RENTON – Coaches used to portray themselves as hyper-competitive and draconian in their demands by preaching that winning was the absolute only tolerable outcome in a competition.

The approach is a little timeworn these days, frankly, because most of the time winning isn’t really good enough to satisfy these guys, either.

And that’s why, after an absurdly easy 28-0 win over the St. Louis Rams in the season opener, coach Jim Mora will spend this week pushing the Seahawks to improve their performance.

Coaches understand that it’s part of the job description to keep confidence from swelling into overconfidence, hunger from becoming satisfaction. So it’s a business in which it’s important to recognize that only a few inches separate a pat on the back from a kick in the butt.

Mora provided a glimpse into his competitive psyche last week, describing a place where winning and losing are not the only benchmarks on a larger scale that measures nearness to perfection and fulfillment of potential.

Before the Seahawks’ game against St. Louis, Mora was intentionally vague when asked about Rams players or the recent history of games against St. Louis.

When pressed, he explained: “I’ll rarely, if ever, during a game week, even mention (to the Seahawks) the name of the team we’re playing, or a particular player’s name. It’s usually ‘the opponent’ or a (reference to a) jersey number for the simple reason that I think it’s important that we focus on us. We have a mantra: We prepare for our opponents, but we’re going to play against the Seattle Seahawks’ championship standard.”

So, Mora was understandably delighted with the lopsided shutout victory in his first game as Seahawks head coach – making him the only full-time coach to open his Seattle tenure with a win.

But it didn’t break his heart that the performance had enough blemishes to sustain a week of pointed commentary to the club.

His list of concerns: “It’s long,” he said Monday.

He was worried about the rushing attack. (Although they picked up 167 yards against the Rams to rank sixth in the NFL.)

They have to be more “exact” on defense, he said. (Although they’re rated eighth in the league and registered the team’s first shutout since November 2007).

He wasn’t happy with the kickoff return game. Well, that’s not such a problem when your defense keeps the opponent out of the end zone and you only have to return one kickoff all game. He’ll be happy if they continue getting such limited practice on that discipline.

Three first-quarter turnovers ... sure, that will lead to a loss against almost every team other than St. Louis.

But the two interceptions thrown by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck are less of a worry when viewed in the context of his 96.9 passer rating – more than 10 points above his career average.

Mora didn’t like the performance on either side of the ball in the fourth quarter, but the team was ahead by four touchdowns, so a little cruise control might be expected.

Watching video of the San Francisco 49ers’ road win over Arizona on Sunday should be enough to keep the Hawks on task, Mora said.

“All we had to do is put on a couple snaps of Frank Gore running the football, (tight end Vernon) Davis catching the football, and their defense attacking the way they attacked, and it gets you focused quickly, very, very quickly,” Mora said.

It is important that a coach is every bit as critical after a win as he is a loss, he stressed. But, in fact, in some ways it’s important to be even more critical.

“We’re always upbeat and positive and we try to put a positive spin on things,” he said. “But we’re very demanding. When you win 28-0, it gives you a chance to maybe drop the hammer a little bit harder.”

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440

dave.boling@thenewstribune.com