Matt Hasselbeck threw three touchdown passes in the second half to lift the Seattle Seahawks past the Green Bay Packers 34-24 in a NFL game played in cold and snow.
A record crowd of 68,256 endured the tough conditions to watch the Seahawks improve to 7-4, stretching their NFC West division lead to two games, while the Packers slid to 4-7.
Brett Favre, who suffered a right elbow injury last week but made his 252nd consecutive start, connected with Donald Driver on a 48-yard touchdown pass just 2:21 into the third quarter to give Green Bay a 21-12 lead.
PHOTO: AP
But Hasselbeck threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Hackett just 6:20 later. Then, just 49 seconds into the fourth quarter, Hasselbeck put the Seahawks ahead with a four-yard touchdown toss to Darrell Jackson.
Hasselbeck, back after missing the past four weeks with a sprained knee ligament, flipped a two-point conversion pass to Jerramy Stevens and Seattle stretched the margin to 27-21.
Green Bay kicker Dave Rayner booted a 34-yard field goal with 10:50 remaining to pull the Packers within three.
But Hasselbeck answered once more, connecting on a three-yard touchdown pass to Stevens over the middle for a touchdown that gave Seattle a 34-24 lead with 6:13 remaining.
Favre, the NFL's number two all-time passer, threw two of his three interceptions in the final minutes in failed bids to rally the Packers.
Favre won a record three NFL Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl title when Mike Holmgren, now Seattle's head coach, guided Green Bay before departing after the 1998 season for an eight-year, US$32 million deal with the Seahawks.
Holmgren took the Seahawks to the Super Bowl last season, where Seattle lost to Pittsburgh with Hasselbeck, a former backup to Favre, leading the team. Favre fell to 3-2 in games against his former coach.
Seattle's Shaun Alexander, last season's NFL rushing champion, carried 40 times, a club record and the most by any NFL rusher this year, for 201 yards. Alexander returned last week after missing six games with a broken bone in his foot.
Ahman Green scored on a five-yard run to give the Packers a 7-0 lead just 2:18 into the game after Hasselbeck threw an interception.
The Seahawks answered with Josh Brown field goals of 45, 41 and 37 yards to give the hosts a 9-7 lead just 3:34 before half-time.
But the Packers jumped back ahead on Addul Hodge's 29-yard interception and return for a touchdown, giving the Packers a 14-9 lead with 1:51 remaining in the second quarter.
Brown's fourth field goal of the first half, a 28-yarder with 23 seconds remaining in the second quarter, pulled the Seahawks within 14-12 at the break.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite