In an About-Face, Rams Stun Seattle

For more than three quarters Sunday, the St. Louis Rams looked like an offense on Botox: frozen, emotionless and devoid of familiar wrinkles.

That was until a furious flurry in the fourth quarter and overtime left them looking like the old Rams, lifting them to a 33-27 victory over previously unbeaten Seattle.

“It was kind of reminiscent,” St. Louis receiver Isaac Bruce said. “New season, new players, new attitude, same results.”

Bruce said as much after the game to the dejected Seahawk fans in Qwest Field’s south end zone when he ran down the field with his helmet raised high, dramatically placed it at the 10-yard line and pumped his fist to the crowd. Ken Hamlin, a Seattle safety, stormed over and angrily gave the helmet a kick.

Reminded later about the exchange, Hamlin said: “Don’t ask about that.”

The Seahawks might be best advised to purge their memory banks of this game, one in which they had a 27-10 lead with less than six minutes to play and appeared on their way to the first 4-0 start in franchise history.

That’s when the Rams (3-2) came alive. Marc Bulger threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Manumaleuna with 5:34 to play; a 41-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Curtis at 3:30; set up a tying field goal by Jeff Wilkins with eight seconds remaining; then, in overtime, shocked the NFL’s No. 1 defense with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Shaun McDonald.

All that after Bulger had been sacked twice and had seen three of his passes intercepted.

“They pretty much put a good butt-kicking on us for three and a half quarters,” said Bulger, who said he was having his “worst day” before the game-saving turnaround.

Ram Coach Mike Martz was so elated after the game he was almost giddy. He kept his sunglasses on for his entire news conference, something no one who covers the team on a regular basis could remember him doing. He didn’t even attempt to temper his excitement.

“Nobody backed off, nobody was discouraged,” he said. “It was a remarkable win.”

Seattle hadn’t lost at home since Dec. 8, 2002, to Philadelphia, and appeared to be on the verge of running its home winning streak to 11 games.

A pivotal play came with 2:00 remaining, the Rams out of timeouts, and Seattle’s offense trying to protect a 27-24 lead, facing third and five at its 41. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck dropped back and was hit by defensive end Leonard Little, charging in from the right side. The ball came loose, and, although center Robbie Tobek recovered it at the 29, the Seahawks were forced to punt with ample time on the clock.

“If we got a first down, we won the game,” Hasselbeck lamented.

Instead, the glory belonged to the Rams, who have won or shared four of the last five NFC West titles.

“I don’t want to say we’re the team to beat, but we should never be counted out,” Ram tight end Cameron Cleeland said. “Right now, we’re the defending champs of this division and they’ve got to beat us. They didn’t today, so they’ll get another shot at it. But hopefully we’re going to roll through that one too.”

The St. Louis victory bled some of the juice out of next Sunday’s game between Seattle and unbeaten New England, a showdown some people consider a potential Super Bowl matchup. The Patriots, who will play host to the game, are riding an NFL-record 19-game winning streak.

“Before it gets too gloom and doom,” Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said, “we’re still 3-1. We’re still leading the division. After the first four games of the season, we’re still in good shape record-wise and all of that. The difficult thing is that we felt this is a game we could have won.”

Through the first half, the Seahawks had more than three times the first downs (17 to five) and almost twice the total yards (306 to 122) of the Rams, and seemingly had things well in hand with a 24-7 lead. Over the following 1 1/2 quarters, the teams traded field goals, meaning Seattle had to hold ... on ... just ... a bit ... longer.

“I feel like, ‘We lost?’ ” Hasselbeck said.

Yes, they lost.

“It was a total breakdown,” said Seahawk defensive end Grant Wistrom, an exasperated ex-Ram. “We weren’t getting pressure on them. Guys were running around free because [Bulger] had so much time to throw. We pretty much self-destructed out there.”

In doing so they summoned the Rams, the free-wheeling Rams, the fast and the furious.