Seahawks 22, Raiders 21SEATTLE -- Unlike the recent past, when they always seemed to lose the close games they needed to win, this one turned out differently for the Seattle Seahawks.
And the Oakland Raiders turned out to be the Oakland faders.
"I feel like we had a baby; we delivered something," said Michael Sinclair of the Seahawks.
Trailing by large margins in the first half and early in the second, the Seahawks scored the final 13 points and beat the Raiders 22-21 Sunday night.
Coach Mike Holmgren's Seattle team heads into its bye week in first place in the AFC West with a 3-1 record.
"This is an exciting time for a city and a team that hasn't had much to get excited about," Seattle wide reciever Mike Pritchard said.
The Seahawks, who resume their regular-season schedule in San Diego in two weeks, fought back after Jon Kitna's first interception of the season gave the Raiders a 21-9 lead in the first four minutes of the second half.
Seattle trailed 14-3 early in the second quarter and were behind 14-9 at halftime.
Instead of losing, the Seahawks won their third in a row after a disappointing blowout loss to Detroit in their opener in the Kingdome.
"I wanted to give our folks something to cheer about," said Holmgren, drenched in sweat after the biggest victory of his brief $32 million Seahawks' coaching career.
The game went down to the final play, a 61-yard field goal try by Michael Husted that fell short as time expired. Husted kicked a 57-yarder when he was with Tampa Bay.
"I'm glad he missed it," Holmgren said.
It was Holmgren's first coaching win for the Seahawks in the Kingdome, but it wasn't easy. They transformed themselves into a different team on defense in the second half.
"As long as you win, I don't care what half it is," Holmgren said.
Oakland (2-2) swept Seattle last season.
"The Seahawks have never been known for being tough or physical," said Ricky Watters, who had 71 yards on 24 carries. "But that's changing, baby."
Todd Peterson kicked three field goals, giving him eight in two games, and rookie Charlie Rogers had another big punt return for the Seahawks.
In the second half, Seattle's defense stopped Tyrone Wheatley, who had 91 yards rushing at halftime. Wheatley had just 9 yards on six carries in the final two quarters, ending up with 100 yards on 20 carries.
The Raiders were limited to 42 rushing yards in the second half after running for 124 in the opening half.
"I thought they got us in some (defensive) alignments in the first half that we didn't want to be in," Holmgren said.
Both Raiders' losses came in the final quarter. They lost their opener to Green Bay when Brett Favre led the Packers the length of the field for a touchdown in the final two minutes.
"We're not finishing," Oakland coach Jon Gruden said.
Peterson gave the Seahawks their first lead of the game with 10:07 left when he kicked a 45-yard field goal. The Seahawks drove 48 yards after Darryl Williams intercepted Rich Gannon's pass at the Seattle 25.
After the eventual game-winning field goal, Seattle held Oakland to three first downs, two on a final drive on which Husted missed his 61-yard field goal attempt as the clock ran out.
Oakland turned Seattle's first interception of the year into a touchdown 3:36 into the second half for a 21-9 lead. The Seahawks looked beaten at that point after Jon Kitna threw an ill-advised pass with Russell Maryland in his face and Eric Turner picked it off, returning it 24 yards to the Seattle 17. The Raiders scored on a 3-yard pass to tight end Rickey Dudley.
"I have to learn how to eat that one," said Kitna, who was 15-of-30 for 213 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. "It was a dumb decision."
But Kitna and the Seahawks came right back on a 75-yard touchdown drive to cut Oakland's lead to 21-16. Kitna passed 21 yards to Derrick Mayes for the TD.
Rogers' 68-yard punt return set up Peterson's second field goal, a 29-yarder with 1:58 left in the period, making it 21-19. Rogers had a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown in Pittsburgh last week.
"This team really showed their mettle," Kitna said.