plateaued too early and the track got better at the end. W

Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - The NFC playoffs will run through the Pacific Northwest for a second consecutive season. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks used their patented defense, behind their rowdy crowd, to stifle the St. Louis Rams in a 20-6 win and wrap up the NFC West division in the process. The Seahawks (12-4), who ended the regular season on a six-game winning streak, clinched a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs by winning their seventh NFC West title in team history. Seattle has taken nine of its last 10 games overall since a loss at St. Louis (6-10) in Week 7, a game that the Rams returned a punt for a touchdown and also converted a gutsy fourth-down play in the closing minutes with punter Johnny Hekker. We surely witnessed how difficult the NFC West is the last month and a half, said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. It just shows you how difficult it is. It was a very tough game today. They played great on defense. Russell Wilson threw for 239 yards with an interception and Marshawn Lynch rushed for a touchdown in the win. Rams quarterback Shaun Hill committed a costly interception on the first play of the fourth quarter in Seattle territory. On 2nd-and-19 from the 34, Hill tossed the ball right into the arms of defensive tackle Jordan Hill. Kevin Norwood then picked up a first down five plays later on a 31-yard catch to the St. Louis 9. That set up Lynchs TD run that gave the hosts their first lead of the game, 13-6 with 12:07 left. Seattles defense really put the pressure on with another interception on St. Louis next series. Close to midfield, Hill threw a short pass to Lance Kendricks, who had the ball knocked free into the air by Bobby Wagner, and Bruce Irvin picked it off and returned it 49 yards for a score. It was really exciting to see the big plays on defense today, Carroll added. Benjamin Cunningham looked to cut the deficit to a one-score game, but Earl Thomas jarred the ball loose and out of the end zone as Cunningham reached for the goal line, giving Seattle the ball back with just under six minutes to play. We gave it our best shot, the problem is we just didnt finish, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. We had some really good things happen out there today, we just couldnt finish it. It was St. Louis defense that impressed in the first half. After suffering two straight losses entering the game on the heels of consecutive shutouts, the Rams defensive unit got back to work in this one. Greg Zuerlein provided all the scoring with a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 52-yard boot in the second to give the Rams a 6-0 lead at the break. Seattle was driving after Zuerleins initial field goal, but Luke Willson was a yard short of a first down on 4th-and-5 from the St. Louis 35. Then a Lynch fumble set up Zuerleins second kick. Late in the half, Wilson attempted to orchestrate a late scoring drive. However, Pro Bowl rookie Aaron Donald picked up a big sack near midfield when the Seahawks were in range for a long field goal. Seattle marched right down the field out of the locker room and Steven Hauschka, coming off the first 0-for-3 kicking day of his career last week against Arizona, knocked down a 42-yarder to cut the deficit in half. Hauschka kicked a 45-yard field goal on the Seahawks ensuing possession to tie the game. Game Notes Seattle had not been shutout in the first half since Oct. 23, 2011 at Cleveland ... Hill threw for 243 yards on 26-of-37 passing ... The Seahawks have won 10 straight at home over the Rams ... Lynch had 60 yards on 14 carries ... St. Louis was held to 245 total yards. Clayton Kershaw Jersey . Warren made six birdies and a bogey for a 5-under total of 139 to sit one shot ahead of Felipe Aguilar of Chile, who carded a 69. David Horsey of England was also on 5 under through 15 holes to join Warren atop the leaderboard before play was stopped. Chris Taylor Jersey . The Blue Jackets announced the injury through their official Twitter account Friday afternoon. Gaborik, 31, has scored five goals and six assists in 17 games with the Blue Jackets in 2013-14. http://www.dodgersteamproshop.com/Dodgers-Mark-Lowe-Kids-Jersey/ . Bjoergen pulled away from Swedens Charlotte Kalla on the final straight to win in 38 minutes, 33.6 seconds and defend her title from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Kalla was 1.8 seconds back. Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze. Alex Wood Jersey . On Monday night, many fans in this city placed the blame squarely on the captain for his role in the James Neal overtime winner against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Logan Forsythe Jersey . Im very excited about the playoffs, particularly in the Western Conference with amazing match-ups, as well as the wonderful local story in the Toronto Raptors. It should be a blast. Here are my predictions, but based upon my lousy prognostications during the NCAA Tournament, you might be better off going the other way on some of mine - particularly with the Raptors, who I hope and pray are able to win an incredibly difficult match-up.INDIANAPOLIS -- A slick surface was all it took for Sebastian Saavedra to win his first IndyCar Series pole. It was also just enough to slip Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the top starting spot for Saturdays Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Saavedra won the pole Friday when Hunter-Reay appeared to drive through a patch of standing water that caused him to spin and crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The accident exiting Turn 14 came on the lap after Hunter-Reay had moved to the provisional pole, and IndyCar penalized him by taking away his two fastest laps for causing a session-ending caution. "We definitely gave that one away," Hunter-Reay said. "Every time through there I almost lost it. I had a few big moments there, but in qualifying youve got to go for it. In the wet, youre always going for it. "Theres a very fine line between stepping over getting that good lap in the wet and throwing it off." Rain showers changed the track conditions for each of the four qualifying sessions, and it picked up moments before the start of the final Fast Six session. IndyCar brought the cars back to pit road because of standing water on the track for a red-flag period that lasted about 20 minutes. Saavedra had just bumped rookie Jack Hawksworth from the pole when Hunter-Reay turned his fast lap. But the IndyCar rule is to strip a driver of his two fastest laps for bringing out a red flag during qualifying, so Hunter-Reay was dropped to third. Hunter-Reay, the only driver to advance to the Fast Six through the first four races of the season, has not started lower than third this year. But his Andretti Autosport team had work to do to repair his bright yellow No. 28, which sustained heavy damage to the right rear of the car. Saavedra, who turned a lap at 1 minute, 23.8822 seconds, will lead the field to the green flag for the first IndyCar road course race at Indianapolis. "I love the rain," Saavedra said. "It was crazy at first because we didnt know what to expect from the track -- if it was going to be wet, if it was going to be dry. The whole session was just weird. It started to rain and went from wet, to dry, to super dry, to super wet. I loved it." The previous road course was reconfigured into a 14-turn, 2.439-mile course to accommodate IndyCar, which is using the race to open the speedway and create buzz in advance of the Indiaanapolis 500.dddddddddddd. Drivers for the first time are running clockwise at the famed speedway, which will run the Grand Prix on Saturday and then revert to the traditional oval Sunday for the opening practice for the May 25 main event. Because the event and the track configuration are new, the field may be even headed into Saturdays race. It appeared even when Saavedra advanced into his first Fast Six of the season, then hung on to win the pole and give IndyCar a relatively inexperienced front row. Saavedra has 41 career starts dating to 2010, but his longtime backer this year brought him to KV Racing, the team that won the Indianapolis 500 last year with Tony Kanaan. Hawksworth, starting on the outside of Saavedra, has three previous starts. The British driver is in his first season with Bryan Herta Autosport. Hawksworth spent last season racing Indy Lights, where he won three times. Meanwhile, a tough qualifying assignment made it a nearly impossible session for Andretti Autosport, which had all five of its cars in the first group. With only six drivers advancing from that group, the odds were stacked against the organization. Indeed, only Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe moved on while Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and Franck Montagny were eliminated. "Obviously, Im not very happy," Andretti said. "It was a team decision to go out, we were worried about the wet, but we plateaued too early and the track got better at the end. Weve been on the outside looking in of this hundredth of a second. Im losing sleep over this couple hundredths of a second." Wished good luck for Saturdays race, Andretti, who will start 13th, said: "Thanks, Im going to need it." Mikhail Aleshin, the first Russian in IndyCar history, had been strong through three practices and advanced into the second round of qualifying. But his fastest laps were wiped out when he was hit with an interference penalty. He and Sebastien Bourdais had raced each other hard for many laps two weeks ago at Barber, and Bourdais was eventually penalized for contact. The two drivers disagree wildly on who was to blame. Simon Pagenaud, teammates with the rookie but friendly with Bourdais since their days racing in France, wasnt sure what happened in qualifying. "What I know is him and Sebastien Bourdais are becoming best friends," Pagenaud joked. 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