Qb Blake Gave Hawks Headaches

On the list of all-time, steely-nerved, fourth- quarter, game-saving quarterbacks, the name Jeff Blake might not be wedged in among all the various Unitases and Montanas.

But the skills of the Cincinnati Bengal quarterback were enough to give the Seattle Seahawks a case of the cold-sweats on Sunday.

Within a span of two frantic minutes in the fourth period in the Kingdome, Blake twice converted fourth-and-10 situations to lead the Bengals to a touchdown that brought them within three points of the Seahawks.

One of those was a 13-yard scramble when all receivers were blanketed, and the other was a 27-yard completion to tight end Tony McGee.

Then, on the final Bengal possession, Blake somehow lobbed a 24-yard completion to McGee to convert a third-and-10 situation despite being hauled to the turf by Seahawk pass rushers.

Add it up, and Blake finished by completing 22 of 42 for 286 yards and two touchdowns.

On top of that, he was the team’s leading rusher with 56 yards on five carries.

“He’s got my respect,” Hawk defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy said. “He’s a real player - the way he was running and throwing today. He’s got a lot of heart and never quits.”

The final-drive heroics went unrewarded, though, as kicker Doug Pelfrey missed his final attempt to tie the game from 49 yards, allowing the Hawks to escape with a 24-21 win.

“I just did what I had to do, get the ball down the field so we could get some points,” Blake said. “They were trying to take away the deep stuff, so I tried to get the ball to Tony down the middle and if he wasn’t there, I tried to dump it off to the backs. Or, I ran it.”

Blake, one of the NFL’s bargain players, makes $400,000 a year less than his backup, injured David Klingler.

Sad sacks

The Bengals came into the game leading the NFL with 11 sacks in two games.

But they got just two against the Seahawks, and both of them were coverage sacks.

“Those sacks were my fault, you can’t blame the line for them,” Hawk quarterback Rick Mirer said. “I should have gotten rid of the ball.”

Both sacks were by John Copeland, leaving last year’s No. 1 draft pick Dan Wilkinson without a sack, although he had seven tackles.

The Seahawk line has now given up just two sacks in the last two games.

“Avoiding sacks is a pride thing for the offensive line,” Hawk center Jim Sweeney said. “You don’t ever want to give up sacks, but some are unavoidable. Sometimes the bear gets you and sometimes you get the bear.”

Warren hits 100

Chris Warren’s 109 rushing yards on 24 carries accounted for his first 100-yard game this season.

In fact, it was only three yards short of his total for the first two games.

“Our game plan going in was to get Chris the ball as many ways as we could,” Erickson said. “We felt we had to run the football and establish the run.”

Seahawks 24, Bengals 21

Cincinnati 7 0 0 14 - 21

Seattle 7 10 0 7 - 24

First quarter

Sea-S.Smith 5 pass from Mirer (Peterson kick), 4:23.

Cin-Scott 88 pass from Blake (Pelfrey kick), 9:14.

Second quarter

Sea-Thomas 50 pass from Mirer (Peterson kick), 13:50.

Sea-FG Peterson 38, 15:00.

Fourth quarter

Cin-Roger Jones 17 yards interception return (Pelfrey kick), 2:29.

Sea-Warren 11 run (Peterson kick), 8:16.

Cin-Pickens 22 pass from Blake (Pelfrey kick), 11:42.

A-39,492.

Cin Sea First downs 18 24 Rushes-yards 23-110 36-143 Passing 291 263 Punt Returns 2-3 2-18 Kickoff Returns 3-63 4-107 Interceptions Ret. 1-17 1-0 Comp-Att-Int 23-43-1 21-30-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 1-0 2-16 Punts 6-47 6-39 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 8-70 4-63 Time of Possession 28:50 31:10

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Cin, Blake 5-56, Green 10-36, Bieniemy 6-15, Cothran 2-3. Sea, Warren 24-109, Mirer 7-16, Broussard 1-7, S.Smith 2-5, Blades 1-4, L.Smith 1-2. PASSING-Cin, Blake 22-42-1-286, Johnson 1-1-0-5. Sea, Mirer 21-30-1-279. RECEIVING-Cin, Pickens 8-88, McGee 6-87, Scott 3-98, Bieniemy 2-8, Joseph 2-6, Green 1-10, Cothran 1-(minus 6). Sea, Blades 7-74, Galloway 6-78, Warren 3-22, Thomas 1-50, Strong 1-25, Broussard 1-16, Fauria 1-9, S.Smith 1-5. MISSED FIELD GOALS-Cin, Pelfrey 38, 49. Sea, Peterson 53.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos Graphic: Hawks 24, Bengals 21