The Seattle Seahawks are gearing up for their Week 5 showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This will be a tremendous test for Seattle, as the Bucs are a clear cut above the Steelers, Saints and Cardinals. A true test against a legitimate NFC playoff contender. Unfortunately, the Seahawks are going to have to take this test without a few keys players in their secondary… again.

Seattle has already ruled cornerback Devon Witherspoon, safety Julian Love, linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence and tackle Josh Jones OUT for Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay. These players were all non-participants throughout the past week of practice. Initial hopes, at least for Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon, were that the Seahawks were holding them out of practice as precaution. Afterall, both played in Week 4 against the Cardinals. Sadly, this ended up not being the case.

The good news is reinforcements are coming in the form of rookie safety Nick Emmanwori, who appears ready to be thrust back into action after missing the previous three games (and most of Week 1) with a high ankle sprain. Emmanwori was a full participant this week.

Obviously, there’s never a good time to be without some of your best defenders, but Seattle may have caught a bit of a break. For as injured as the Hawks are, the Bucs appear to be in worse shape. Running back Bucky Irving is OUT, as well as Mike Evans, Benjamin Morrison, Jamel Dean and Christian Izien.

Seattle and Tampa are going to be short-staffed this weekend, but that’s life in the NFL. The next man is up, and he’ll have an opportunity to secure his team a much-needed conference victory.

This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Buccaneers: CB Devon Witherspoon ruled OUT for Week 5