Seahawks’ Michael Dickson passes pregame test to punt at Arizona. Kenneth Walker inactive

Two hours before kickoff, Michael Dickson stepped onto the field at State Farm Stadium just after noon in full uniform. He made some punts.

Without negative effects.

That’s when the Seahawks decided Sunday that their punter had overcome back spasms and would play in a showdown with the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC West lead.

Dickson missed the final quarter and a half of Seattle’s win at the New York Jets the previous week. He took part in some training last week.

The Seahawks signed former Los Angeles Rams player Ty Zentner to the practice squad on Friday, then promoted him on Saturday and flew with the team to Arizona to be available for Sunday’s game in case Dickson couldn’t.

Instead, Zentner was inactive during the game. He earned $44,000 for transactional coach Mike Macdonald, which he called “a contingency plan.”

Kenneth Walker was also inactive. The Seahawks declared their leading scorer for this game Saturday due to ankle and calf injuries. The lead running back missed a game for the third time this season due to injury. Walker missed two games in September with an oblique issue.

Other inactive Seahawks

Seattle’s other inactive players Sunday were reserves: cornerback Tre Brown (hamstring injury), reserve safety AJ Finley, linebacker Trevis Gipson, linebacker Patrick O’Connell and wide receiver Cody White.