Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said that the team's role, now that it is 2-8 and out of the race for the NFC West title, has changed from winning the division to playing spoiler.

It is not something Holmgren ever thought he would be saying in what is his final season as a head coach.

But now that they have lost their third consecutive game while the Arizona Cardinals improved to 7-3, Holmgren addressed the players and coaches on Monday morning and told them that they need to approach the remaining six games of the season in a professional manner.

"We're fortunate," Holmgren said. "And to cheapen that, or to take anything away from that opportunity by not giving it everything you have every week, regardless of how the team's doing, I would be very...

Darnell Dockett had heard enough from all those whose doubted the Arizona Cardinals, the former laughingstocks who haven't won a division since Gerald Ford was president. So after rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie dived for his second interception of Matt Hasselbeck with 2 minutes left to clinch the Cardinals' 26-20 victory on Sunday, Dockett looked at the Seahawks' bench.

Finally, Matt Hasselbeck and Deion Branch are facing a challenge the Seahawks are thrilled to be dealing with: rust. Seattle's three-time Pro Bowl passer and former Super Bowl MVP receiver worked with the first-team offense for the entire practice Friday. So each is ready to start for the first time in six weeks Sunday against first-place Arizona.

Their lead in jeopardy, the Miami Dolphins preserved it by batting down a 2-point conversion pass with less than three minutes left. Next, instant replay saved them from a potentially costly fumble. Then they needed one final defensive stand, which ended at midfield with an incomplete pass on fourth down.