Miami, FL -- (Sports Network) - Ricky Williams ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, and the Miami defense came up with a couple of key plays in the final minutes to help the Dolphins pull out a 21-19 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Ronnie Brown added a touchdown in the fourth quarter and Chad Pennington threw for a score as the Dolphins (5-4) notched their third straight win to remain a game behind the New York Jets and New England Patriots for first place in the AFC East.

The Seahawks (2-7) have lost two straight and five of their last six games, but nearly stole this one in the fourth quarter.

After Brown's 16-yard touchdown run gave Miami a 21-13 lead with 5:38 to play, the Seahawks got a 32-yard kickoff return from Justin Forsett to start from their own 45-yard line. They quickly moved into scoring range, as a 33-yard run by Julius Jones set up Seneca Wallace's three-yard touchdown pass to Koren Robinson with 2:57 remaining.

A false start penalty pushed the two-point try back to the seven and Wallace's pass toward John Carlson was knocked down by Yeremiah Bell to preserve Miami's slim lead.

The Seahawks appeared to recover a Pennington fumble at the two-minute warning, but a review determined that the quarterback was down before the ball was stripped.

Miami was forced to punt anyway and the Seahawks drove from their own 23 to the Miami 49. Wallace, after a spike to stop the clock with 37 seconds remaining, then misfired on his next three passes as the Dolphins escaped.

"I hope we're building confidence in ourselves to win tight games," said Pennington. "Instead of having the feeling of 'here we go again,' when things don't go our way, we're starting to have a feeling of 'tighten up, focus, concentrate. Let's switch the tide, switch the momentum.' We've been able to do that both offensively and defensively when our backs have been against the wall."

Wallace, starting again in place of the injured Matt Hasselbeck and nursing his own groin injury, completed 21-of-38 passes for 185 yards. Jones finished with 88 yards on 16 carries in defeat.

"I felt everybody on the offensive side of the ball left everything they had out there on the field," said Wallace. "When things are going bad, they go bad for us. We just didn't get enough opportunities and we came up a little bit short."

The Seahawks trimmed their deficit to 14-13 on a pair of third-quarter field goals by former Dolphins kicker Olindo Mare, but Miami used a 16-play drive in the fourth quarter to open an eight-point margin.

Pennington converted a pair of third downs with passes -- the latter a 12-yard connection with Davone Bess on 3rd-and-8. Brown was then stuffed for no gain on 3rd-and-1 moments later, but the Dolphins went for the first down and picked it up on fullback Lousaka Polite's one-yard carry.

Another Pennington pass to Brown picked up 3rd-and-6, and Brown then took a direct snap around the left side for a 16-yard touchdown run to make it 21-13.

Pennington threw for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception that was returned for a score, completing 22-of-36 passes. Ted Ginn Jr. hauled in four passes for 67 yards with a touchdown. Brown had four catches for 27 yards and finished with just 39 yards on 10 carries.

Ginn returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for an apparent touchdown, but a holding penalty wiped out the score. Undeterred, the Dolphins marched 90 yards on 11 plays for a 7-0 lead.

After converting a pair of third downs early in the series, the Dolphins went to the flea flicker and it worked to perfection. Brown took a handoff and tossed it back to Pennington, who threw a strike over a pair of defenders to Ginn for a 39-yard touchdown.

Miami then forced a Seattle punt and followed with a six-play drive for another score. Brown converted a 3rd-and-3 with a four-yard catch, then lined up behind center in the Wildcat formation on the first play of the second quarter. He handed off to Williams, who found a huge hole in the middle of the Seattle defensive line and went untouched for a 51-yard score.

The Dolphins appeared to have all the momentum after forcing another Seattle punt, but Pennington was picked off by Jordan Babineaux and he returned the interception 35 yards for a touchdown to put the Seahawks on the board with 8:21 left in the first half.

Seattle's offense crossed midfield on each of its next two possessions, but punted both times.

The Dolphins had one last chance to extend the lead before the break, but out of timeouts could not get to the line of scrimmage fast enough to stop the clock with a spike after converting a 4th-and-10 with a 13-yard hookup between Pennington and Bess.

A 50-yard kickoff return by Josh Wilson to start the second half allowed the Seahawks to start from midfield and a couple of first downs led to a 37-yard field goal from Mare.

Seattle got the ball right back after a Miami punt and a 29-yard return by Forsett led to a 27-yard Mare field goal to make it a one-point game with 3:31 remaining in the third. The kick came soon after Robinson dropped a pass in the end zone.

Game Notes:

The Dolphins have scored seven touchdowns out of the Wildcat formation this season...Williams, who had just 12 carries, recorded his 32nd career 100-yard game and his 20th with the Dolphins, extending his own club record. It was his first since the final game of the 2005 season -- a 108-yard effort against New England on January 1, 2008...The Seahawks averaged 32.7 yards on three kickoff returns and 16.3 yards on a trio of punt returns...Each team was 7-for-15 on third down...Miami leads the all-time series 9-4, which includes a 2-1 mark in the playoffs when the Seahawks played in the AFC.