When the sun is out and the skies are clear, there may not be a more beautiful place in America than the Seattle area.

So imagine being immersed in the beauty of a sunny, nearly 80-degree morning surrounded by the tall trees at the Seahawks practice facility in Kirkland, Washington. That's when the sonic boom of an F-18 Hornet flying above catches your attention. You look up and see a Blue Angel passing by. About 20 seconds later you see two more Blue Angels headed in the same direction.

Now, I know that they weren't performing a show or anything, but it just seems odd to see Blue Angels flying over, but not in perfect formation. Sort of like everything was out of sync.

That's kinda how it felt to watch the Seattle Seahawks last season.

"I wouldn't disagree with that assessment" was the response I got from Coach Mike Holmgren when I brought up the lack of synchronicity his Seahawks seemed to display all last season, no matter who was in the lineup.

Injuries were the obvious place to look when trying to find the reasons for the team's struggles, but it was a lot more than that.

The biggest difference between the team's play in its Super Bowl season of '05, and last year's (other than the injuries) was the poor play of their defense ... particularly their pass rush and secondary.

Hence, that's where the upgrades for this year's team begin.

Seattle used its top three draft picks on defensive players and its top three free-agent signings were all on that side of the ball as well in DE Patrick Kerney, and safeties Deon Grant and Brian Russell.

"Our safeties are the best group we've had here in Seattle with Grant and Russell starting, (Michael) Boulware -- and don't forget (Mike) Green. I think we're going to be pretty good."

"In fact," Holmgren went on to tell me, "I think that this is the best defense I've had, period."

WOW!

Now, that may seem like a bunch of coach-speak, but believe this: I've never known Mike Holmgren to be anything other than brutally honest when it comes to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of his ballclub. And you know what?  If I'm totally honest in looking at his current defense, I find it hard to disagree.

The 'Hawks were already set for years to come at linebacker, with Lofa Tatupu (two pro bowls in two seasons), Julian Peterson ( '06 pro bowler in his debut season with Seattle) and Leroy Hill.

The rest of the defense was the mystery, and it looks to me like large chunks of that mystery have been solved.

At cornerback, instead of having to play guys signed off the street like they did in last year's playoff game at Chicago, Marcus Trufant is back. I think Trufant and Kelly Jennings have the makings of a good cornerback tandem. Throw in Grant and Russell, who are two of the smarter players in the league -- and actually more athletic than they're given credit for -- and the secondary looks solid.

The addition of Patrick Kerney at LDE can't be understated. Kerney told me that this defense fits his abilities better than the one he excelled  in in Atlanta, because it allows him to react when he recognizes something, rather than being forced to do what the defense calls for, no matter what you see.

Kerney is fully recovered from surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle. In fact, he says that had Atlanta been able to go deep into the postseason last year, he would have been medically cleared to play by then.

Kerney, Chuck Darby, Marcus Tubbs and Bryce Fisher are a good, if not great, front four. They are symbolic of this entire Seahawk team. Good, not great.

But you know what, those TEAMS are the ones that wind up going far, because they play as a TEAM rather than a bunch of stars.

That's how it was for Seattle in '05 when they rode the best record in the NFC all the way to the Super Bowl. Despite being injured and  "out of sync" in '06 they still managed to win the West, and took the Bears to OT on the road in a playoff game before falling a field goal short of going back to the NFC Championship Game.

Still, San Francisco is the sexy pick by many to win this much improved division this season. Holmgren says "thank you!"

"Everyone's made my job easy. I've been telling these players that 'everyone thinks you guys are done, you're too old, the 49ers are the best team in the division'. Oh yeah, I've been using it big time," Holmgren told me.

"We know that people don't respect what we do," said Shaun Alexander. "It's like the year we went to the Super Bowl, everybody was talking about how Steve Smith was gonna kill us in the (NFC Championship) game. Even going back to the Redskins game, no one believed that we could do it. So we know. We just blow it off and know that if we do what we're capable of doing, nobody can mess with us."

By the way, Alexander told me this not long after literally skipping around the practice field on that foot that everyone was so concerned about a couple of weeks ago. Everyone except Alexander, that is.

Alexander's healthy again, and even looks to be in the best shape I've seen him in. Matt Hasselbeck is too.

Having those two back would take care of most offensive issues, but not all.

Everyone I've spoken with seems to think that the offensive line will be fine with youngsters LG Rob Sims, and C Chris Spencer taking over from day one. I've been told that WR D.J. Hackett has been catching everything thrown his way as he tries to fend off Nate Burleson. The winner in that battle will be the starter opposite Deion Branch, the other will drop all the way to the No. 4 receiver (Bobby Engram is solidly third).  Marcus Pollard's skills at TE fit perfectly in this offense, but coming off hamstring problems at the age of 35, he's not a given.

Seattle can't rely on kicker Josh Brown winning four games in the last minute or OT as he did last season, either.

Look, I truly believe that San Fran, St. Louis and Arizona will make it a tougher challenge for Seattle to win this division for a fourth straight year, but they're improvement doesn't mean that the Hawks are headed the other way. The window may be getting smaller on Seattle, but it's definitely still open.

Like every team in the NFL, Seattle has to avoid key injuries to have hope. If they do, this team is still poised to make a run at a second Super Bowl run in three years.

Next Stop: Arizona Cardinals