SEATTLE -- The offenses stole the show on Monday night, but the Seattle Seahawks' defense had the final say.

Thanks to a sack by Cliff Avril on third down and an incompletion in the end zone on fourth, Seattle stymied Buffalo's final drive of the game with less than a minute to go to escape with a 31-25 win in front of a record crowd of 69,084 at CenturyLink Field.

The Bills converted a third-and-21 on their final drive with a completion up the sideline to Robert Woods, and a roughing-the-passer penalty on Seattle moved the ball all the way down to the 23-yard line. Buffalo had first-and-goal from the 10-yard line before the game-saving stop by the Seahawks.

Afterward, though, the Bills were more concerned with a bizarre sequence at the end of the first half, when kicker Dan Carpenter missed a 54-yard field goal shortly after Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman had jumped offside, crashed into and injured Carpenter without drawing a flag.

"Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous," Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan said. "From an officiating standpoint, I think you could do a little better than that."

Sherman, as one might imagine, had a different interpretation of events.

"They didn't blow the whistle, so I played until the whistle was blown," Sherman said. "We've dealt with missed calls all year. That wouldn't have helped them anymore. They still would have kicked the field goal."

Russell Wilson finished 20 of 26 through the air for 282 yards passing and two touchdowns and also tacked on a rushing score to lead the Seahawks (5-2-1), who ran their winning streak on Monday Night Football to 11 games. His top target, tight end Jimmy Graham, caught eight balls for 103 yards and two touchdowns and, in the second quarter, added an acrobatic hurdle of a Buffalo defender.

"That's why he's here," Wilson said of Graham. "He might be the best tight end in the National Football League, and he can do everything."

The Bills (4-5) consistently mounted long drives against a Seahawks defense that entered the game ranked sixth in the NFL, finishing with 425 yards of offense. Too frequently, though, they didn't turn into points.

Such as Buffalo's first possession of the second half, which Sherman brought to an end with an interception in the end zone. On the Bills' next drive, though, Mike Gillislee punched in a 1-yard touchdown to finish off a 13-play, 82-yard trip down field. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran in the two-point conversion to make it 28-25 with 14:26 to play.

Seattle stretched its lead to 31-25 with fewer than 10 minutes to play on a 49-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka. The Seahawks got the ball back with 3:14 to play and a chance to salt the game away, but the Bills forced a three-and-out to set up their final march.

Taylor doesn't believe the defeat will put too big a damper on his team's playoff hopes.

"In the big picture, things are still within our grasp," he said. "We have to dig deep and do some soul searching during the bye week."

For all the drama in the game's closing seconds, it started off with a bang, too.

It took fewer than 90 seconds after the opening kickoff for Buffalo to make a game-altering play, when defensive end Jerry Hughes blocked a Seattle punt after the Seahawks went three-and-out on their first possession. On the next snap, Taylor ran it in from the 3-yard line to give the Bills a 7-0 lead.

Only 1:11 ticked off the clock before the Seahawks responded, tying the score with a 3-yard scamper by Wilson. The run was set up one play earlier, when Wilson found Doug Baldwin streaking down the middle of the field for 50 yards.

After that torrid start, the Bills took their time on the next possession, eating up 10 minutes with a 17-play march that covered 75 yards and was capped by a 5-yard touchdown toss from Taylor to Justin Hunter.

The Seahawks tied the game at 14 on the first snap of the second quarter with a one-handed 17-yard reception by Graham. The tight end made a similar play just before halftime, hauling in an 18-yard toss from Wilson going up the seam to make it a 28-17 game at the break.

Those aerial antics were needed considering Seattle's moribund rushing attack. The team gained 33 yards on the ground on 12 carries, with wide receiver Tyler Lockett leading the way with 13 yards on just one tote.

NOTES: The Seahawks' 11-game winning streak on Monday nights is the second longest such streak in league history. ... Seahawks DE Michael Bennett (knee) missed his first contest after undergoing arthroscopic surgery. ... Bills RB LeSean McCoy began the night averaging 110.7 scrimmage yards per game since the start of 2010, the most in the NFL, and he gained 120 yards against the Seahawks. ... Bills WR Percy Harvin was one of Buffalo's five captains against his former team. ... Only two possessions in the NFL this year have been longer than Buffalo's 17-play touchdown drive during the first quarter.