Then came the biggest surprise of all: Miami has a winning record.

The Dolphins' sizable bag of tricks saved them on a day the offense sputtered, and they withstood a frantic rally by injury-riddled Seattle to win 21-19 Sunday.

Surprising Miami (5-4) won its third game in a row and remained in the thick of the AFC East race. After going 1-15 last season, the Dolphins are above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2005 season.

The Dolphins' Wildcat formation - shut out in the past three games - produced scores on a 51-yard run by Ricky Williams and a 16-yard run by Ronnie Brown. Ted Ginn Jr. scored his first touchdown this season when he made a fingertip catch in the end zone of a 39-yard pass from Chad Pennington on a flea-flicker.

Williams ran for 105 yards on 12 carries - his first 100-yard game since Jan. 1, 2006.

The Seahawks (2-7) trailed for the final 53 minutes but nearly forced overtime. Koren Robinson caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Seneca Wallace with 2:57 left to make the score 21-19.

On the 2-point conversion try, Seattle was pushed back to the 8 because of a false start, and Yeremiah Bell batted away Wallace's pass at the goal line.

Seattle recovered a fumble inside the Miami 30 on the next series, but officials reviewed the play and ruled Pennington was down before the ball came loose. The Dolphins then punted, and Seattle advanced to the Miami 49 before Wallace's pass glanced off the hands of John Carlson on fourth-and-10 with 18 seconds left.

The Seahawks' first touchdown came on Jordan Babineaux's 35-yard interception return, after the Dolphins used trickery to score touchdowns on their first two possessions for a 14-0 lead.

A holding penalty on the opening kickoff wiped out a 100-yard return for a touchdown by Ginn. The Dolphins rebounded by mounting a 90-yard drive, which ended when Brown took a handoff and flipped the ball back to Pennington, who hit a well-covered Ginn in the end zone.

The Dolphins gave the Wildcat a fresh twist to strike again. Brown took a direct snap and handed to Williams running straight ahead, where he found a gaping hole to score untouched.

It was the seventh touchdown out of the formation for the Dolphins. For the day, the Wildcat netted 82 yards in seven plays.

A mistake by Pennington let the Seahawks back into the game. When he threw under pressure, Babineaux stepped in front of the intended receiver for an interception - only Seattle's fourth this season - and sprinted to the end zone.

A 50-yard kickoff return by Seattle's Josh Wilson to start the second half led to a field goal that made the score 14-10.

The Seahawks let a chance to take the lead slip away in the third quarter when Robinson dropped a pass in the end zone. Two plays later, Olindo Mare kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 14-13.

Another dropped pass in Miami territory by Keary Colbert forced the Seahawks to punt early in the fourth quarter when they trailed 14-13.