There was so much to like about the way the Seahawks defense played in Sunday's win over the Cardinals, from the fact that Arizona failed to score a touchdown, to the season-low 49 rushing yards they gained, to the dominant performance by Leonard Williams, who had 2.5 of Seattle's 5.0 sacks, to the sensation play Devon Witherspoon made to help set up Coby Bryant's 69-yard pick-six.

The defense's effort led the way for a 16-6 win that improved the Seahawk's record to 6-5, moving them into first place in the NFC West, and it had Lumen Field rocking, particularly after Bryant scored his touchdown, punctuating the return with an homage to Marshawn Lynch.

"Honestly, in the moment, I didn't realize how loud it was," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "And then I listened to the TV copy of it and it was rocking. It was awesome. All of my family and friends, they were telling me how cool it was. The place erupted. Special moment, man. It's really cool."

Yet for all the good the Seahawks put on tape Sunday, particularly on defense, nobody on the coaching staff or on that side of the ball is anything close to complacent. The Seahawks began a defensive turnaround in their Week 9 overtime loss to the Rams, then after the bye they took another step forward in a win over the 49ers before playing their best game yet on that side of the ball in Sunday's game. But the goal this weekend against the Jets and for the rest of the season going forward is not to replicate Sunday's performance, but rather to build on it.

"We were consistent," Macdonald said of his defense. "I gave them a good grade. Explosive wise in the pass, there's still some there. I think we left some meat on the bone on some situational stuff. Again, you go out there with the approach, the attitude, the intent, the communication, the urgency. How we played the run can still apply some of the calls and like the spirit of calls and what we're doing. There's significant room for improvement, as much as you feel like 'Hey, we played a really good game' which we did, but you're leaving the game and 'Hey, we're still hungry to improve' as well."

While Macdonald is always going to find room to get better, it is worth also appreciating just want that defense has done over the past month since giving up 36 points and 483 yards in a Week 6 loss to the 49ers, and 31 points and 445 yards to the Bills two weeks later. Since those two games, the Seahawks have grown on defense in each of their next three games, and perhaps most importantly, they've been considerably better against the run, giving up 68 yards to the rams, 131 to the 49ers, but only 79 to Christian McCaffrey, who has long been a thorn in their side, then just 48 yards to the Cardinals on Sunday. And since Week 9, the Seahawks rank fourth in the league in points allowed and fifth in run defense.

By stopping the run, the Seahawks are creating more favorable third-down situations for their defense, which in turn has allowed the pass rush to do its thing.

"Everything starts with that," Macdonald said. "I mean, if you're behind the sticks and you're chasing your tail, then it's tough sledding, you're fighting uphill battles, so if you want to really play on your terms then you've got to try to make teams one dimensional."

Playing on their terms, the Seahawks have been getting more splash plays and standout performances, including Leonard William's best game as a Seahawks, with the veteran defensive lineman recording 2.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, six tackles and a pass defensed.

"It was really good," Macdonald said. "It's just as we thought, just a great football game. He should be player of the week in my opinion."

And then there was Devon Witherspoon, who made one of the greatest plays possible that doesn't show up on a stat sheet. With the Cardinals facing fourth-and-1 midway through the third quarter of what at the time was a 7-3 game, Witherspoon broke early on a pass attempt to break up Kyler Murray's pass attempt, only to have that play not count because Macdonald had called for a timeout just before the whistle. In the moment it seemed like an unfortunate timeout, but seconds later Witherspoon and Bryant made their coach look like a genius. With the Cardinals lined up in a heavy formation showing a likely run, Witherspoon crashed down at the line of scrimmage as Murray faked a handoff to James Conner. Once Witherspoon recognized the fake, with Murray trying to run outside for the first down, the second-year cornerback spun, gave chase, and forced the speedy Murray to throw a pass, one he floated over his intended target and into Bryant's awaiting hands.

And Witherspoon wasn't done after forcing the errant pass, far from it. After briefly flexing on Murray as the quarterback ran out of bounds, Witherspoon realized the return was on, and gave chase, blocking Conner to set off a chain reaction that took out another Cardinals player, then, as Bryant finished off the return, Witherspoon took things a bit to far to earn a flag for, as he put it, "Taunting, and I was definitely taunting."

While nobody wants to take unnecessary penalties, Macdonald would bottle up Witherspoon's passion and energy and hand them out to everyone on the team if he could.

"No, I wish," Macdonald said when asked if he knew why Witherspoon was wired the way he is. "Then we would hardwire it into everybody else.

"He could be in any system, any scheme, and it's got to be infectious, right? How could you not want to play that way when your teammate's doing it all the time? It's fun, man. It's fun to go out there and play with guys like that. We could be we could be running cover two every play. It's not what we're doing, it's how we're doing it, who's doing it, all that type of stuff. But, it's definitely infectious."

Also infections is the way the entire defense is playing, and while the Seahawks don't feel like they're a finished product on defense just yet, they're showing some very encouraging progress.