Slay Bells

Pete Carroll is all about defense, and even more about competing.

And that’s what the Seahawks’ 23-0 victory over the New York Giants was all about at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, as they ran their record to a best-in-the-league 12-2 and their road record to a franchise-best 6-2 by running the Giants off their home field.

The defense intercepted five passes, including two each by All-Pro left cornerback Richard Sherman and third-option right cornerback Byron Maxwell and another by All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas. Coordinator Dan Quinn’s unit dominated from nose tackle Brandon Mebane to strong safety Kam Chancellor, and at all positions in between, as they held the Giants to 181 yards in posting the Seahawks’ first shutout since last Dec. 9 when they steamrolled the Arizona Cardinals 58-0 at CenturyLink Field.

“All across the board, everybody hit, ran hard and played tough football the way we want to do it to get a terrific win today,” Carroll, the team’s fourth-year coach, said after the complete-effort victory. “The coverage was great. That’s as good day covering people as I can remember.”

But wait, there’s more. The Giants had 14 possessions. Five ended with interceptions. Eight ended with punts. All ended in frustration against the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense.

All this after last week’s disappointing 19-17 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco when the defense allowed a 51-yard run by Frank Gore to setup the game-winning field goal with 26 seconds left.

“We had a chip our shoulder. We wanted to win this game,” said middle linebacker and leading tacklerBobby Wagner, who again led the team with 10 tackles and 1.5 sacks. “Especially after losing the way we did last week. So we felt like we came out with a bunch of energy, and we needed it.

“What was it 23-0? To come to a team’s home and do that, not a lot of teams do that. So it was a great defensive effort.”

The offense, meanwhile, did its part by doing just enough.

Russell Wilson picked up his 23rd victory, the most by any quarterback in NFL history in his first two seasons, by completing 18 of 27 passes for 206 yards – including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin, who caught six passes for 77 yards.

Marshawn Lynch had more yards receiving (73) than rushing (47), but added his 11th rushing TD of the season on a 2-yard run that was the definition of Beast Mode.

Steven Hauschka kicked three field goals, giving him 30 for the season – in 31 attempts.

“Our defense is going to hold the opposing offense in low scoring, so all we have to do is go out there and do what we’re capable of doing and we’ll win the game,” Baldwin said. “It’s amazing to be able to have that to our advantage. We’ve got a defense that is unbelievable.”

And this day did belong to the defense, from the first snap until the last. Eli Manning passed for only 156 yards. The Giants ran for only 25 yards, on 14 attempts for a 1.8-yard average.

What’s next? Two homes games – next Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals and Dec. 29 against the St. Louis Rams at CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks are 6-0. Win those two games and the Seahawks will be NFC West champions, get a first-round bye in the playoffs and hold home-field throughout the postseason. Regardless of what the 49ers and New Orleans Saints might do.

“We’re done on the road now,” Carroll said. “We come back home and try to take care of business and finish up this season.”

And head into the postseason.