SEATTLE — As the lead quickly grew so did the noise, deafening enough to carry from here to Detroit, where the Seattle Seahawks' name can now be painted upon Ford Field. Any Super Bowl is sweet for a city, but perhaps never more than the first one.

"It feels good," defensive end Grant Wistrom would say afterward, "to bring them something they've always wanted."

Seattle joined the Super Bowl club yesterday, with a roar and a romp, thrashing the Carolina Panthers, 34-14, for the NFC championship.

Thirty years, they had waited here. Through thick and thin, fog and rain. Through Jim Zorn and Steve Largent and all the others who never quite made it. The stars were finally aligned yesterday.

"They were," team owner Paul Allen said afterward of an enthralled home crowd, "out of their minds out there tonight."

"A great atmosphere," said Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme. "If you were on the other side."

Aligned, too, were the Seahawks. Shaun Alexander, with his 132 yards rushing and two touchdowns, delivered a week after a concussion.

"If you don't think big and dream big," he said, "you can't get there."

And Matt Hasselbeck, with his two touchdown passes and precise 20-for-28 completion percentage.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words right now," he said.

And, most of all, the Seattle defense.

Its handiwork was extraordinary. For the game, Carolina had 36 yards rushing, and did not score an offensive touchdown until 5:09 was left. In the Panthers' first nine possessions, stretching late into the third period, they had three first downs.

The Seahawks applied constant heat on Delhomme and intercepted him three times. They kept the mute button pushed on Steve Smith and held him to five catches and 33 harmless yards — and three of those receptions came late. For the longest time, the Seattle defense had caught more of Delhomme's passes than Smith.

"They played the perfect game," Carolina cornerback Ken Lucas aid. "We got embarrassed tonight."

Smith had been the terror of the postseason with 22 catches in two games, but was shackled by an array of coverages and double teams, and the fact the Carolina ground game could not help take some of the burden.

"Rendered useless early on," Wistrom said of the Panthers' ground game.

"If we could have run the ball a little bit," Delhomme said, "it would have helped."

Smith's one moment of daylight came on a 59-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first half — Carolina's only points until the last meaningless minutes.

So continued Seattle's season of giant steps forward. From a 2-2 start, to a 13-3 record.

From an unknown quantity, to a marquee powerhouse.

From a 21-year postseason victory drought, to the NFC championship game.

From a coach under heat, to Mike Holmgren on top of the world, adding Seattle to Green Bay as teams he's taken to the Super Bowl.

"This kind of makes me feel for sure like I can coach a little bit," he said.

And from an unremitting history of watching other franchises play in the Super Bowl, to a date in Detroit in two weeks against Pittsburgh.

"Pretty good, huh?" Holmgren said to Alexander as they stood on the podium afterward.

"I just want to stand here and soak it in," Alexander answered.

Seattle had waited 30 years for yesterday's game, and it was more or less settled in barely 15 minutes.

Seven seconds into the second quarter, the Seahawks led 17-0. They had 128 yards of offense. The Panthers had six.

Hasselbeck had completed nine of 10 passes. Delhomme was 0 for 6. To his own team, anyway. He had hit two Seattle defenders right on the numbers for interceptions that led to 10 points.

It was a nightmare nearly everywhere. Delhomme was struggling and under siege, Smith reduced to a whisper on the field — even as he sometimes shouted in frustration on the sideline.

"He has a right to get frustrated," Delhomme said. "I know he wants the football. We were trying to get it to him."

Nick Goings had his bell rung on a tackle late in the first period. The Panthers had hoped he could replace the injured DeShaun Foster at running back. But he was gone for good, having gained two yards. That left Jamal Robertson, who had 14 carries all the regular season.

"When it rains it pours," Smith said of the first quarter. "That about sums it up."

Carolina's first good news came in the second quarter when Smith took a line drive punt back for a touchdown.

But what about that yellow flag back down the field? An illegal blocking penalty, certainly. No touchdown. Except ... the officials conferred and decided that, no, Seattle's Joe Tafoya went down on his own accord and not by a block from the rear from Vinny Ciurciu — even if replays showed light contact.

The flag disappeared as if it were a David Copperfield prop. The Seahawks' lead was cut to 17-7. It didn't matter. It was Seattle's time.