CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Linebacker Brian Simmons and the Cincinnati Bengals' defense repeatedly hassled Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle Seahawks.
Simmons recovered a fumble, had an interception and caused another as the Bengals edged the Seahawks, 27-24, for a rare second straight victory.
Filling in for Corey Dillon, who was involved in a minor car accident on the way to the game and was inactive due to a nagging groin injury, Rudi Johnson rushed for a career-high 101 yards and a touchdown for the Bengals (3-4), who had not won consecutive games since the last two of the 2001 season.
"I found out (I would be starting) a little after 12:00," Johnson said. "I just drank more fluid. It was a matter of doing my part. We did a great job of communicating."
"Dillon was inactive and sometimes everyone takes a deep breath and goes, 'Oh, good, he's not playing,'" Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. "And then all of a sudden you got a guy in there that's pretty good. (Johnson) was pretty effecient running the ball, I thought. That was the thing that surprised me most, I guess."
Johnson became the first Bengal aside from Dillon to rush for more than 100 yards since Ki-Jana Carter had 104 yards vs. Denver in 1997.
In their first year under coach Marvin Lewis, the Bengals already have more victories than they did last season, when they went 2-14.
Jon Kitna, who played for Seattle from 1996-2000, completed 19-of-31 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He outplayed the man who replaced him, Hasselbeck, who went 25-of-42 for 309 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted three times.
"It has been a long time since we won two games in a row around here," Kitna said. "It was huge already and then you're playing against a team that you cut your teeth with, and it makes it even bigger. I've really tried not to focus on that and go out and just do the things that the coaches have been asking me to do."
The Bengals trailed, 24-17, before Shayne Graham booted a 25-yard field goal with six seconds left in the third quarter. After they blocked a 49-yard field goal attempt by Jeff Feagles with nine minutes remaining, Kitna completed a slant across the middle to Chad Johnson, who raced 53 yards for a go-ahead touchdown with 8:03 left.
Seattle (5-2) got great field position after Johnson was whistled for a slashing gesture following his touchdown, but Simmons picked off Hasselbeck at the Cincinnati 33 with just under six minutes to play. Seattle got another shot but Simmons tipped a pass from Hasselbeck and cornerback Jeff Burris intercepted it with 1:46 left.
"There are certain guys that I've been getting on because I think they can get better. He's one of the guys I've been getting on," Lewis said of Simmons. "He keeps getting better every week. He's getting it done."
"Right now, I'm feeling good," Simmons said. "I've had good games in the past, and we lost. When you can put the two together (a good game and a win), that's a pretty good day."
The Seahawks, who were off to their best start in franchise history, fell into a first-place tie with St. Louis atop the NFC West.
"We're a little deflated now because we thought we could go down and win this game," Hasselbeck said. "It's not the end of the world but it's disappointing. I felt like it was like the other games when we came back and won. I was sure we'd come back and win this game. There's a fine line between wins and losses. We were on the wrong side today."
"It was our best team victory of the season, over a team that's playing with confidence," Lewis said. "And I think we're starting to get that confidence ourselves."
Seattle got on the board first, on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to tight end Itula Mili 4:21 into the contest.
The Bengals tied it on an 18-yard run by Johnson five minutes later and took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter on an eight-yard pass from Kitna to rookie Kelley Washington after Simmons stripped Seattle receiver Darrell Jackson and recovered the ball.
The Seahawks evened the contest on a two-yard pass from Hasselbeck to running back Shaun Alexander with 6:34 left in the half. Graham and Seattle's Josh Brown added field goals in the final minute to make it 17-17 at the break.
Seattle took its last lead, 24-17, on a six-yard pass from Hasselbeck to Mili.
Alexander, who played at Alabama while Johnson played for intrastate rival Auburn, had 86 yards on 20 carries.
"You want to go out to win every game. This time we didn't," Alexander said. "We need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we could do individually to put teams away. We didn't put them away like we should have."
