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Seahawks Blow Out Rams; Lock up No. 1 seed

Seattle,  WA (SportsNetwork.com)  - Golden  Tate caught  eight passes  for 129 
yards  and a touchdown  and Marshawn Lynch rushed for 97 yards and a TD as the 
Seattle  Seahawks locked up the NFC's  No. 1 seed with a 27-9 win over the St. 
Louis Rams on Sunday. 

Russell Wilson  was 15-for-23  passing for  172 yards and  a score and Malcolm 
Smith  returned  an interception for a  touchdown for the Seahawks (13-3), who 
won  the  NFC West and  secured home-field advantage throughout the conference 
playoffs. 

"It's a big deal. We're really pumped about that," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll 
said. 

The  Seahawks will  play their divisional round playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 
11 at 4:35 p.m. ET. 

Kellen  Clemens completed 21-of-30 passes for 157 yards, one touchdown and two 
interceptions for the Rams (7-9), who were held to just 13 rushing yards. 

"We  didn't  do the things  we had been  in the past  and that was running the 
football," Rams coach  Jeff Fisher  said. "They're  the No.  1 defense  for a 
reason." 

St.  Louis will  have the  No. 2  overall  pick in  the 2014  NFL Draft  after 
Washington's  loss earlier on Sunday. The Rams will receive the Redskins' pick 
to complete the Robert Griffin III trade. 

After  going three-and-out on their opening possession, the Seahawks cashed in 
on  an early  mistake from  Clemens  as Smith  intercepted a  tipped pass  and 
returned it 37 yards for a score. 

Seattle  drove down  the Rams' 6-yard line  on their first drive of the second 
quarter,  but  Wilson was sacked on  second down before throwing an incomplete 
pass on third and the hosts settled for a 28-yard Steven Hauschka field goal. 

The teams traded empty possessions from there until Hauschka made it 13-0 with 
his 35-yard field goal with three seconds left in the first half. 

St.  Louis  finally got  on the board  just over four  minutes into the second 
half.  Austin Pettis returned Jon Ryan's punt 32 yards down to the Seattle 31- 
yard  line.  After picking up  a quick  first down on  a short pass to Stedman 
Bailey,  Zac  Stacy was  stopped  at  the line  and  Clemens  threw two  quick 
incomplete passes to set up a 36-yard Greg Zuerlein field goal. 

The Seahawks answered with a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took nearly 
8  1/2  minutes off  the game  clock. On  1st-and-10 from  the Rams' 23, Lynch 
rushed  to the  right side for no  gain. Alec Ogletree was flagged on the play 
for a late hit on Lynch, who was well out of bounds. 

On the next play, Ogletree was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct once again 
for  his  actions after tackling Seahawks  running back Robert Turbin. Also on 
the  play, St. Louis' Kendall Langford was ejected after making contact with a 
game  official. As  Langford was defending his teammate, he raised his arm and 
accidentally knocked the hat off of the official. As he was leaving the field, 
Langford spiked his helmet on the turf for yet another penalty. 

Lynch punched it in two plays later for a 20-3 edge. 

Wilson  connected  with Tate for  a 47-yard  touchdown completion early in the 
fourth to all but seal the win. 

Clemens tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to Jared Cook with 4:13 left, but was 
unable to connect on the two-point conversion attempt to account for the final 
difference. 

                                   Game Notes 

Seattle  finished  7-1 at  home this season  ... The Seahawks  won the time of 
possession  battle  33:40-26:20 ... Seattle picked  up 20 first downs and held 
the Rams  to just 11 first  downs ... Lance  Kendricks led the Rams with five 
catches for 54 yards. 

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