SEATTLE — A bad snap, a tipped punt and a blocked field goal.
For the Seattle Seahawks, that was so last week.
On Sunday afternoon, the Seahawks’ beleaguered special teams unit not only got back on track but paved the way to a 33-6 victory over the St. Louis Rams.
Nate Burleson got the momentum rolling with a 91-yard touchdown on a kickoff return to start the second half, while kicker Josh Brown matched a career high with four field goals.
“It was a great (confidence) building game for our special teams unit,” Brown said.
Burleson’s return may have been the play of the game. He hadn’t returned a kickoff since the season opener — rookie Josh Wilson took over those duties — before fielding Jeff Wilkins’s kick to start Sunday’s second half.
Burleson burst through a pack of players before juking Wilkins toward the right sideline and laying a nice stiff-arm on Rams defensive back Jonathan Wade at the St. Louis 30. Burleson then cut back inside and out-ran Ron Bartell the rest of the way for the first kickoff return touchdown of his career.
“Once you get past the kicker, you pretty much should score. That’s the way I look at it,” Burleson said. “That’s kind of the last line of defense. … Luckily, my stiff-arm worked that time. There were a few times (in the past) where it just shoved back into me, so I’m going to keep doing those bicep curls.”
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck called the return “the greatest thing ever,” adding that the touchdown gave him more time to rest a sore oblique muscle.
Punter Ryan Plackemeier also had a good day, averaging 45.8 yards per punt with a long of 62 and three of his five punts landing inside the St. Louis 20-yard line.
After having one punt blocked, and an off-target snap from Boone Stutz go through his legs last week, Plackemeier was relieved after Sunday’s performance.
“Anytime you have a bad game, you can’t wait for the next one to get that one off your chest,” he said. “It helps your confidence. We’re doing a lot of good things, but last week set us back as a team. Anytime you do that on special teams, that’s hard. But this week, we got some points on special teams, and that’s definitely a momentum changer.”
Is he eligible? During the first 48 games of his NFL career, tight end Will Heller caught just 21 passes and scored four touchdowns.
On Sunday, he was the Seahawks’ biggest offensive weapon. He caught three passes, including Seattle’s only two touchdown receptions.
“I’ve been kind of labeled as a non-receiving tight end, but that’s how this league works,” said Heller, who is probably the Seahawks’ best blocking tight end.
While filling in for injured Marcus Pollard, Heller made his second start of the season Sunday. But it was his first 2007 start in a one-tight-end set, and only the second of his two-year career as a Seahawk.
After Sunday’s game, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck called Heller “a secret weapon.”
Pollard missed the game because of a sore knee that has bothered him for most of the past three weeks. Coach Mike Holmgren said Pollard is expected to have his knee scoped and will miss one game.
Deeper and deeper: The Rams’ loss to Seattle on Sunday was bad, but not even their worst defeat of the season. Three weeks ago, Dallas handed St. Louis a 35-7 loss. St. Louis has also lost 24-3 (at Tampa Bay) and 22-3 (at Baltimore).
The Rams have now lost seven games in a row, marking the first time they have opened a season with that many losses in the franchise’s 70-year history.
Things got so bad Sunday that tight end Randy McMichael went off after the game.
“I am grateful that God has blessed me to be a Ram,” he said, “but right now I am very embarrassed to be one. It makes no sense what we did offensively (Sunday). … It is pathetic.”
Wide receiver Isaac Bruce was a bit more diplomatic.
“Right now we are 0-7,” he said, “but I don’t think 0-7 is in this team.”
The Rams have been held without a touchdown in three of their seven games this season, and they have scored more than one only once — in a 34-31 loss to Arizona.
Hackett sits: Wide receiver D.J. Hackett missed his sixth consecutive game due to a high ankle sprain. He saw limited practice time last week but was among the Seahawks’ seven inactives for Sunday’s game.
St. Louis played without starting running back Steven Jackson (groin) and kick returner Dante Hall (ankle).
Hackett and fellow starter Deion Branch are expected to return to the Seahawks’ lineup for the Seahawks’ next game, Nov. 4 at Cleveland.
In their absence, Bobby Engram got his second consecutive starts and added a team-high six receptions to the nine he had last week.
Holmgren hinted at a change in starting receivers last week, he ended up going with Engram and Burleson for the second week in a row.
Relaxing reward? Holmgren hinted last week that the team might get a few days off this week, but that wasn’t likely to happen if he was in the wrong mood.
After Sunday’s win, there’s a chance the players may get some time to relax heading into this weekend’s annual bye.
“I have a plan,” Holmgren said Sunday afternoon, “but I haven’t told them yet. We’re meeting at nine o’clock (this) morning, so I can’t tell you.”
Bernard injured: Seahawks defensive tackle Rocky Bernard got poked in the right eye late in Sunday’s game.
Bernard told The Tacoma News Tribune that Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito caused the injury.
“I don’t really have a lot of respect for him,” Bernard told The News Tribune.
Starting fast: For only the second time this season, the Seahawks opened with a scoring drive. Hasselbeck’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Heller capped off an 11-play, 71-yard drive on their opening possession.
The only other time Seattle scored on its opening drive was in Week 3, which was a 24-yard drive.
One more for Peterson: Seattle linebacker Julian Peterson notched his seventh sack of the season, tied for third in the NFL, one behind Kansas City’s Jared Allen and the New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora.
Peterson also had an interception on an attempted screen pass in the fourth quarter.
“I had been waiting on that pretty much the whole game. I knew that in that exact formation that they like to throw the screen. I tried to jump it the last two times, but I kept on getting hit. I said, ‘I’m going to get this thing one more time.’ It came true and I tried to hide and it came right into my hands.”
Quick slants: After being inactive for each of the first six games, defensive end Jason Babin made his Seahawks debut Sunday. Babin, who was acquired from Houston in exchange for safety Michael Boulware, played special teams and also saw action on more than a dozen snaps with the defense. … St. Louis punter Donnie Jones, an ex-Seahawk, launched an 80-yarder that marked the third-longest punt in Rams history, and the longest since 1947. … The Seahawks are now 8-1 heading into the bye week since Holmgren took over in 1999. Seattle is 2-6 after byes, having won two years in a row. … Seattle Mariners center fielder Ichiro Suzuki raised the 12th man flag before Sunday’s game.
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