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Both these teams come into Qwest Field on Saturday limping into the playoffs, as they both lost three of their final four games. The 9-7 Seattle Seahawks are literally limping as they lost two players in their secondary, starters Kelly Herndon and Jimmy Williams, to season-ending injuries in Seattle’s final game, a 23-7 win over the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That win snapped a three-game skid and prevented the still-unhappy Seahawks from becoming a .500 divisional champion football club. A third secondary player, starting cornerback Marcus Trufant, is doubtful for this contest with a bum ankle to further the problems for Seattle.

 

The Dallas Cowboys, also 9-7, had a couple of chances to win the NFC East division and obtain a first-round bye, but got pounded by the Saints December 10th, who stole their bye, and then lost a critical game to Philly on Christmas Day before falling to the at-the-time 2-13 Detroit Lions last weekend. Ouch.

"I can't tell you how disappointed I am. I really can't," stated coach Bill Parcells after the 39-31 Detroit loss at home. "This is the low point for me in a long time."

Cowboys’ wideout Terrell Owens has picked things up of late in spite of all his dropped balls, as he scored more touchdowns, 5, in the month of December than he did in any of the previous months this season. He will be a major problem for the previously mentioned banged up secondary of Seattle.

Quarterback Tony Romo could do no wrong initially, as he went 4-1 as a starter in his first five starts replacing Drew Bledsoe and became the talk and the toast of Dallas. He showed he was mortal after all in going 2-3 in the remaining five, throwing eight interceptions against six touchdowns. He had thrown only two interceptions and passed for ten touchdowns in the first five.

No one wants to use injuries as an excuse, but clearly the Seahawks were not the same after they lost their stars on offense, running back Shaun Alexander and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, for a combined total of ten games. The team will also concede that Pro-Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson, who bolted for big money to the Vikings prior to the season, was a major loss as well. And now they face a Dallas team that was an impressive 10th in the league in rushing defense.

 

One thing that is interesting to note is the fact that Qwest Field in Seattle can be the noisiest stadium in the league on third down, causing many a visitor to jump the snap and forcing teams into third and long situations. The 12th Man, as they call the contingent of fans in Seattle, can actually be a factor in a game, but only the Indianapolis Colts were better than Dallas on turning 3rd downs into first downs, with a 48.8 % success rate, second to the Colt’s impressive 56.1 mark.

Look for the injuries to the defensive secondary of Seattle to make it impossible for them to stop the multi-weapon air attack of Dallas, who use wideout Terry Glenn and tight end Jason Witten along with Owens to stretch the field. The Cowboys have not won a playoff game since 1996, having lost Wild Cards in their three postseason games since. This losing streak may be over.

PREDICTION: Cowboys to cover

Anthony Oxley is a freelance columnist and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker room.

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