then, with Chris slamming it up in there, they have no choice but to get tired.”

Robert Blackmon’s interception of Shuler with 9:24 to go was the key play. With the Seahawks leading, 17-13, Blackmon was not seen by Shuler in deep coverage and picked the ball off at the Redskins’ 27. Two plays later, Warren scored his touchdown.

“I didn’t even move,” Blackmon said. “I may have back-pedaled probably two yards. The ball was coming.”

Blackmon picked off passes from both Redskin quarterbacks, sending Frerotte to the bench with an interception in the end zone late in the third quarter.

Shuler, who was also intercepted by Corey Harris before connecting with Michael Westbrook for a five-yard score late in the game, played for only the third time this season.