Seahawks have morphed back into their championship identity

PHILADELPHIA – Mark Sanchez was the target all afternoon on Sunday at The Linc, the triggerman for a Philadelphia Eagles offense that met its match against one very hungry defense.

When it was over, after the Seattle Seahawks dismantled Chip Kelly's offense during a 24-14 smashing, the quarterback was still something of a wanted man.

This much was evident with a quick visit to Michael Bennett's locker.

"You need to tell the Philadelphia police that they need to put an ABP out," Bennett told USA TODAY Sports. "Because Sanchez is out there trying to impersonate a good quarterback."

Bennett could afford to be so jovial after the Seahawks – who were 3-3 in late October -- turned in another performance demonstrating that they have morphed back into a championship contender.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

And with this, we know, means wearing their swagger on their sleeves.

"We're a scrappy team," Richard Sherman, the all-Pro cornerback, said as maybe the third wave of media converged at his locker. "We're champions. They don't just hand out Super Bowl championships. When you get that, it's a mentality."

With their groove back, the Seahawks (9-4) essentially took a hammer to Kelly's up-tempo offense and provided a fresh example for how a championship-level defense often trumps a great offense.

The Eagles gained all of 139 yards – fewest of the Kelly era.

It was not pretty, unless you are like Bennett & Co., finding beauty in the black-and-blue bruises that a defense can inflict. It was a thorough beatdown, by all measures. Philadelphia managed just nine first downs. Went 2-for-11 on third downs. Averaged 2.6 yards per carry. Had a season-low 45 plays.

Remember, this is the unit created by Kelly, who came from the college level with a wide-open, fast-paced offense that has caused most NFL defenses an assortment of fits.

Some of the Seahawks, though, scoffed at the notion that a unit that entered the game averaging one snap for every 22.8 seconds of possession – the fastest rate in the league – could dictate the flow against a defense that is playing its best football of the season.

"Our coaches hyped it up all week to be real fast-paced," defensive end Cliff Avril told USA TODAY Sports. "Then we prepared for it. And then it didn't feel like it was that much of a difference."

The Seahawks defense, as Sherman maintains, is surely built for such tests. Although that was demonstrated during the last Super Bowl, when the Seahawks squashed Denver's record-setting offense, for much of the season it has been a time of rediscovery.

"We have not changed for the last few years about how we do it," said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. "We can play our stuff really well, and that's one aspect of it. It's the guys playing it with the intensity and the energy that they're playing with that makes it work. It's not just the scheme.

"It's Kam (Chancellor) and Earl (Thomas) and Michael Bennett and K.J. (Wright) and Bobby (Wagner) and Sherm. They just will not back off this kind of station that we've acquired here."

Maybe the previous two games should have been enough of an indicator that, with middle linebacker Bobby Wagner back in the flow, the Seahawks were back at a championship level. In back-to-back divisional wins that altered the NFC West race, the Seahawks held the Cardinals and 49ers to three points apiece, and 204 and 164 yards, respectively.

But the Cardinals offense is trying to stay afloat after losing quarterback Carson Palmer for the season; the 49ers offense has been an inconsistent mess all season.

So the Eagles provided a better litmus test for the NFL's top-ranked defense.

Passed.

"Good defense is good defense," said Bennett. "You can't out-scheme our defense. We stayed true to who we were."

When the Seahawks defense is in rhythm – stuffing the run, pressuring quarterbacks consistently and getting airtight coverage from The Legion of Boom members in the secondary – the whole operation falls into place.

On Sunday, quarterback Russell Wilson was magnificent again, a contrast to Sanchez in the manner in which he repeatedly escaped trouble and created big plays to move the chains. Marshawn

Lynch powered a rushing attack that racked up 188 yards.

It all added up to a statement type of victory that even a defending champ isn't too proud say that it needed for some reassurance…to go with all of that swagger.

Said Bennett, "We proved that we can go on the road and beat a quality opponent."

If the Seahawks are to reach their goal and repeat as champions, chances are that they will have do that it again when the stakes are even higher.