SEATTLE (AP)—It’s the last roundup in the NFC West for the defending four-time
division champion Seahawks. The upstart Arizona Cardinals sweep into town Sunday
as the new posse in charge.

“The sun is starting to set a little bit,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren
said of his injured and mistake-prone team being four games out of first place
with seven games remaining.

The Seahawks know they are running out of time. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck
is returning after missing six weeks with a bulging disk in his back. He says he
is “definitely pushing the envelope here on time frames” doctors had given him
for his rehabilitation. Wide receiver Deion Branch is going to try to play his
first full game since last January following reconstructive knee surgery and a
bruised heel.

Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson agreed this is the champs’ last stand.

“I would say so,” he said. “If we don’t win this game, we put ourselves
out of the hunt for the rest of the season. We view these division games as
two-for-one (games in the standings). And we’re still in it. We’re a
second-place team.”

Peterson then had to laugh at the absurdity of the sorry truth out West.

Despite having 14 starters miss at least one game with injury while getting
its worst start since 2000, Seattle (2-7) is tied with San Francisco and St.
Louis in choking on Arizona’s dust.

Still, the Cardinals (6-3) won’t believe they have truly dethroned the
Seahawks until they win in Seattle. Arizona hasn’t done that since 2002.

“It’s not a different feel for us because we still feel like we have to
beat them up there,” said receiver Anquan Boldin, who has 10 touchdowns in
seven games this season. “They’re defending division champs the last I don’t
know how many years. For us to be able to call ourselves NFC West champs, we’ve
got to beat them and beat them at home.”

The Seahawks used to be nearly unbeatable inside their raucous,
cantilever-roofed home and are still an NFC-best 43-17 there since 2001. But
they are just 1-3 in Seattle this season.

And their skittish pass defense, ranked 31st in the league allowing 252
yards per game, hasn’t seen an aerial show like Arizona’s this year.

The Cardinals lead the league with 263 points scored, on pace to break the
team record of 423 set in 1984. Quarterback Kurt Warner, 37, has revived his
career after pondering retirement when the Giants let him go and Arizona benched
him early in 2006.

“I was wondering if anybody would be willing to give me the keys to the car
and drive again,” said Warner, who was supposedly going to tutor young star
Matt Leinart.

Now, Warner’s cruising. His 17-game streak of throwing a touchdown pass is
the longest in the league. The league’s top-rated passer has more completions
(238), more attempts (337), a better completion percentage (70.6), more yards
passing (2,760), more touchdowns (19) and fewer interceptions (six) than he had
after nine games of the 2001 season—when he won his second league MVP award
for the Rams.

Boldin is again starring after a vicious hit by the New York Jets’ Eric
Smith on Sept. 28 required surgery for a sinus fracture. He wasn’t able to eat
solid food for two weeks and lost 10 pounds. But he’s regained his form, adding
two touchdown catches Monday night in a tight win over the 49ers. Boldin has 19
scores in his last 19 games.

“I have seen him do some amazing things coming back from injuries,”
second-year Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

Boldin (606), emerging star Steve Breaston (624) and the physical Larry
Fitzgerald (791) make Arizona the only team that has three receivers with at
least 600 yards.

“They are an extremely, extremely talented group,” Seahawks defensive
backs coach Jim Mora said.

Boldin is 6-feet-1, 217 pounds. Breaston is 6-0, 189. Fitzgerald is a
tight-end like 6-3, 220—but doesn’t run like a tight end.

“It’s the Land of the Giants out there. And we’re not the tallest crew in
the league,” Mora said of his defensive backs.

So a pass rush will be extra important for Seattle. But team sacks leader
Patrick Kerney is out indefinitely following a second surgery this year on his
shoulder.

A win as a field-goal favorite on Sunday would make the Cardinals 7-3 for
the first time since 1977, when Don Coryell was leading them in St. Louis. A
victory would also give them their first sweep of a season’s road division games
since 1968, when they were in the NFL Century division.

“We haven’t been in this position in forever,” Warner said. “There is a
buzz—and not your typical training-camp buzz.”

AP Sports Writer Andrew Bagnato in Tempe, Ariz., contributed to this report.