Kerney becoming a sack-dance king

After his second sack, Patrick Kerney stopped being more conservative than the tan sweater he wore to the game. He celebrated as if he were the baddest man on the planet, crossing his arms, leaning back slightly and giving a cold stare.

It's called the B-Boy Stance, a playfully narcissistic pose with rap-music origins. If your hip doesn't hop, please reference this definition from urbandictionary.com: "An ancient pose used by the hip-hop and break-dancing community in the '80s."

Kerney is an old-school sack celebrator.

"He deserved that," linebacker Julian Peterson said of Kerney's pose. "He's been on a roll. He crossed his arms and was like, 'What?' He's the man."

He looked like the king of Qwest Field for those brief seconds. The only question about his $39.5 million contract was whether he deserved more. He struck the pose until his teammates ran over to congratulate him, and then Kerney slipped back into humility — his best fit — thanking his fellow Seahawks for helping him appear so dominant.

Kerney gives the team all the credit for his recent rampage. He had three sacks Sunday, 10 in his past five games, 13.5 for the season, but he says he's just a product of a talented defense. This is just his time to clobber the quarterback, just as it was once Peterson's time or Darryl Tapp's time.

"I hope it's something our whole defense takes pride in," Mr. Modest said. "I know that one, maybe a couple, of those sacks came after the quarterback had to pump the ball. So you have to give our defensive backs credit."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The secondary deserves some love. Cornerback Marcus Trufant has performed at a Pro Bowl level all season and had three interceptions, one he returned for a touchdown in this 42-21 division-clinching, playoffs-cinching victory over Arizona. The rest of the secondary has been impressive, too. For that matter, the entire defense is starting to perform with a consistency appropriate for a group with this much talent. But even though Kerney has help, you can't underplay his dominance.

The Seahawks play with more gusto when Kerney is on his game. Having an elite pass rusher at end makes any defense more potent, but for this team, getting that pressure is vital. It helps get this undersized unit off the field on third down. It allows the Seahawks to be aggressive without risky blitzes.

It leads to the silliness of success. B-Boy Stance? Earlier this season, the defense could only talk about inconsistency. They were searching for answers and facing scrutiny.

Now the tough, probing postgame questions are about sack celebrations.

"I had to get original," Kerney said. "I can't just do a temper tantrum every time."

At this pace, he's going to need someone to teach him new moves. Brandon Mebane, perhaps? After Mebane tackled Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner, the rookie tackle did what he calls "The Dead Leg." He pretended like his leg caved and then lifted himself up by his collar.

"I'd give it an 8.5," Peterson said.

With five sacks against the Cardinals, the Seahawks have 41 this season. They trail only the New York Giants, who have 47 sacks, for the league lead.

Last year, Seattle had 41 sacks the entire season. The pass rush was maddeningly erratic, with seven games of only one sack and two games without a sack. The Seahawks couldn't get pressure on the quarterback with any regularity, and their safeties allowed big play after big play. Combined with the injuries on offense, it equaled one wacky 9-7 season.

So in free agency, Kerney was the one player the Seahawks had to acquire. Grant Wistrom was too old. They needed new blood, and though Kerney is 30, he represents that. He has been effective even when he hasn't gotten sacks. Even better, the burden hasn't been all on him.

Kerney had just 3.5 sacks the first half of the year, but Peterson and Tapp were doing damage. Kerney was content to play his role, which sometimes meant sliding inside to play tackle. In the past five games, he has stayed almost exclusively at his natural left-end position.

Because of this tear, Kerney, who leads the league in QB harassment, has set a career high for sacks. With three games remaining, he could surpass Michael Sinclair's franchise record for sacks in a season (16.5).

"He's unbelievable," linebacker Lofa Tatupu said. "He doesn't drink. He doesn't put anything in his body that's not good for him. He goes to bed early. It's kind of scary. He's a grown man who goes to bed at 9 o'clock."

He's an impact player who rarely acknowledges it, a freakish millionaire athlete who drives an old black Bronco.

"I keep on saying to him, 'M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!' " Peterson said.

Show 'em the stance again, Kerney. Show 'em the stance.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com. For more columns and the Extra Points blog, visit seattletimes.com/sports