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Sunday was not the time to leave winning a crucial game up to your kicker, but that proved to be the kicker in the Seahawks’ 22-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at Qwest Field – a victory that lifted the Seahawks to 4-2 and into sole possession of first place in the NFC West on a day when the other three teams in the division lost.

Each team scored a touchdown, so the deciding factor turned out to be five field goals from the ridiculously consistent right leg of Olindo Mare.

The kicker to the kicker in this tale of the Seahawks’ kicker? Mare actually kicked nine field goals, but three were nullified by penalties and a fourth was given back when a penalty against the Cardinals gave the Seahawks a first down. He also had one blocked, but it didn’t count, either, because the blocker had jumped offside.

“It was blowing out there, and raining and drizzly, and the wind was moving,” said Mare, who ran his club-record string of consecutive field goals to 30 – with No. 2 on the list being 16.

“The wind was changing the whole day.”

Which kick was his best? Mare opted for the PAT after the Seahawks’ only touchdown. As he was lining up for the kick and holder Jon Ryan was on one knee, a piece of paper blew past them.

“Jon looked at me, and the wind was blowing so hard,” Mare said. “The wind was moving everywhere today.

“The wind never did swirl here, until this year. The three games we’ve played, you can’t figure it out.”

Especially kicking to the north, and the open end of the stadium – or, “Into the city,” as Mare calls it. It’s the same direction that Mare missed his last kicks, in last season’s Week 3 game against the Bears.

Gone with the wind again? Not on this day. Not with this kicker.

How good was Mare, especially in these conditions? What should have been a 31-yard field goal and then a 41-yarder turned into a kick of 51 in the third quarter because Cameron Morrah was offside on back-to-back plays. What should have been a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter became a 26-yarder because of a delay-of-game penalty. But Mare drilled them all, regardless of distance or conditions.

“Mentally, for a kicker to have to move back 10 yards like that, it’s very difficult,” Ryan said. “Those uprights look pretty wide when you’re at 31. They look a little narrow a 41. And they look real narrow at 51.

“So to hit three in a row – and I mean right down the middle every one – was pretty impressive. Honestly, I think if those uprights were two feet apart he would have hit all nine of those. Everyone was right down the middle. It was an incredible performance by him.”

As impressive as Mare was in kicking aside the elements, this was not a one-legged run to the top of the NFC West standings.

The special teams also covered a muffed punt return and a muffed kickoff return to set up the Seahawks’ only touchdown – Matt Hasselbeck’s 2-yard pass to Mike Williams – and Mare’s third field goal.

The defense produced three turnovers on the fourth interception of the season by rookie free safety Earl Thomas, a fumble forcing/recovering tackle by cornerback Marcus Trufant and a fumble-forcing sack by defensive end Chris Clemons. The Seahawks also held the Cardinals to a 2-for-12 performance on third downs – after holding the Bears to an 0-for-12 showing in Chicago last week.

“When we didn’t do well on third down, we lost,” veteran safety Lawyer Milloy said – referring to the Broncos going 14 of 20 on third downs in Denver and the Rams going 7 of 16 in St. Louis.

“We had our bye week and that was a big point of emphasis. There’s no way we should work so hard on first and second downs and lose on third. We’re in a lot of man-on-man situations, and these young guys are stepping up and making plays.”

On offense, Hasselbeck was sacked five times, but he also completed 20 of 38 passes to seven different receivers – including 11 for 87 yards by Williams. The running game contributed a season-high 144 yards, including 89 “Beast Mode” yards on 24 tough carries by Marshawn Lynch.

But all those field goals by Mare also are an indication that there is improvement to be made with the red-zone offense. The Cardinals gave the Seahawks some looks inside the 20-yard line that they had not seen on video.

“We didn’t capitalize on red-zone opportunities like we need to with touchdowns,” Hasselbeck said. “Luckily, Olindo Mare is just automatic.

“But we need to do better in that area. We’ve sort of been hit or miss.”

Unlike their kicker, who was there to bail the offense out after it has reached the Cardinals’ 2, 13, 6 and 8.

What it all added up to was the Seahawks’ second win in a row, the first time they’ve posted back-to-back wins since Weeks 12-13 last season. Next week, against the Raiders in Oakland, they will try to win three in a row for the first time since they had a five-game winning streak midway through the 2007 season.

“This is a confidence builder for us as a team,” said nose tackle Colin Cole, who had a team-high seven tackles. “And we needed that. It’s also important to know we had the ability to do it, and we did it.

“We took advantage of the opportunity, and I’m excited. We’re all excited.”

But the Seahawks also know they can’t get too giddy about being in first place after Week 7, because it is so early.

“We didn’t even mention it all week,” coach Pete Carroll said. “We didn’t even talk about it. I didn’t talk about it after the game, either.

“I love being in first place, but it doesn’t mean anything right now. To me, it’s like the BCS. It doesn’t matter right now. It’s how you finish.”