The Seattle Seahawks did what they had to do to get the W against the Arizona Cardinals. The fireworks weren’t needed on offense, while the undermanned defense held back the Cardinals’ offense after the first drive. The dominance over Arizona continues, but there are much bigger things to focus on beyond winning 11 straight games against arguably the NFL’s most hapless franchise.
It’s time for Seahawks 17, Cardinals 3 winners and losers!
An underequipped defense rises to the occasion
The biggest winner for me was the defense, which took a beating after giving up some big plays last week against the Chicago Bears. I know the Cardinals offense is bad when they’re not facing the Dallas Cowboys defense, but the Seahawks gave up an 89-yard drive to start the game and didn’t even let the Cards finish with 200 total yards. Under 4 yards per play is great, and it’s not their fault that two perfectly perfect turnovers were ruled out due to substandard officiating.
Dante Fowler stepped up and got his first sack as a Seahawk, Byron Murphy II and DeMarcus Lawrence also got to Gardner Minshew, Derick Hall had three TFLs, Devon Witherspoon was a threat at the line of scrimmage and Nick Emmanwori had a solid rebounding performance after struggling against Chicago. Above all, this defense finally got some red zone stops, and perhaps it’s fitting that they “solved” the red zone issues for a day on both sides of the ball.
AJ Barner gets more involved
It’s not like Barner was the focal point of the Seahawks passing offense, but he caught his first touchdown of the season and turned three Barnyard attempts into first downs and/or touchdowns. This is the second multi-TD game of Barner’s career, and all of his touchdowns this season have come against Arizona.
The fact that Seattle had opportunities at Barnyard was in itself a relief and a sight for sore eyes.
Drew Lock plays with pain, don’t turn it around
It was a bit of a nervous start from Drew, but Lock shook off his elbow and (later) oblique injuries to play error-free football. He wasn’t flashy and didn’t need to be, going 19/28 for 175 yards and a touchdown. Lock also rushed for a first down and the only time there was a close shave on an interception was the screen pass that was deflected to Cooper Kupp for eight yards. Also note? No bags.
It was, in a non-condescending way, a high-end backup quarterback performance. Lock did nothing to put Seattle in danger of losing the game and made enough game-winning plays to get Seattle over the finish line. We now wait to see if he plays in Week 10.
Zach Charbonnet gets closer to himself
Seattle’s running game is nothing to write home about, but when it came time for the hammer to go, Charbonnet was called upon. He finished with 77 yards on 16 carries, including a spectacular 17-yard run to help bleed the clock. His 25-yard catch-and-run was negated due to a truly questionable personal foul by Jalen Sundell, otherwise he would be north of 100 yards from scrimmage. Getting Charbonnet going should help the offense throughout with professional running, passing and passing.
Jadarian Price making noise as a receiver
I can’t really vouch that Price had an effective game as a runner (9 carries for 24 yards), but he had a solid kick return to start the game and led the Seahawks with 54 receiving yards on four catches. Yes, Jaxon Smith-Njigba only had 51 yards on seven catches, giving us the rare sight of a non-JSN receiver leading the team in yards. Price was not known as a receiver in college, so this development was very encouraging.
The offensive line holds up after a few nervous first moments
Lock was only hit three times and wasn’t sacked once. They got some movement in the running game, but not consistently. Most of the pressures allowed apparently involved blitzes and not four-man rushes. I guess part of the success is the level of competition, but having your Week 1 start with OL + Josh Jones made for a calmer operation compared to Monday night’s mess.
Clete Blakeman’s crew was a joke
The Reggie Virgil catch that wasn’t overturned because it was out of bounds was astonishing, but it’s been on the replay center since they called it. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Barner’s touchdown was a catch, but this one might have been too close to a turnover.
Deciding that Trey McBride’s progress was halted following his fumble was incredibly wrong and indefensible. Josh Jobe’s DPI was ridiculous and made McBride look like a lightweight as he fell from marginal contact. Two turnovers taken off the board because of these calls. I actually don’t have too much of a problem with Devon Witherspoon’s taunting penalty, but after rewatching Jalen Sundell’s unnecessary roughness, I think it’s a weak call. If it wasn’t after the whistle, I don’t think it was unnecessary brutality considering Budda Baker was near where Charbonnet was tackled.
It was a flag celebration; yet another involving the Seahawks. There were plenty of deserved flags on both teams, but this NFL trend of over-officiating games needs to stop.
Everyone knows AJ Barner’s touchdown celebration except Jonathan Vilma
Vilma was a great NFL linebacker and Super Bowl champion. As an analyst? Yeah…
It was not a pleasant show to listen to, I’ll put it that way.
Avery Smith is a liability on special teams
This isn’t a major thing when we’re talking about special teams players, but the rookie corner doesn’t get on the field on defense (nor should he), so he needs to show his value on ST. He has been guilty of some big kick returns this season due to missed tackles and bad angles. Today was the second time he backed the Seahawks through a penalty. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some healthy scratches for him moving forward once the Seahawks get healthier.
- What is Emanuel Wilson’s future with the Seahawks? The trade deadline is Tuesday. I can’t claim Wilson has great trade value, but he’s been completely out of the offense for two straight games. This week I’m pretty sure he wasn’t even on special teams, which at least was the case last week. Obviously the injury concerns regarding Charbonnet and Price are enough to not leave you skinny as a running back, but it’s a bit of a shame that Wilson went from a 100-yard game against the Kansas City Chiefs and a few other solid performances this season to an unofficial healthy scratch.
- George Holani remains on special teams, but doesn’t get any offensive reps. I would say it’s about time this happened. If you can trust Zach as a pass pro, Holani still offers something as a special teams guy.
- Cooper Kupp and Tory Horton get involved a little in the offense. A total of five catches for 59 yards for the team’s other top receivers. They each had a third down conversion, which is nice knowing how much Seattle relies on JSN.
- JSN stocks up on Golden Tate. Please don’t back down after a first try, JSN.
- No firm opinion on Brian Fleury’s vocation. When you’re short two starting offensive linemen, your starting QB, a starting receiver, and your backup QB is injured, there’s not much you can do to make the offense functional. The execution generally looked better, but this is a difficult data point to gauge his future as an OC. It was at least a relief to see Seattle stick with Price and Charbonnet and start more play action again.
- Defeat the disappearing Raiders and you can enjoy a well-deserved rest.. Klint Kubiak makes the Raiders look at least more competitive than they have over the past two years, but the Raiders can’t run the ball and their defense is arguably the worst in the NFL. Regardless of the starting QB, this game always favors the Seahawks and frankly, I’ll bet the crowd favors the Seahawks in Vegas next Sunday. If you get to 6-4 before the bye, there’s reason to believe in a late-season turnaround. There will be healthy bodies returning, and the end of the schedule isn’t as daunting as it initially seemed. No doubt the Rams and 49ers games will be tough, but the non-division opponents? Only Giants (in one way or another) could be potentially scary.
Gn sports
