SEATTLE -- Sunday's game against the Washington Football Team marks the end of what, as recently as a month ago, looked like the softest part of the Seattle Seahawks' schedule. Their opponents in that four-game stretch were all well under .500, with a combined record of 8-21-1 through 10 weeks.

Two things have happened since then: The Seahawks (9-4) got their any-given-Sunday reminder when the four-win New York Giants came to Lumen Field with a backup quarterback and handed them arguably their most disappointing loss of the Pete Carroll era. Meanwhile, Washington has won four consecutive games to get to 6-7 and move into first place in the woeful NFC East.

"They're playing great defense," Carroll told KIRO-AM 710 ESPN Seattle. "It's going to be a great matchup for us this weekend."

Quarterback Alex Smith's status is in question because of a calf strain that kept him out of the second half of last weekend's game, which Washington won thanks to a pair of defensive touchdowns. Washington is tied for fourth in the NFL with 40 sacks and is fifth in ESPN's pass-rush win rate (50.3%) thanks to a loaded front four that will pose a challenge for a Seahawks offensive line that could again be without starting right tackle Brandon Shell.

So even if Dwayne Haskins Jr. has to start for Smith, Sunday's game at FedExField looks harder now than it did four weeks ago.

It also looks like a potential playoff preview.

With Washington currently holding the NFC's No. 4 seed and the Seahawks in the fifth spot, there would be a first-round rematch back at FedExField if the regular season ended today. Plenty can change over the final three weeks, especially if the Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams next weekend in a rematch that could determine the NFC West champion. But according to ESPN's Football Power Index, playing at Washington as a wild-card team is one of the two most likely scenarios for the Seahawks.

The other is playing the Rams, also as a wild card.

FPI has the Seahawks as virtual locks to make the playoffs, giving them a 99.1% chance to claim one of the NFC's seven seeds. They can clinch a postseason berth this weekend either with a victory over Washington or if the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings tie. Seattle's two most likely seeds, per FPI, are the sixth (35.9%) and fifth (23.8%). The third seed is the next most likely (19.4%) followed by the second (9.1%), seventh (7.7%) and first (3.3%). The Seahawks can't finish as the No. 4 seed.

The No. 6 seed will open the playoffs at the No. 3 seed. FPI has the Rams as favorites (34.8%) to claim the third seed as NFC West champs, followed by the New Orleans Saints (22.6%). Washington is the overwhelming favorite (68.7%) over the Giants (24.4%) to claim the fourth seed, which would host the fifth seed in the first round.

What if the Seahawks end up with the No. 3 seed and the home playoff game that comes with it? That would likely mean hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals or Rams, who are also in play for the No. 6 seed.

That poses an interesting question: Would the Seahawks actually be better off as the fifth seed over the third seed? Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be much of a question since the third seed means playing at home, where the Seahawks have won 10 straight playoff games since their most recent loss, in January 2005.

But how much would the absence of fans at Lumen Field cut into what is usually one of the NFL's best home-field advantages in the playoffs? Without that, there's an argument to be made that the Seahawks would have an equal or greater shot at beating one of the under-.500 NFC East teams at their building than they would at beating a better team like the Bucs or Rams at an empty Lumen Field.

Then again, the Giants already beat the Seahawks. And beating Washington doesn't seem like any sort of a sure thing, either.