Moon’s Raking of Rams Leaves Them at a Loss

ST. LOUIS — Warren Moon was back in his comfort zone, running the run-and-shoot offense against the St. Louis Rams.

The 40-year-old stand-in quarterback, harking back to his glory days in that offense with the Houston Oilers, led the Seattle Seahawks on an eight-minute drive for the decisive touchdown in a 17-9 victory on Sunday.

“I played pretty well in spots,” Moon said. “There were a couple of stupid things I did out there that I probably should have never done. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure we score more points.”

If nothing else, Moon kept the Ram offense off the field with long, ball-control drives. The Seahawks had the ball for 38:11, the Rams for 21:49.

The drive that let Seattle take a 17-6 lead was a 13-play, 78-yard effort that lasted 8:18 and was capped by a Steve Broussard’s nine-yard run with 12:28 remaining.

Moon, the starter since John Friesz broke a thumb in the season opener, took three-step drops in a four-wideout set and completed passes on quick slants most of the day against single coverage. He completed 12 of his first 14 passes and ended up 24 for 36 for 261 yards. Joey Galloway, returning from an ankle injury, caught eight passes for 75 yards.

“It wasn’t his best outing by any means,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson said of Moon. “I thought he did some good things and threw the ball real well and did what he had to to win.”

The Rams had two interceptions, raising their season total to 12, but converted them into only three points.

“This was a big step for our defense,” rookie defensive back Shawn Springs said. “If we can continue to play like that we can be the best defense in the NFL.”

The Seahawks (4-3) have won four of their last five heading into a stretch of three consecutive games against AFC West opponents.

The Rams (2-5) had another anemic effort on offense, rushing for only 37 yards and settling for three Jeff Wilkins field goals in their third consecutive loss. St. Louis has scored only 19 points the last two weeks and second-year quarterback Tony Banks, who was 17 for 31 for 164 yards, was frequently booed by a sellout crowd of 64,819.

Banks spiked the ball to stop the clock as time ran out with the Rams near midfield, leading to more boos.

“This is the highlight of their week and if they want to spend that heckling us, so be it,” Banks said. “We’ve got to put some wins on the board.”

The Rams entered the game 27th in the NFL in total offense and resorted to such gimmicks as the shovel pass and reverse. Running back Lawrence Phillips started despite turf toe, an injury that kept him out last week. He was ineffective, gaining 18 yards in nine carries.