The Seattle Seahawks’ secondary is about to get some reinforcements for the home stretch of the regular season.

On Wednesday, the team announced that cornerback Artie Burns and safety K’Von Wallace have been designated for return to practice. Burns has been on injured reserve since mid-October due to a toe injury suffered against the San Francisco 49ers, whereas Wallace suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 against the Los Angeles Rams. This was Wallace’s first week of eligibility to return, whereas Burns could’ve been activated since Week 12.

Both players have a 21-day practice window to be activated off injured reserve and onto the active roster. If neither one is ready to return within that window, then they will revert to IR and be done for the season.

Burns has been primarily a special teams player and backup nickel corner, whereas Wallace started the season as the third safety behind Julian Love and Rayshawn Jenkins. Coby Bryant has assumed the role of starter alongside Love, while Jenkins is the third safety. It’ll be interesting to see what role, if any, Wallace has in the defense upon return.

The Seahawks will have to do some roster shuffling in order to get those two and reserve tackle Stone Forsythe back on the active roster. Forsythe is entering his final full week of his practice window and hasn’t yet been activated off of IR.

Fellow backup tackle George Fant, guard Anthony Bradford, and nose tackle Cameron Young are the other Seahawks players on injured reserve. NFL teams can only activate eight players off of injured reserve within the regular season, and the Seahawks are currently at six. You can do the math in terms of who may not be back for the regular season, but keep in mind playoff teams are allowed two more activations off of IR.

Sparked by a midseason turnaround on defense, the Seattle Seahawks have rattled off a four-game win streak to surge into first place atop the razor-tight NFC West.

Unexpected Impact: 4 Seahawks key to surge back atop NFC West

With four weeks remaining in the regular season, Seattle holds the division lead at 8-5. The Los Angeles Rams are one game behind at 7-6, while the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers are both two games back at 6-7.

The NFC West is the only division in the league where all four teams are still realistically alive for the division title. All four NFC West teams are within two games of each other, whereas each of the other seven divisions have at least a four-game gap between their first-place and last-place teams.

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Seahawks have a 52% chance to win the NFC West and 55% chance to reach the playoffs. The Rams have a 32% chance of winning the division, followed by the 49ers at 9% and the Cardinals at 7%.

Here’s a closer breakdown of the NFC West race. All odds and strength of scheduling rankings are according to ESPN.

Seattle Seahawks

Record: 8-5

NFC West title odds: 52%

Division record: 3-2

Head-to-head: 2-0 vs. Cardinals, 1-1 vs. 49ers, 0-1 vs. Rams

Remaining schedule: vs. Packers (9-4), vs. Vikings (11-2), at Bears (4-9), at Rams (7-6)

Remaining strength of schedule: 8th-hardest

Breakdown: The Seahawks are in the driver’s seat of the NFC West race, but their next two games are against Green Bay and Minnesota – who own two of the four best records in the NFC. The good news is that both matchups are at home, but Seattle is currently the underdog in both games, according to ESPN’s FPI. The Seahawks’ regular-season finale against the Rams could very well end up being a de facto NFC West title game, especially since Los Angeles currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating Seattle on the road in Week 9.

Los Angeles Rams

Record: 7-6

NFC West title odds: 32%

Division record: 2-1

Head-to-head: 1-0 vs. Seahawks, 1-0 vs. 49ers, 0-1 vs. Cardinals

Remaining schedule: at 49ers (6-7), at Jets (3-10), vs. Cardinals (6-7), vs. Seahawks (8-5)

Remaining strength of schedule: 13th-hardest

Breakdown: At the moment, the Rams are the biggest threat to the Seahawks. Los Angeles is just one game behind Seattle and currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating the Seahawks in Week 9. The Rams travel to face the 49ers on Thursday night, which will have major implications on the NFC West race. If the Rams win, they would put themselves in position to move into first place with a Seahawks loss to the Packers on Sunday night. The Rams then have a favorable matchup the following week against the 3-10 Jets, while Seattle faces 11-2 Minnesota that same day.

Arizona Cardinals

Record: 6-7

NFC West title odds: 7%

Division record: 2-2

Head-to-head: 1-0 vs. Rams, 1-0 vs. 49ers, 0-2 vs. Seahawks

Remaining schedule: vs. Patriots (3-10), at Panthers (3-10), at Rams (7-6), vs. 49ers (6-7)

Remaining strength of schedule: 28th-hardest

Breakdown: The Seahawks beat Arizona twice in the past three weeks to sweep the season series and secure the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams. That means Seattle’s two-game lead over Arizona is essentially a three-game lead, which would be very difficult for the Cardinals to overcome – even with their favorable closing slate.

San Francisco 49ers

Record: 6-7

NFC West title odds: 9%

Division record: 1-3

Head-to-head: 1-1 vs. Seahawks, 0-1 vs. Rams, 0-1 vs. Cardinals

Remaining schedule: vs. Rams, at Dolphins, vs. Lions, at Cardinals

Remaining strength of schedule: 7th-hardest

Breakdown: The injury-plagued 49ers are currently in last place, but they could surge right back into the mix if they beat the Rams on Thursday night – especially with the Seahawks facing challenging opponents the next two weeks. Many wrote off the 49ers as the injuries continued to pile up during their recent three-game losing streak. But as they showed with their emphatic 38-13 rout of the Bears on Sunday, the defending NFC champions can’t be counted out just yet.

Seattle Seahawks news and analysis

• The changes that finally unlocked the Seattle Seahawks’ run game
• Seahawks’ Macdonald: Players have ‘done everything we’ve asked them’
• Bump: The most impressive factor in JSN’s Seahawks breakout
• Huard: What Seattle Seahawks rookie RG adds that O-line was missing
• How Seattle Seahawks’ less-heralded trade has impacted D-line

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Kentucky’s comeback win in overtime against Gonzaga is a few days behind us at this point, but that doesn’t mean we’re not done talking about it just yet.

On Tuesday afternoon, fifth-year forward Ansley Almonor and sophomore center Brandon Garrison spoke with the media to further break down the victory over the Bulldogs while also sharing some details about the team’s trip to Seattle (did you know Collin Chandler cut Kerr Kriisa’s hair the day before the game?). The guys talked about the adjustments that head coach Mark Pope made at halftime, how Kriisa’s energy impacts the rest of the team, what to expect out of Colgate, and much more.

Listen to everything Almonor and Garrison had to say below. Kentucky will host Colgate on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2.

More Kentucky News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel

Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.