NFL: Seattle’s playoff hopes get boost

After a shaky beginning, Russell Wilson got hot in the fourth quarter, Bobby Wagner and Seattle’s defense stymied Aaron Rodgers and the Seahawks stayed in the middle of the NFC playoff race.

“We’ve been through so much throughout this season it was time to get over the hump,” Wagner said. “We’ve been down, we’ve been up, we’ve lost close games, we’ve won close games. It was time.”

Wilson threw for 225 yards and his 15-yard touchdown pass to Ed Dickson with 5:08 left was the difference in the Seahawks’ 27-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night.

In a key matchup in the battle for the two NFC wild-card spots, Seattle (5-5) snapped a two-game losing streak by overcoming an early 14-3 deficit. Wilson was inconsistent at times early but was outstanding in the fourth quarter, capping the winning drive by recognizing a blitz and hitting Dickson quickly for his second touchdown pass of the night.

“I thought that whole drive was pretty exceptional. When it came down to it, third down, you’ve got to win in the red zone and we were pretty clutch in the red zone there at the end of the game,” Wilson said.

Seattle still has not lost three straight games since the middle of the 2011 season and the Seahawks finally closed out a one-score victory after consecutive close losses to the Chargers and Rams. Seattle was 1-8 in its previous nine games decided by one score.

Rodgers had a huge first half and threw for 332 yards, but the Packers (4-5-1) had just one scoring drive in the second half.

Rodgers threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half but never got the ball back after Green Bay punted with 4:20 left.