The Seahawks head to Arizona looking to improve upon a 7-5 record, and a 4-1 mark on the road, while building on the lead they have in the NFC West over the Cardinals and Rams, who sit one game back in the standings at 6-6, and the 49ers, who are two games back at 5-7.
"We've earned this opportunity as a football team to go down there and have a game that's such a high-leverage game for us," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "So let's go attack that opportunity and keep building, but we've got to keep moving forward."
As for the team's strong road record this season, Macdonald said, "I just think the guys do a great job on the road of just staying focused and keeping it about what we're trying to do. Our ops team does a great job of making the transition seamless. It's an opportunity to be together as a football team and go out there together and go get a W. We'll stand on that progress we've made up to this point, but we've got to go do it again."
And when the Seahawks go to Arizona, they'll do so with a mostly healthy 53-man roster, though two key players are listed as questionable, running back Kenneth Walker III and punter Michael Dickson. Macdonald was optimistic that Dickson, who had back spasms flare up last week, will be able to play, but the Seahawks signed punter Ty Zentner to the practice squad Friday just in case.
"He's getting better every day," Macdonald said. "It looks positive right now. You just never know, is it going to lock up again? So you have a contingency plan, but we're planning on him being ready to go."
The status of Walker is less clear after he missed the last two days of practice with ankle and calf injuries.
"Wish I could tell you, I just don't know right now," Macdonald said. "We'll talk about plans in place on how we want to operate going into the weekend if we've got to make any moves, or if we want to take it up to the game on Sunday. We're just not sure right now."
One option if the Seahawks do need more running back depth would be to elevate rookie back George Holani, who recently returned from practice squad injured reserve.
"He could be a solution on that front," Macdonald said.
Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu does not have an injury designation on Friday's injury report, indicating he is indeed ready to go, an expected development after he was activated from injured reserve earlier in the week. Nwosu, who has missed time due to both knee and thigh injuries, missing all but one game this season, will be eased back into action, Macdonald said.
"We have a plan for him to bring him back," he said. "He's not going to be playing every snap, but if he's out there, we've got a plan for him in terms of bringing him back, but it won't be a full workload right now."
Five things to know about the Seahawks matchup against the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.