The wait is over

SEATTLE – If you look in Ambrose Bierce's celebrated edition of "The Devil's Dictionary," patience is described as "despair, disguised as a virtue." And until this season, there may not have been a truer definition for the Mike Holmgren era in Seattle.

For years, watching the Seattle Seahawks had been an exercise in patience that seemingly delivered only despair.

But just when fortitude seemed to have run out – when the anguish couldn't possibly continue beyond this season – Seattle's rise is no longer a matter of anticipation. After Sunday's 31-16 win over the St. Louis Rams, the 7-2 Seahawks have taken their place as the NFC's elite team. And unlike last year's early-season mirage, this is a group with more substance than flash, more delivery than promise.

As Holmgren put it, "This is a different team, and this is a different season."

Saying it is one thing. Proving it is another. And surely, there will be doubters.

There will be critics who point to last season's 3-0 start and early whispers of Super Bowl potential – chatter that turned into mass gagging as the Seahawks choked away pivotal games. But Sunday's crucial win over the Rams is just the latest drop of antidote to last year's failure. It's a booster shot for the psyches of players that have plenty to prove to themselves, and it's a message to a conference that is accustomed to seeing the Seahawks fall apart when it matters most.

"Every great thing that we did up to this point would have really been a wash if we lost this game," running back Shaun Alexander said. "That's how we looked at it."

That's likely how the rest of the NFC would have looked at it, too. And rightfully so.

Seattle, which developed a reputation of being soft over the last few seasons, won the NFC West last season despite falling apart down the stretch. Last year's disappointments included three losses to the Rams – the final coming in a first-round playoff defeat that added a fresh layer of frustration to Holmgren's tenure in Seattle. The discontent extended into the offseason when Holmgren pondered retirement and critics questioned whether his underachieving roster needed to be blown up.

But from the onset, the 2005 edition has hardly looked like the same old Seahawks. The defense, once injury-plagued and devoid of leadership, was revamped with the signings of Chartric Darby, Bryce Fisher, Kelly Herndon and Jamie Sharper and the drafting of Lofa Tatupu. And an already potent offense cut loose mega-distraction Koren Robinson and invested in reliable, free-agent veteran Joe Jurevicius.

Paired together, the two units have looked as diverse and deep as any during Holmgren's time in Seattle, creating a team that could finally live up to Super Bowl expectations. That seemed impossible heading into the season, but it appears more feasible with each passing week. And never has it looked more possible than this weekend when NFC elites such as the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants stumbled against inferior teams.

Sunday's developments should be seen as the exclamation point on the Seahawks' struggle for legitimacy. Despite missing three key starters – defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs, linebacker Sharper and safety Ken Hamlin – Seattle's bend-but-don't-break defense held a potent St. Louis team in check. And this wasn't the banged-up Rams offense we've seen in recent weeks. For the first time since late September, St. Louis had its full complement of weapons, including quarterback Marc Bulger and starting wideouts Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce.

The trio – along with Steven Jackson, Marshall Faulk and Kevin Curtis – helped the Rams roll up 353 yards of offense, but Seattle's defense continually rose to the occasion in key spots, helping the Seahawks carry a 24-9 lead into the third quarter. After St. Louis pulled within 24-16, Shaun Alexander and the offense responded with a game-clinching, 12-play touchdown drive.

Alexander said that was the point Seattle's offense decided to take on a mindset of "OK cool, let's go pound them a little bit more and let them know that we're the best offense in the NFL."

"(That confidence) is a really cool thing, when you can see the changing of the guard – when you're the new big dog on the scene," added Alexander, who has 17 touchdowns in nine games. "Even though we won the division last year, we didn't feel like we took it from (the Rams). We felt like it almost got handed to us.

"Last year, everybody was telling us that we should be better, and that we should be the best – that we had all this talent and all that. But we really didn't believe it, because we didn't understand how to win games. That's just a fact of life that we had to learn. … We had too many holes as a team, emotionally, mentally and on the field. This year, I think we fixed all those holes."

On the surface, the talk about supreme confidence seems like typical NFL rhetoric. But for the first time, it's showing up on the field for Seattle.

"Every team I've been on, you get guys saying (they have confidence)," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "We probably say it less, but believe it more."

Maybe that's the appropriate mindset for these Seahawks – less hype and more belief. If the rest of the NFC hasn't gotten that message by now, Seattle looks capable of pounding the point home personally because, for once, this is a team capable of delivering some despair.

Instead of enduring it.