PHILADELPHIA — Another long flight across two time zones and a road victory.
Been there, done that.
A key stop in the closing minute and their backs against the goal line.
That’s becoming old hat as well.
But when it comes to familiar storylines for the Seattle Seahawks, winning a division title is as routine as it gets.
After a second consecutive road victory that featured another last-minute defensive stand, the Seahawks are six days away from possibly clinching a fourth consecutive NFC West crown. Seattle’s 28-24 win over Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon set up a possible division clincher this Sunday at Qwest Field. If the Seahawks (8-4) beat Arizona, they would have a three-game lead and the tiebreaker with three weeks to go.
“Being in the situation we were in a few weeks ago, where you didn’t know which way the season was going to go, and then to get on a roll like this and be in position to clinch the division, it’s huge,” defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said after Seattle’s fourth consecutive win Sunday.
Just to be in this position, the Seahawks can thank Lofa Tatupu. The middle linebacker intercepted three A.J. Feeley passes, including the rally-killer on Philadelphia’s final drive, to help knock off the Eagles on Sunday.
Tatupu set up Seattle’s first two touchdowns with a pair of interceptions in the opening 61/2 minutes of the game, then he added a pick on the Seahawks’ 4-yard line to clinch the victory with 14 seconds remaining in the game.
“We definitely needed them,” linebacker Julian Peterson said of Tatupu’s interceptions.
The instinctive linebacker picked off a pass on the opening play of the game, returning it 33 yards to set up a Shaun Alexander touchdown run. After the Eagles went 65 yards to tie the score, and Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck fumbled away the football, Tatupu struck again with his second interception.
That led to a Bobby Engram touchdown reception, and the back-and-forth game was on. While Seattle eventually took an 11-point lead, at 21-10 early in the second quarter, the lead never got bigger than four points from there.
Seattle made a key goal-line stand on Philadelphia’s final play of the first half, then the teams traded third-quarter touchdowns as Seattle took a 28-24 lead on Maurice Morris’s 45-yard run.
That lead held up after a fourth quarter that included five punts, two failed fourth-down conversions and Tatupu’s third interception.
The Seahawks defense made a key stop on fourth down when cornerback Kelly Jennings knocked down a pass with 1:56 remaining. After Seattle had run three consecutive running plays to run the clock down to 1:37 and burn all three of Philadelphia’s timeouts, punter Ryan Plackemeier kicked a 31-yarder into the waiting arms of big-play running back Brian Westbrook.
Westbrook, who served as a fourth-quarter return man to give the Eagles a spark, caught the punt at the Philadelphia 22-yard line and rambled 64 yards before Seattle’s Kevin Bentley pushed him out of bounds at the Seahawks’ 14.
On third-and-7 from the 11, Feeley dropped back and threw a pass toward receiver Reggie Brown over the middle. Tatupu, who had also dropped back into coverage over the middle on the two previous interceptions, reached up and corralled the ball to end that drive with 14 seconds left.
“I didn’t see him,” Feeley said of Tatupu’s position on the final play. “I thought the middle was wide open. I tried to bang it to (Brown), and not until I released it did I see (Tatupu) standing right in front of me.”
Last week, the Seahawks secured a last-minute victory when the St. Louis Rams botched a snap on fourth down at the 1-yard line. Another quarterback mistake cost Philadelphia this time around, and the Seahawks were happy to walk out with their second road victory in as many Sundays.
“We make things interesting,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said after Sunday’s win. “If anything, they don’t care about me and my health.”
The Eagles’ locker room wasn’t as jovial after Philadelphia (5-7) lost its second game in a row to effectively fall out of the playoff hunt.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Westbrook, who had 93 rushing yards and a team-high seven receptions to go along with his long punt return. “We have had opportunities.
“We had some in the first half that we didn’t take advantage of. We had opportunities in the second half that we didn’t take advantage of. When you’re playing a team that is good, you can’t make mistakes like we did (Sunday).”
By all accounts, the Seahawks can now qualify as a good team. While their 4-4 record at midseason left plenty of question marks about the direction of this year’s team, the four-game winning streak has Seattle back in a familiar position.
That is, on the doorstep of another NFC West title.
“Guys have risen to the occasion,” Hasselbeck said after the Seahawks extended their longest winning streak since the Super Bowl year of 2005. “There’s still room to grow, and hopefully we can win some games that aren’t so close.”
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