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Seahawks can wrap up NFC West title

Dec 9, 2007 - 12:38 PM Arizona (6-6) at Seattle (8-4) 4:05 pm EST

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The Seattle Seahawks can wrap up their fourth consecutive NFC West title this weekend.

Riding a four-game winning streak, the Seahawks host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

A victory would give Seattle a three-game lead and a tiebreaker over the Cardinals with three games to play. And the Seahawks could not be catching Arizona at a better time.

The Cardinals have major injury problems at wide receiver. Larry Fitzgerald, who leads the NFC with 75 receptions and is second in yardage, sat out last weekend's 27-21 victory over the Cleveland Browns with a groin injury.

Fellow wideout Anquan Boldin suffered a dislocated toe during that game and was forced to the sideline. He underwent an MRI exam Monday and his status is up in the air for Sunday's game.

If one of both receivers are unable to play, Bryant Johnson will start at one spot. Johnson had six receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown against the Browns.

The Cardinals beat the Seahawks, 23-20, at home in Week Two but are 1-5 on the road. They likely will rely heavily on Edgerrin James, who had his second-best output of the season with 114 yards on 24 carries against the Browns.

In the first meeting between the teams, James rushed for a season-high 128 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries.

Seattle has put some distance between itself and Arizona with its recent winning streak, capped by back-to-back road wins at St. Louis and Philadelphia.

The most impressive aspect of the streak is that is has largely been accomplished without running back Shaun Alexander, who missed three straight games with injury before returning in last week's 28-24 victory over the Eagles.

Alexander rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Backup Maurice Morris contributed a 45-yard scoring run to put the Seahawks ahead for good.

"I thought Shaun did OK coming back," coach Mike Holmgren said. "For his first game back after not playing in the last month, I thought he ran pretty good."

The Seahawks have averaged 28.1 points over the past six games, mainly on the arm of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who has thrown for 11 TDs and five interceptions in that span.

The defense came up with some critical stops against the Eagles, led by linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who had a game-high 11 tackles and three interceptions, including one at the Seattle 4 in the closing minutes to seal the win.