Hawks' secondary quiets Cowboys, T.O.

Pete Hunter was a loan officer a week ago and lived fewer than 2 miles from the Dallas training facility, but he knocked down the Cowboys' final pass in the end zone on Saturday night.

Jordan Babineaux played strong safety two weeks ago, but he started at cornerback and made the game-saving tackle of Tony Romo on an aborted field goal.

Kelly Jennings is so skinny he gets called "Slim" by his teammates, but the rookie cornerback came up big when he forced a fourth-quarter fumble that changed the momentum of Saturday's 21-20 Seahawks win.

Not bad for a secondary that was considered a primary concern for the Seahawks entering the NFC wild-card playoffs.

"Now you all can quit talking about us in a negative way," safety Ken Hamlin said.

Nothing but praise Saturday night for a group that lost three of its top four cornerbacks in the final two games of the regular season and still found a way to limit Dallas to only one pass of more than 20 yards.

No one could have expected that from a secondary stocked with three players on the active roster who were not even on an NFL roster three weeks ago. Hunter was the fifth defensive back, and he was signed Tuesday. Rich Gardner, a former third-round pick, was signed one week earlier, and safety John Howell played on special teams.

Cornerback Marcus Trufant raised the 12th Man flag before the game, cornerback Jimmy Williams was on crutches and in a suit though still wearing defensive-back gloves. Add in Kelly Herndon's absence, the Seahawks' secondary was so thin everyone expected Dallas to treat the game like a test and do everything they could to pass.

Except Terrell Owens finished with two receptions, one in each half. He gained 26 yards. Terry Glenn led Dallas with four receptions. He gained 41 yards.

"We had a lot of injuries, and a lot of questions about what the secondary was going to do," Jennings said. "But we never doubted ourselves."

Jennings started the first game of his career at Tampa Bay and six days later he made the play that changed the momentum in a game that just might have been remembered for an incompletion toward the backup tight end's feet.

Seattle's drive stopped at the Dallas 2 after a fourth-down play on which quarterback Matt Hasselbeck rolled to his right and found no one before firing a pass at Will Heller's feet.

Dallas had the ball and the lead, and passed on first down to Glenn, who was defended by Jennings.

"I knew the ball was coming," Jennings said. "I tried to react because they had tried to do it to me earlier in the game."

Glenn stumbled after catching the ball, regained his footing and tried to run when Jennings arrived for the hit, punching the ball out with his right hand.

"That's Slim," Hamlin said, referring to Jennings. "The guy grew up quick."

And the Cowboys' play blew up just as fast.

"Jennings made a great play," Glenn said. "Before you know it, I was scrambling around. It happened so fast."

The ball bounced into the end zone and was headed out of bounds when Lofa Tatupu leaped and threw it back into play, where Michael Boulware recovered it. The play was ruled a touchdown, but challenged to a replay review. It was overturned because Tatupu's foot was out of bounds when he touched the ball, resulting in a safety.

That play was one of the biggest in a game that wasn't over until the final pass was knocked down by Hunter. After the game, he and Gardner both spoke to their coach.

"They both thanked me for giving them the opportunity in the locker room," Holmgren said. "I thought it was kind of cute. I said that, 'Thank you, too.' "

That's because the secondary played a game the Seahawks could be grateful for.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com