SEATTLE — These definitely are not your 2004 Seattle Seahawks. That team never would have gotten this far.

Who says so? Well, the Seahawks themselves.

"This year, no matter what the score is or how much time is on the clock, we're going to find a way to win the football game," defensive end Grant Wistrom said Friday. "We've shown that on a number of occasions.

"We have a number of guys on this team that have been cut by other teams that really we picked up off the street, guys that weren't given a chance in other organizations to play, for whatever reason. The powers-that-be decided they didn't have the talent to play at this level, and these guys have come in and been starters for us and contributed and done well right from the start."

Indeed, as Wistrom pointed out heading to Sunday's NFC championship game with the Carolina Panthers, these Seahawks have more fortitude than last season's team. They are more resourceful. And they are deeper.

"Without those guys we are an average football team, a little above .500," he said. "I think we owe them a lot. We talk about Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck, and Darrell Jackson and Bobby Engram, our Pro Bowlers that put us at 13-3. The guys at the beginning of the season that didn't figure in the equation all that much that kept us in the hunt put us where we are."

Where they are is hosting the conference title game for the first time, within a step of the Super Bowl, something they couldn't say for the last 21 seasons. Without the chemistry they developed while winning the NFC West and posting the conference's best record, the journey probably would have ended earlier.

"I think the team has responded to our leaders, Walter Jones, Steve Hutchinson and Matt Hasselbeck, and the people that have been here four or five years, and they respond to each other," coach Mike Holmgren said. "I think the locker room is very positive. Winning helps a lot of things.

"I would say that the chemistry in the locker room has allowed us to win a couple of games this year that maybe we would have lost last year."

The Panthers (13-5) lost too many times last season, finishing 7-9 to not make the playoffs. They were ravaged by injuries that year.

While Carolina isn't completely healthy now, either, it has displayed in three road wins this month — the regular-season finale to earn a wild-card berth then victories at the Giants and Bears — that it has the same gumption as the squad that made the Super Bowl after the 2003 season

In explaining their success, the Panthers sound very much like, well, their opponent on Sunday. Safety Mike Minter believes a bond was created by what happened last season.

"A whole lot, because of injuries and depth," he said of the effect 2004 had on the 2005 Panthers. "And I think as a great football team, you've got to have depth. And right now, that's what we have, we have depth."

Minter also believes this is the best Panthers squad yet.

"And I think that's the difference between this team and '03," he said. "In '03 we had great starters, but we didn't really have the great depth. And this year we have that."

Do they have enough to win at Seattle, where the Seahawks are spotless this season? According to Minter, that same attribute — togetherness — is what helps them rise on the road.

"Coach Fox has done a great job of preparing us all season long for us stepping up on the road," he said. "He told us we have to be road warriors all year. And to go where we have to go, we have to win our fair share of road games. We didn't know he was going to be a prophet. We had to go on the road three weeks in a row in the playoffs and play well.

"And you know what, I think it's in your preparation. He does a great job of saying, 'Guys, it's in your preparation. Prepare hard throughout the week, and no matter where you play then you'll be able to perform.' And so I think that's the biggest thing.

"And the other thing is that we're a family. And when we travel we care about one another, and we step on that field, we know it's just us 40 some, 50 some guys that's out on the field, that we're together."