PHILADELPHIA -- The boom is back for the , but the best time for a critique is in the middle of a loud, crowded celebration. And is not entirely satisfied. , which came off a short field that resulted when and Philly recovered? The should have held the to a field goal, Sherman said, shaking his head. This, after all, is a defense with extremely high standards Scott Schebler Jersey , and now that those standards are being met again, even the tiniest bit of slippage is a nuisance. That was it, however. Sherman could not summon another example of failure in Sunday's muscle-flexing against the , that was more dominant than the score indicates. It recalled -- for the first time this season -- the defense that propelled Seattle to the franchise's first Lombardi Trophy. "We've still got things to clean up," Sherman said. "We can't give up those scores in the red zone. In terms of energy and pa sion, though, it's definitely back."That is bad news for the rest of the NFC, which might have been lulled by the ' somnolent start to the season into thinking Seattle would fade quietly in its title defense. The trouncing of the ' full-throttle offense was so complete -- rendered as a cartoon, it would have looked like Superman halting a locomotive with his bare hands -- that it sent a tremor through the conference. The might wind up with behind the NFC West-leading , but with just three games to go in the regular season, Seattle has vaulted into the company of the as one of the NFC teams to beat. And the 'Hawks are 4-0 this season against teams that are currently leading their respective divisions -- including the , and .The numbers are startling. The ' point total was their lowest this season. The 139 yards gained were the fewest by any team -- ever -- that had as its head coach, including his teams at Oregon. The closest a Kelly-coached group had come to producing this poorly previously was when the Ducks fell to Boise State, 19-8, in September 2009 -- in the very first game of Kelly's head-coaching career.The trouble for the was that because they could not gain any yards Sunday (they rushed for 57) and because barely completed -- or attempted -- many pa ses (he was 10 of 20 Tanner Roark Jersey for 96 yards), they could not sustain drives. And because the move so fast even in failure, the offense's appearances on the field were scant. Three of their 13 drives (excluding an end-of-half kickoff return following a field goal) lasted 25 seconds or fewer. Nine of the 13 (again, excluding the end of the first half) Barry Larkin Jersey did not last two minutes. Their longest drive of the afternoon was their final one, at 3:31, and that ended in a punt, too. Philly had just nine first downs and converted just two third-down opportunities. The held the ball for just 18:04 and ran just 45 offensive plays -- after averaging 73 plays in their previous 12 games. Blink -- or go on a beer run -- and you mi sed them.This, said after, is the way the want to play, but his team had also seemingly heard quite enough about the ' high-powered offense."I said this before -- they've got to deal with us, just like we've got to deal with them," Sherman said. "Hurry up all you want, but if you can't complete pa ses and get yards, that's a lot of three-and-outs." The and Kelly repeatedly pleaded for officials to throw penalty flags to insulate them from the opposing secondary's brutality, a sure signal of their mounting frustration. The ' defense might be the best in the NFL at simply wearing opponents down -- physically, certainly, but mentally, too. They leave no oxygen for the offense to breathe, and a team as heavily based on tempo as Philly winds up badly out of sync, to the tune of three sacks and two turnovers. The blank look on Sanchez's face at the end was a relic from his bad old days with the , and a very unfamiliar one for any quarterback in a Kelly offense.Seattle defensive lineman was asked what the saw from Sanchez, and his reply was amusing in its honesty: "Not much."Bennett could sense how frustrated the were getting."They are used to making big plays," Bennett said. "We Mike Moustakas Jersey stopped one of the best offenses. The didn't do much against us. We're hitting our stride."They appear to have been at a full gallop since that followed a lo s to the . Seattle then embarked on a remarkable three-game winning streak in which it held, in order, the , and to their season lows in points and yards.That meeting was intended to focus players on their bigger, collective goals, to set aside whatever personal grudges might have existed. Even Carroll admitted after the game that the defense hasn't always played this way this season, but Bennett noted that because the are still such a young team that has already enjoyed so much succe s, individual accolades are not that important. Perhaps that meeting was needed to underscore that point." Brandon Finnegan Jersey Everybody came together," said cornerback , who Sunday. "Sometimes everybody doesn't get along. If we want to do what we did last season, we have to come together and buy into the season. It's not about how you start; it's how you finish. We had people that were down. It had a little to do with injuries. Too many people weren't believing." The are believing now, and this victory served notice that competitors had better believe the defense that ravaged the in is at least close to that level again."We're back to that," Simon said. "I'm not being cocky. No offense can come out here and compete with our defense."That boom from Sunday might just have been a warning shot. Follow Judy Battista on Twitter .