SEATTLE (Ticker) -- If Antowain Smith and Doug Flutie were playing their final game as members of the Buffalo Bills, they made it a memorable one.
Smith rushed for a career-high 147 yards and three touchdowns and Flutie passed for three scores as the Bills finished the season at .500 with a 42-23 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Relegated to the bench for much of the season after losing his starting job, Smith finally looked like the player the Bills took with the 23rd overall pick in the 1997 draft.
Smith, who asked for a trade earlier this season and is a prime candidate to become a salary cap casualty, carried 17 times and scored on runs of nine, two and four yards. His previous best was 130 yards at Indianapolis on October 11, 1998.
Flutie also has been relegated to a backup role but made the start in place of Rob Johnson, who missed the game with a concussion.
In his third season with the Bills, Flutie is midway through a four-year contract he signed in March 1999. But he is another candidate to be released with the pending cap problems.
If this was his swan song, Flutie made it count as he completed 20-of-25 passes for a career-high 366 yards, including TD tosses of 11, 18 and six yards. He threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter as Buffalo built a 28-14 halftime lead.
Flutie did not feel like he was playing for his job.
"No, we're playing football," he said. "You guys read way to much into football. I have no control over my job. I am thinking about winning a football game. I just worry about making my read and throwing the football."
"Doug played a tremendous game," Bills coach Wade Phillips said. "I thought he played really well last week, and almost won that game for us in tough conditions. Then he came into this game and ran hard in the first half and had 250 yards passing. What a tremendous game he had."
Buffalo (8-8) stopped a four-game losing streak to finish the season at the break-even mark.
"Our motivation today wasn't playing for your jobs, it was to play to win -- that's what we've done all year," said Phillips, whose job could be in jeopardy.
"We went through some hills and valley like every team does," said Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who fired general manager John Butler earlier this week. "For a team to come back and play like this with half of the starters out on both sides of the ball, was real gratifying."
Despite a steady rain falling throughout, the Bills rolled up 579 total yards, compared to 312 from Seattle.
"Doug Flute hasn't played that much, and he came in and did a great job," Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. "Their receivers, when we were close, they went up and made the play. We had decent coverage a couple of times, they just went up and made the play. We had a tough night defensively."
Ricky Watters rushed for 67 yards and a TD for the Seahawks (6-10), who finished fourth in the AFC West, one season after winning the division. Watters moved past Ottis Anderson into 12th place on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 10,319 yards.
Flutie was on target from the start, throwing an 11-yard TD pass to running back Shawn Bryson and an 18-yard scoring strike to Peerless Price in the first 11:37 of the contest, helping the Bills build a 14-0 advantage.
Price, a second-round pick last season, had the best game of his young career with eight receptions for a career-best 132 yards.
Following Price's touchdown, the Seahawks got right back in the game when Charlie Rodgers returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown.
The Bills anwered that score with a three-play, 63-yard drive that Smith capped with his nine-yard run. Flutie set up the score with a 48-yard pass to Eric Moulds to the Seattle 15. Moulds had four catches for 101 yards.
The teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter with quarterback Jon Kitna plunging in from one yard for Seattle before Flutie hit tight end Jay Riemersma with an 11-yard TD pass in the back of the end zone 69 seconds before the half.
Kitna completed 18-of-28 passes for 195 yards and was sacked five times.
After rookie Rian Lindell kicked a 38-yard field goal for the Seahawks midway through the third quarter, Smith provided a 35-17 advantage for Buffalo with a two-yard run with 26 seconds left in the period.
Watters ran six yards for a touchdown to pull the Seahawks within 35-23 with 9:29 remaining. Watters also had a 45-yard reception on the drive that moved the ball into Buffalo territory
Flutie helped the Bills put the game out of reach with completions of 42 yards to rookie Jeremy McDaniel and 34 yards to Price on a four-play, 80-yard march that Smith capped with a four-yard run with 6:43 to play.
