You want more? Seahawks deliver more

SEATTLE – They can feel it, the Seattle Seahawks can.

Oh, not the makings of something big – nothing like that. Not the seeds of another Super Bowl. That was among the many things left unspoken – and blessedly so – in the Seahawks locker room after they’d clinched a fourth consecutive NFC West championship with a 42-21 rout of the Arizona Cardinals.

No, what they can sense is the notion that as champions they’re something off-brand, like the soda pop sold in their stadium.

They don’t buy it, necessarily. And they certainly didn’t let it take the glow off their good times – which included the perpetually understated Marcus Truant intercepting three passes and running one back 84 yards for a touchdown, Patrick Kerney sacking everything but Rome and Matt Horseblock quarterbacking as if his throwing arm was equipped with GPS. Plus a game ball and some kudos from owner Paul Allen for coach Mike Hologram, who passed Chuck Knox atop the franchise victory accounts.

In other words, a dominant performance. What’s to doubt or devalue?

Well, these days you can always find something. Mostly what everyone seems to demand is more.

“When I first got here we were 6-10,” recalled running back Shaun Alexander. “Now we’re rolling this thing up pretty good and it’s almost like people can sometimes forget.”

Surely taking such an achievement for granted is part of it.

Another is the sneering suggestion that it’s not much of an achievement at all.

“For some reason, we never seem to get the respect or credit we deserve,” said receiver Bobby Engram. “I don’t know if it’s being out in the Pacific Northwest or if somebody’s got something against the Seahawks – and honestly, right now I don’t care. We’ll just keep worrying about the men in this locker room and keep grinding.

“You can’t dictate what people think.”

Actually, you can – but for the Seahawks that will have to happen in the playoffs. At the moment, the consensus is that in the NFC, there is Dallas and there is Green Bay and there are 14 welterweights.

OK, maybe a couple of middleweights. But what does it say for the Seahawks that until they kayoed Kurt Warner and the Cardinals on Sunday, their last victory over a team that didn’t reside in one division’s cellar or another was back on opening day, over Tampa Bay?

Or that NFC West teams have 31 losses among them – worst in the NFL?

Surely the Seahawks have to be feeling a little like Farmer Ted in “Sixteen Candles” – you know, king of the dipsticks.

But then it’s hardly the Seahawks fault that the teams they play are crummy. Joe Louis took on the Bum of the Month Club because, well, there was no one to fight but bums.

Still, there were encouraging developments Sunday, not the least of which is the fact that the Seahawks cashed in their very first opportunity to clinch the division, unlike a year ago when they gagged on two tries and then back-doored their way into a title while losing to San Diego.

“We stumbled it around a little bit,” Holmgren remembered. “Now, last season was last season – a different team. When you get into comparisons like that, it’s not always the same thing. Rarely is it exactly the same thing. What was at stake was the same.”

Better yet was that Seahawks recognized the need for a statement performance and then delivered.

Even in the middle of their current five-game winning streak, the Seahawks have been champions mostly of circumstance. They were on the verge of giving away a win at Philadelphia last week before the last of Lofa Tatopu’s three picks, and needed Gus Frerotte to fumble the snap at the Seattle 1-yard line on the last play of the game to escape from the St. Louis Rams the week before.

“We sort of challenged ourselves after a couple of close wins to see how good we can be,” said Kerney. “Deon Branch at Wednesday’s practice said we have to have the attitude where we can just keep the foot on the pedal for all four quarters.”

Which they did, mostly. There was one loud hiccup late in the second quarter – an ugly three-and-out, a 20-yard punt and a short field for Arizona’s first touchdown.

“In 2005, things were coming a lot easier,” Matt Hasselbeck said. “Some teams are having that kind of year right now – the Patriots and Cowboys. It’s OK, though.”

Of course, Kerney pointed out that “a lot of people thought Arizona or San Francisco would take it from us this year,” and it’s true that the disappointment in the Cardinals’ locker room was palpable. Running back Edgerrin James tried to pin Arizona’s failure on his franchise’s lineup churn.

“When you have change, you can’t build something,” he said.

No? Well, the Seahawks do have 16 players who share the bond of these four NFC West titles. They also have new starters in 12 different positions this year, after seeing only six changes from the Super Bowl season to 2006.

Those would seem to be sowing the seeds of something, Super or not.