Lewis, Zeier Are Good at Picking Spots

The Baltimore Ravens finally ran into--and through--a team with more problems than they have.

Jermaine Lewis exploited Seattle’s struggling special teams, backup Eric Zeier picked apart the Seahawks’ porous defense and Baltimore finally came up with big plays in the fourth quarter Sunday.

The result was a 31-24 Baltimore victory that ended a five-game winless streak for the Ravens (5-8-1).

“I think we fought back well from adversity. This shows we have the drive to come back,” said Lewis, who returned punts 89 and 66 yards for touchdowns in the second quarter and later caught a 29-yard scoring pass from Zeier in the finest game of his two-year NFL career.

Lewis became the 10th player in NFL history to return two punts for touchdowns in the same game and the third this season. The 5-foot-7 speedster returned five punts for 184 yards and took back three kickoffs for 91 yards.

Lewis’ return yards were more than the total offense mustered by Seattle (6-8), which had 273 yards in its fourth consecutive loss.

Seattle also had four passes intercepted. Three were thrown in the fourth quarter by backup John Friesz, who replaced the injured Warren Moon.

“We always find a way to lose. We definitely gave the game away today,” Seattle defensive end Michael Sinclair said.

Lewis’s touchdown reception tied the score at 24-24, and Zeier’s 92-yard pass play to Derrick Alexander set up a one-yard touchdown run by Bam Morris with 10:42 remaining for the deciding score.

Zeier, subbing for the injured Vinny Testaverde, completed 17 of 28 passes for 302 yards in his first start since 1995.