That's a league-best plus-10 in the can't-be-overstressed turnover ratio -- and in the best way, with 10 turnovers for the defense and zero for the offense.

Even more impressive is how this defense is doing it.

Nothing fancy. No flim-flam schemes. Just a lot of players flying around and making a lot of plays.

"We're definitely starting quick and strong," linebacker Chad Brown said. "Against a team like the Cardinals, who are experiencing some adversity, you have to get on them early and let them know: 'You're not even going to have a chance to breathe today.'

"That's important in taking away someone's will."

The defense definitely willed that to happen in the first quarter yesterday.

On the first play of the game, rookie free safety Ken Hamlin separated Cardinals wide receiver Bryant Johnson and the ball with another ferocious hit. Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant, another rookie, picked up the ball and returned it 31 yards to the Arizona 6-yard line to set up the Seahawks' first score.

The next time the Cardinals got the ball, Hamlin deflect a Jeff Blake pass intended for rookie phenom Anquan Boldin, and Tongue picked it off.

The next time the Cardinals got the ball -- do you see a trend developing? -- it was Hamlin again. This time he put a huge hit on Boldin to break up a pass and Brown made a diving interception.

And so it went. Play after play. Series after series. Quarter after quarter. For the second consecutive week.

It's the stuff intimidating -- not to mention opportunistic -- defenses are made of. And, if they keep it up, this team is going places, at the expense of one bludgeoned opponent after another.

"That's one thing we really go for hard, is everyone getting to the ball," Hamlin said. "When you're going to the ball, something good will happen."

Of course Rhodes isn't happy. He probably never will be. That's just the way he is, which is why he is the coach he is.

After last week's impressive -- albeit too porous, at times -- effort against the Saints, he started his meeting Monday by lighting into the defensive players.

Today, you can bet he'll "mention" the Cardinals converted 56 percent of their third-down situations (10 of 18).

You just know he will "point out" the Cardinals were without their starting wide receivers because of injuries and then lost Blake to a bruised heel late in the first quarter when 325-pound defensive tackle Norman Hand did a belly-flop on the quarterback, who passed for a league-high 363 yards in the Cardinals' season-opening loss to the Lions in Detroit.

Knowing Rhodes, he'll also "bring up" that without Tongue's second interception, the Seahawks would not have posted their first shutout since blanking the Philadelphia Eagles in their 1998 season opener -- the year before Mike Holmgren arrived.

		MATT YORK / AP
	Cardinals running back Emmitt Smith watches the Seahawks defense leave the field after Smith fumbled during the second quarter. Smith was held to 54 yards on 14 carries.

At the top of his to-do list, of course, will be "reminding" his players that this week's opponent -- the St. Louis Rams -- is not the Cardinals.

But you know what? That's good. No, that's great. If their coach isn't satisfied, the players won't be either.

Not even Hamlin, who is making this NFL stuff look pretty simple and prompting the suggestion that they give him No. 45 -- which was worn, and worn out, by strong safety Kenny Easley during his hard-hitting heyday when he put fear into opponents who ventured into the middle of the field.

"I didn't think of it like that," Hamlin said of his sudden impact. "I just thought about coming in, working hard and seeing what happens.

"I'm just glad we're 2-0."

The Seahawks are unbeaten, in large part, because Hamlin has tipped two passes that have been intercepted, picked one off himself and delivered a couple of highlight-film hits -- although all the Cardinals receivers were able to keep their helmets in place yesterday.

Brown has been around. Before signing with the Seahawks in 1997, he played four seasons on some pretty good defenses in Pittsburgh.

Asked after the game if he had ever seen a rookie step into the lineup and have the impact Hamlin has, Brown thought for several moments before offering, "No, I don't think so. The kid can play. He'll hit ya. He's smart. He's a force on the field, but in the locker room he's humble. He just wants to keep getting better. He's got respect for the veterans and what they've done to get where they are.

"I can't see anything but great things for him."

Oh no. More fuel for Rhodes' indignation.

Last week, as he passed a group of reporters in the hallway, he grumbled something about not writing so much good stuff about his young players because it would give them a big head.

"I know coach isn't going to like this, because he doesn't like me to get too much attention and get out of focus," Hamlin said through a huge grin.

Oops. Too late now.

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