John Froschauer, Associated Press Seahawks running back Shaun Alexande holds up the NFC Championship trophy after his team beat the Carolina Panthers 34-14 to win the NFC championship game in Seattle. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Seahawks defense put the clamps on Panthers WR Steve Smith NFC Championship Notebook: Injured Peppers plays, but with no spice

SEATTLE -- Blue, green and silver confetti fell on the home of the Seahawks, the kind of rain this soggy region had been waiting for since 1976.

It wasn't just Seattle's potent offense doing the celebrating last night. The defense had something to say, too.

"We're going to the Super Bowl, you know what I'm saying?" Seattle cornerback Andre Dyson said while hugging teammate Kelly Herndon on the field.

The Seahawks advanced to the Super Bowl for first time in their 30-year history because of their overlooked defense. And specifically because of Dyson, Herndon and Seattle's supposedly iffy secondary, which smothered the bewildered Carolina Panthers and their frustrated receiving star, Steve Smith.

"It's amazing," defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said after his two-sack night. "I'm still in shock.

"It's just unbelievable."

Not really. Not on this Sunday.

The Seahawks' rousing, 34-14 rout of the Panthers may have done more than raise the already soaring morale of an entire region. It may have given Pittsburgh much more to consider than MVP Shaun Alexander, passing maestro Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle offense in the two weeks before the Steelers face the NFC champions in Detroit.

Seattle turned Carolina's one-dimensional offense that beat the New York Giants and Chicago in the previous two weeks into a no-dimensional mess. The Panthers managed just 212 total yards.

The Seahawks attacked, ending Carolina runner Nick Goings' night in the first quarter with a concussion. They stunted defensive linemen and put linebackers in Smith's face as part of sometimes triple-layered coverage.

In short, they dominated.

	Rick Bowmer, Associated Press Panthers receiver Steve Smith sits through the final minutes of the NFC championship game. He ran back a punt for a touchdown. Click photo for larger image.

"I don't know if you can play any better than that against an explosive offense," Seattle Pro Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson said, marveling over his defensive counterparts many considered the weak link of the team.

The Seahawks looked nothing like the NFL's 25th-ranked pass defense it was during the regular season. But to Smith and his besieged quarterback, Jake Delhomme, the Seahawks must have looked like everything -- all at once.

Smith, who had 218 yards on 12 catches last week against the Bears, had just five inconsequential catches for 33 yards Sunday.

"Everything that team did today was superb," Smith said. "They overall just flat-out beat us."

The Seahawks kept changing their defensive schemes on Delhomme, who was 15-of-35 for 196 yards -- and three interceptions. Their tackles looped outside their ends, which Bernard's sacks.

His first was a 13-yard loss that pushed the Panthers out of a possible field-goal attempt when they were down 17-0. After that play, a visibly frustrated Smith was yelling at teammates and coaches on Carolina's sideline.

The pass coverage was disruptive. The Seahawks used the same cornerback-short, safety-deep zone defense most teams use against Smith. But they also had rookie linebacker Leroy Hill twice line up wide just yards from Smith, with two more layers of coverage behind him.

"You can draw all over paper," defensive backs coach Teryl Austin said. "But our guys executed.

"They were flying around."

Carolina began the game throwing its first five passes away from their offensive's only true threat. On the sixth, Delhomme never saw middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu inside, and the rookie easily intercepted the pass and returned it 21 yards to the Panthers 20. That set up Josh Brown's 24-yard field goal and a 10-0 Seahawks lead with 2:23 remaining in the first quarter.

Delhomme threw 15 passes in the opening half. Only five were toward Smith, who caught two for 8 yards. One pass over the middle skipped off the top of his half-extended left arm for a dubious incompletion deep inside the Seattle 30.

Even one of his favorite plays, the wide-receiver screen, didn't work because of Hill's unexpected presence outside. Delhomme threw one screen try off Hill's helmet for one of his 11 first-half incompletions.

By the time Delhomme threw a sixth time to Smith, a deep fly pattern that Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant deflected out of bounds with 2:37 left in the third quarter, Carolina was wallowing in a 27-7 hole.

The rest of the game was a battle of field position -- that Seattle won -- on the field. Off it, the fans were able to throw the party that was 30 years in the making.

"It's a little weird," Trufant said. "It seems like a dream."

The oddsmakers favor the Steelers by 3 1/2 points for the Super Bowl in Detroit. The Steelers have four titles in six years in the 1970s. Seattle is a historically faceless franchise, even with running back Shaun Alexander easily capturing this year's MVP honors.

The defense hopes to change that in two weeks.