NEW YORK, 19 October 2004 — Corey Dillon rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns as the New England Patriots won their 20th consecutive game, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 30-20 in National Football League action in Foxboro on Sunday. The defending Super Bowl champions extended the record they set last week for most consecutive wins including playoffs and tied another NFL mark with their 17th straight regular season victory.
“Our team has a lot of confidence that when we get in these type of games we’re going to make the plays to win,” New England quarterback Tom Brady said.
The Patriots (5-0) dominated the first half, but almost lost for the first time since early last Season, as the Seahawks staged a second half rally after trailing 20-6 at the intermission.
Seattle had a first down at the New England 13 yard line trailing 23-17 with four minutes remaining. However, an intentional grounding penalty to quarterback Matt Hasselbeck forced the Seahawks to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Josh Brown with 3:01 left.
“That was not the big play that hurt us,” Hasselbeck said of the late penalty. “There were 20 plays ahead of that one.”
Dillon ensured the win with a seven-yard TD run with 1:55 remaining after a third down 48-yard reception by Bethel Johnson set up the game-clinching points.
The contest was billed as a possible Super Bowl match-up, but Seattle, who started the season well, slipped to 3-2 after blowing a big lead and losing in overtime to St Louis last week.
This time the Seahawks struggled early, as Hasselbeck was intercepted twice in the first two Seattle series, with the Patriots scoring on their first four possessions to take the halftime lead. Dillon opened the scoring with a one-yard TD run and Adam Vinatieri kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 10-0 after one quarter.
Brady hit David Patten with a six-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter, with Vinatieri hitting a 39-yard field goal for the other Patriot first half points.
Brown had 33 and 40 yard field goals for the Seahawks. Brown’s 20-yard field goal was the only scoring of the third quarter and Shaun Alexander’s nine-yard TD run, followed by a two-point convert, brought Seattle to within 20-17. Vinatieri and Brown traded field goals before Dillon’s second touchdown completed the scoring. Brady wound up 19-for-30 for 231 yards, while Hasselbeck was 27-for-50 for 349 yards. Koren Robinson caught nine passes for 150 yards in a losing cause for Seattle.
In East Rutherford, Curtis Martin rushed for 111 yards on 25 carries as the New York Jets also improved to 5-0 with a 22-14 win over the San Francisco 49ers. The Jets trailed 14-3 at the half but Chad Pennington threw for 117 yards after the intermission to key the comeback. He wound up 20-for-30 for 222 yards.
Martin moved into eighth place with 12,282 yards, passing Marcus Allen. The Jets are 5-0 for the first time in the franchise’s history, while San Francisco slipped to 1-5.
In Cleveland, Jeff Garcia hit Andre Davis with a 99-yard TD pass to highlight the Cleveland Browns 34-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
William Green rushed for 115 yards and Lee Suggs caught a 59-yard TD pass from Garcia to lead the Browns (3-3). Garcia wound up 16-for-23 for 310 yards and four touchdown passes. The Bengals (1-4) gained just 189 total yards.
In the night game, Daunte Culpepper threw five touchdown passes in a game for the third time this season to set a new NFL record and lead the Minnesota Vikings to a 38-31 victory in New Orleans.
In other games: Buffalo beat Miami 20-13 for its first win, Atlanta edged San Diego 21-20, Washington beat Chicago 13-10, Green Bay ended a four-game losing streak by defeating Detroit 38-10, Jacksonville edged Kansas City 22-16, Philadelphia remained unbeaten with a 30-8 win over Carolina, Houston stopped Tennessee 20-10, Denver routed Oakland 31-3 and Pittsburgh scored two late touchdowns to edge Dallas 24-20.
