CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- This is a story of preparation, and of why one of the greatest coaches of his era might be in the midst of one of the greatest coaching jobs he has ever done.

The Seahawks were practicing scramble drills in their weekly walk-through practice last week, and on one of the plays, a scrambling Russell Wilson noticed wide receiver Tyler Lockett running an unusual route on which he took off up the right side and went deep while quarterback Wilson extended the play. Wilson, all about the details, pulled Lockett aside after the play and asked why he did that. "Just in case we need it," Lockett told him.

Wilson relayed this story in the moments that followed Seattle's incredible, seesaw, 30-27 comeback victory over the Panthers here Sunday and smiled. "Turns out we needed it."

It was a play just like the walk-through play that set up Seattle's game-winning field goal. With 1:07 left in a tie game, third down and 5 yards to go from the Seattle 47, Lockett got off the line, ran his route and turned back to see Wilson flushed out of the pocket, scrambling. He looked downfield.

"There was nobody deep," a grinning Lockett recalled when it was over. "Quarterbacks love guys who go deep."

So deep Lockett went, and sure enough, Wilson saw him there and heaved it. They connected on a 43-yard play that set Seattle up at the Carolina 10-yard line. A couple of kneel-downs, a couple of Carolina timeouts, a spike to stop the clock and a 31-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal, and the Seahawks found themselves 6-5 and in the thick of the NFC playoff hunt.

"We're already in the playoffs as far as we're concerned," fired-up Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "We've got to win every game, and we've got to do it one game at a time."

When he finished his mile-a-minute postgame news conference, Carroll bounded back into the locker room, where he spent a couple of minutes talking to Lockett at his locker then traded fist-bumps and handshakes with a handful of other players in the middle of the room. The oldest and one of the most decorated coaches in the NFL was flashing all of his trademark exuberance, celebrating a breathless win with the players who delivered it.

But while outside perception of Carroll seems to lean hard on the energy angle -- the rapid-fire delivery, the manic gum-chewing and the youthful energy that belies his 67 years -- the true trademark of Carroll's program is preparation. The reasons it was a mistake to assume the Seahawks were in for a down year in spite of their offseason roster overhaul were (A) Wilson and (B) Carroll's program. He spoke openly in training camp about how the culture wouldn't change just because the names on the jerseys changed, and the bedrock of that belief was preparation.