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What took place Saturday once was unimaginable, and now the Seattle Seahawks hope it's not out of the question they can do something else which once seemed unthinkable, too.

The Seahawks beat the Washington Redskins, 35-14, in a first-round playoff game because of their, drum roll, please, defense. Next they will find out if their defense, the team's best in a decade, will be good enough to survive a divisional playoff game at Green Bay.

"You gotta take your hat off to the organization," said offensive tackle Walter Jones, Seattle's longest-tenured player, in his 11th season with the team. "They got (defensive) guys who can go out and make plays. The defense is built on speed and getting to the quarterback, and these guys can do it with the best of them.

"A defense that good can put you in position to score points."

Or score points itself.

Against Washington, the Seahawks played lethargically for much of the game on offense, but they produced a fourth-quarter, go-ahead touchdown drive after the Redskins' Scott Suisham missed a 30-yard field goal attempt, and then Marcus Trufant and Jordan Babineaux returned interceptions for touchdown to make the final score more lopsided than the game actually was.

Seattle has tried for years to improve its defense. Eight of their 11 defensive starters came to the team since 2005, and the additions this year of defensive end Patrick Kerney and safeties Brian Russell and Deon Grant finally lifted the Seahawks into the ranks of the league's better defensive teams.

The Redskins were unable to block Kerney, who led the NFC in sacks, with one lineman. By double-teaming and, at least once, even triple-teaming him, the Redskins left the quick Seattle linebackers free to chase down plays. Washington, trying to protect quarterback Todd Collins, wanted to control the game with Clinton Portis' running, but he was limited to 52 yards on 20 carries, an average of 2.6, and was often caught from behind by a linebacker.

Seahawks linebackers Leroy Hill, Lofa Tatupu and Julian Peterson were the game's leading tacklers, credited with 23 tackles, 12 assists, two sacks, five quarterback hits and one pass defensed among them.

"We proved we can play defense," Hill said. "A lot of people consider the Seahawks an offensive team, and we're just trying to prove we can play a little defense, too."

"We're not the biggest or the most physical team," Peterson added, but he pointed out the Seahawks' defense has the quickness to run with most teams. The only success the Redskins had with their running game came when they spread the Seattle defense out by using three or four receivers, but that exposed Collins to frequent hits.

Peterson opined that the Seahawks will need to tighten up their third-down defense against Green Bay, but it really wasn't too bad. Washington converted only 4 of 18 third downs into first downs.