KIRKLAND, Wash. -- After an emotional victory at home against Kansas City, the Seattle Seahawks must win on the road against the New York Jets in order to get into the playoffs.

	Christian Fauria and the Seahawks are feeling good after their victory over the Chiefs.

Linebacker Darrin Smith, who played in two Super Bowl victories in Dallas, and guard Brian Habib, who earned a Super Bowl ring in Denver, like their team's chances.

"We plan to keep going," Smith said Monday, a day after Seattle's 23-14 victory over Kansas City in the final regular-season game in the Kingdome. "We plan to have some momentum going into the playoffs. I think we're a team that can play well when we have this type of pressure on us."

"We're glad to be over the hump now," added Habib, a 12-year veteran. "We won (against) a tough team. It was awesome the way the defense was flying around out there. I think our coaches decided to turn those guys loose."

The Seahawks beat Kansas City in a game they had to win to keep their postseason hopes afloat. A victory over the Jets in their regular-season finale would clinch the franchise's first playoff berth since 1988.

"We knew we had to come out and make some plays on defense," said strong safety Darryl Williams, who had one of three interceptions against the Chiefs.

"We knew we had to give the ball back to the offense to give them some more chances to score," he said.

The Seahawks snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Kansas City. A loss would have eliminated them from the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season.

In his 20th career start, Seattle quarterback Jon Kitna didn't throw an interception for the second straight week and passed for two touchdowns, giving the Seahawks enough offense to go along with their revitalized defense.

In an overtime loss in Denver the previous week, the Seahawks defense surrendered a season-worst 430 yards. In beating the Chiefs the second time this season to tie them for the division lead at 9-6, the defense allowed 302 yards.

The turnaround was more mental than physical, Williams said.

"We've been talking about it, but we haven't been going out and getting the job done," he said. "We talked about it all week, and (Sunday) we went out and did it."

For the first time in a month, Seattle's defense used the blitz as a major weapon and sacked Kansas City quarterback Elvis Grbac four times.

"If we were going to lose, we were going to lose throwing everything at them," Williams said. "We had a great game plan."

The architect of Seattle's game plan was its first-year coach, Mike Holmgren, who was hired by the Seahawks away from Green Bay after taking them to the playoffs six consecutive years.

In one week, Holmgren restored confidence on a team that was wondering if it could win another game this season. Now, the Seahawks have clinched their first winning season since 1990 and have a shot at going to the playoffs.

Unless the Seahawks beat the Jets, however, some of their players won't be happy.

"We're 9-6, and we haven't won anything yet," Habib said. "If we win this week, we will have accomplished something."

Holmgren disagreed with that, though.

"I was asked that in the Super Bowl," he said. "They asked, 'If you don't win the Super Bowl, is the whole thing for nothing?' That's the most absurd thing I ever heard. Seven months of your life and it's nothing. No.

"To win nine games. That's a big deal. Now, is it the ultimate or will you be disappointed if you don't get better than that? Yeah. But those nine wins. You can enjoy that. You can feel good about that."