As Geno Smith addressed the media after another Seahawks victory, the music coming from the locker room next door nearly drowned out the words of Seattle's quarterback.

But as the party continued in the visitor's locker room, Smith's message still spoke volumes. This Seahawks team, which has won four straight games, has found something special in the second half of this season.

"I told the guys this is one of the closest teams I've ever been on," said Smith. "Everybody is pulling in the right direction. Everyone is pulling together. That's the reason why we can sustain these wins. It doesn't matter who we play or where we play, all that matters is that we do it together and I think as long as we continue to do that we'll be all right."

The Seahawks went into their bye week having lost five of six games to drop to 4-5, but they've won four straight since to take over first place in the NFC West, and Sunday's 30-18 win over the Cardinals might have been their best win yet this season. Yes, the Seahawks have won by more lopsided margins, but this win saw them go on the road and beat a division foe in a game that would put the winner in the driver's seat in the division race, and they did it by playing their most complete game in all three phases.

On offense, a running game that has struggled for much of the season broke out, with Zach Charbonnet rushing for 134 of Seattle's season-best 176 rushing yards, while Geno Smith played an efficient and turnover free game, completing 24 of 30 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, giving him a 110.1 passer rating. Seattle's defense got interceptions from Ernest Jones IV and Coby Bryant on consecutive Cardinals drives that set up a pair of touchdowns, helping the Seahawks take early control of the game, and that unit kept fighting and making plays to the end, even when it was just to keep Arizona out of the end zone for what would have been a meaningless touchdown in the game's final seconds. And on special teams, the Seahawks avoided the disasters that almost cost them a game last week, taking care of the ball on returns, while Michael Dickson, back from a back injury, had a great game, with Jason Myers adding three field goals on as many attempts.

"Great team win for us," said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald. "The mentality that we're in right now, coming down the home stretch, December football. I thought the guys were ready to play. (We are) trying to put it all together, all three phases."

Macdonald was later asked if this was his team's most complete performance of the season, and answered, "Probably. That's something that we've been really focusing on. Trying to really play complimentary football, all three phases together. This is a really good football team (the Cardinals) and if you're not careful, they can squeeze the life out of you with how they possess the ball, create explosives, and tilt the field positions. Those are battles, games within the game that you have to win in order to beat a team like this, and our guys did that."

For the Seahawks, every game since the bye has been big, and every one going forward will be as well, that's just the reality of being a part of tightly contested division race. It's also the reality faced by a team that, by losing five of six at one point, didn't leave itself a lot of margin for error the rest of the way, or as linebacker Ernest Jones IV explained it the Seahawks have been playing in something they call "the death zone."

"We've been living—we call it the death zone—we've been that for the last four games," Jones said. "Each game is a playoff game in our eye, and we've been in the playoffs four or five week now, just continuing to win games, and each game is a new game for us."

Asked if playing with that mentality was sustainable for the rest of the season, Jones gave an emphatic, "Hell yeah. It just depends on the guys you got in that locker room, and I think we've got the right guys."

Part of why Jones and his teammates see their current playoff mindset as sustainable is because of the way the team has come together to form that closeness Smith mentioned, but it's also because, despite the particular language being used by this team, not that different of an approach than what most NFL teams take every week, including the Seahawks under their previous coach, Pete Carroll.

"When guys are saying we're in playoff mode, that's every single game," Smith said. "Similar to what Coach Carroll used to talk about—every game's a championship game, and if you really take that approach then when you get to the big game it won't feel different. I think we're developing it as a team, and I think the mindset is what's really setting us apart right now."

For the Seahawks to get to where they are now, 8-5 and in first place, they had to improve in several areas, most notably on defense. But while it might make for a better story to say the Seahawks found some magical cure, or that the trade for Jones fixed the defense, the bigger picture reason for the turnaround is that a team full of new players learning from an entirely new coaching staff has just been able to make continual improvements as the season has progressed. Yes, Jones has been phenomenal since arriving, but the turnaround has been a team effort, and plan is to keep growing.

"We're a new staff, new players, this is the first time we've done everything," Macdonald said. "I've learned a lot on the job about what works, what doesn't work, what we can execute at a high level, what our guys are good at. All of our coaches are working extremely hard to stay connected and to move forward. I'm glad that it's coming together, and we have to keep building on it. In order to do that, you need to have urgency. Every day bringing it, and enjoy the process. It's a fun process building a team and having guys buy in, but it takes a lot of work. Our coaches and our players deserve a lot of credit for having that faith and saying, 'Hey, we're not necessarily getting the results that we want right now, but we can see some really cool things on tape and there's opportunities for us to really grow here and if we stick to it and stay together, then the sky's the limit for us.' We really believe that, so everybody deserves a lot of credit."