Late kick lifts Seahawks past Broncos

It was cold, bitter cold. So was the way the Seattle Seahawks started their game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.

And things never got much better at Invesco Field, where before a national television audience, the Seahawks' offense froze.

Until the final quarter.

The Seahawks (8-4) scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and withstood a tying touchdown in the last three minutes, winning 23-20 on another Josh Brown crunch-time field goal.

Brown connected from 50 yards with five seconds left, completing a 10-play, 54-yard drive and another comeback.

The frosty Seahawks offense thawed with temperatures in the teens, but a stone-cold Seahawks defense couldn't finish the job. Thankfully for Seattle, their offense took care of that.

For almost 3 1/2 quarters, all looked lost. Seattle's offense relied on running back Shaun Alexander for whatever it could generate.

Then suddenly, the Seahawks took to the air.

Starting a drive with 9:42 left in the game, Matt Hasselbeck found Darrell Jackson for 27 yards. It was the Seahawks' longest play from scrimmage - for a few seconds.

Hasselbeck hit Jackson for 33 yards on the next play, and Alexander ran in for a 1-yard touchdown to give the Seahawks their first lead of the game, 14-13.

Then Kelly Jennings forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return. The Seahawks recovered the ball, ending the drive with a 44-yard Brown field goal.

Then what appeared to be the knockout blow: Defensive end Grant Wistrom tipped first-time starter Jay Cutler's pass, and Jordan Babineaux intercepted it. The Seahawks got a 23-yard field goal from Brown, giving them a 20-13 lead.

Thirteen points in about 5 1/2 minutes. That was the game.

Not quite.

Cutler, not a factor for much of the game, connected with wide receiver Brandon Marshall from his own 29. What should have been a routine catch-and-tackle turned into Marshall busting through the arms of Babineaux, Jennings and Michael Boulware on his way to a 71-yard touchdown.

Tie game, 20-20.

The Seahawks got the ball back with a little more than two minutes to play and fought their way into field-goal range, bringing on Brown.

The game didn't appear to be headed for so much excitement.

Broncos running back Tatum Bell's 25-yard run set up a 37-yard Jason Elam field goal to open the scoring.

The Seahawks spent the first half unable to get much going. They had three delay-of-game penalties, two more drops from Jackson and Jerramy Stevens, then a missed 40-yard field-goal attempt by Brown.

Bell ran for 31 yards to set up Cutler's first career touchdown pass, a 7-yard toss that Stephen Alexander juggled but brought down. A penalty on Seattle's Julian Peterson for a personal-foul facemask produced 15 more yards on the drive, added to a 9-yard run on the play.

Bell also had runs of 11 and 17 yards before halftime. But the Seahawks made two plays that kept them close.

Rookie Darryl Tapp was in the right place at the right time when the Seahawks pass rush - defensive end Bryce Fisher and defensive tackle Chuck Darby - got to Cutler. The youngster tried a desperation heave that Tapp picked out of the air and ran back 25 yards for the Seahawks first points of the game.

Seattle trailed 10-7 with five minutes left in the second quarter.

Denver (7-5) was on the move again when Cutler hit Rod Smith for a short gain. Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant had fallen down, but got back up to strip the ball from Smith.

Peterson recovered the ball and ran it back 25 yards to the Broncos 35. But the Seahawks were stymied.

Brown, last week's NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, missed a 53-yard try on which the Seahawks were also called for holding. The Broncos got the ball to the Seahawks 23 after a costly fake field goal run by Elam, on which the veteran injured his left hamstring.

Elam was still able to make a 41-yard field goal for a 13-7 Broncos lead to close out the half.