Seahawks Prey on Cardinals, Win 44-22
By Jake Parr, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The American Osprey, sometimes called a “Seahawk” primarily subsists on a diet of fish. They cruise in the air about 100 feet above the water, then dive feet first and pluck an unsuspecting fish for a quick meal. Sometimes, though, Seahawks will feast on other birds. And today, dear reader, the Seattle Seahawks made a meal of the Arizona Cardinals.
The Seahawks added a 9th entry to their streak of victories against the Cardinals, and did so through crushing early dominance. An opening drive touchdown, two combination strip-sacks and scoop-and-scores, and a powerful second half running game left the Cardinals with no room to recover. While some flukes and misplays late gave Arizona a handful of points, any hope the Cardinals may have felt was just an illusion as the Seahawks continue to stack up wins against the National Conference.
Strike First
Seattle opened the game on offense and, starting at the 35 thanks to a return by recently acquired Seahawk Rashid Shaheed, wasted no time putting pressure on the Cardinals. A couple quick seven and eight yard passes moved the Hawks into Arizona territory, sitting on 1st and 10 at the opposing 43. And then, in the blink of an eye, Sam Darnold connected with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the 43 yard touchdown pass to give Seattle the early lead. It was the kind of play we’ve seen over and over again this season. Darnold took the snap, rolled out of the pocket and waited until JSN was just barely open enough to make the catch. Smith-Njigba hauled in the pass just short of the goal line, discarded the defender he was wearing like a cape, then rolled across the goal line. It’s yet another highlight for one of the most electrifying QB-WR duos in the League.
But the pain didn’t stop there for the Cardinals. On the ensuing kickoff, safety Kitan Craword committed an offensive holding penalty that pushed their drive back to their own 20. They were able to push it out to the 44 on a well-executed pass play by replacement quarterback Jacoby Brissett, but went no further. After a running play was stuffed behind the lines, disaster struck the Cardinals. Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight barged his way into the backfield, and knocked the ball loose from Brissett as he reared back to throw. Seahawks DE DeMarcus Lawrence, who signed a three year deal with Seattle back in March, scooped the ball off the ground and carried back all the way into the end zone. Just over five minutes into the game and the Sehawks had scored a touchdown on both offense and defense. And unfortunately - for the Cardinals that is - that’s how the game would continue.
Strike Often
After Arizona punted away their next drive, the Hawks took over their own 19. But that tough field position didn’t matter, as they simply flew down the field on a nine play, 81 yard drive. Shaheed opened up the drive with a rushing play, and picked up ten yards up the left side. Then a Seahawks receiver made back-to-back 17 yard and 14 yard catches (I’ll let you guess who it was), before an unnecessary roughness call and rushed by Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet put Seattle in striking distance. Surprisingly, the 2nd and goal handoff was given to George Holani, the young second year Seahawk. Fans may remember Holani from the September game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in which Holani recovered Seattle’s own kickoff for a touchdown. This time, however, he got to score a touchdown the normal way: running up the right side, stiff arming a defender, and finding paydirt next to the pylon. Congratulations to the New Zealander on his first career rushing touchdown.
Now in the second quarter and facing a 21-0 hole, the Cardinals were desperate to put points on the board on their next drive. But despite opening with a promising 14 yard gain, they couldn’t get anywhere against the Seahawks desperate. A six yard sack by Nick Emmanwori and DeMarcus Lawrence brought up 3rd and 12 for Arizona. And that’s when Mike Macdonald dialed up the blitz. Once again, Tyrice Knight and DeMarcus Lawrence got into the Cardinals’ backfield. Once again Knight knocked the ball free from Brissett, and once again Lawrence scooped it up off the ground and took it all the way back for a touchdown. Let’s take stock. Just 16 minutes of game time had elapsed, and the leading scorer for the Seahawks was a defensive end. And he recovered two fumbles that were forced by the same teammate. As Lawrence said after the game: “see ball, get ball.” Could things get worse for Arizona?
Yes. On Seattle’s next offensive drive (not that they need those to score, apparently), Darnold connected with Cooper Kupp on a short pass to the right side. Kupp had apparently been ignored by the Cardinals scheme, and worked himself wide open in a soft spot. He parlayed that small advantage into a massive 67 yard gain, breaking two tackles as he did so. After going down at the three, it was a simple matter for Zach Charbonnet to punch in the touchdown up the middle and give Seattle a 35-0 lead.
Strike Back
But, unfortunately for the Seahawks, the shutout would not last. The game started to get weird very fast after that fifth touchdown, almost as if some barrier had been breached. The Cardinals got the ball all the way to the Seattle one yard line, but were unable to find those last 36 inches, despite going for it on 4th down. That turned the ball over to an offense that hadn’t yet been kept out of the end zone. But then backup center Olu Oluwatimi botched the snap, leading to a fumble and turnover. Oluwatimi entered the game early after Jalen Sundell exited with a knee injury. The Cardinals were able to score a touchdown with their gifted possession.
But the Hawks answered back. Shaheed put in another ten-yard rush (he only had one catch for three yards, so his best work today was as a running back), and Kenneth Walker followed that up with a 24-yard gain on the very next play. That drive unfortunately stalled out, but Seattle was able to get three points with a Jason Myers field goal.
But the weirdness continued into the second half. After yet another goal-line turnover on downs, the Seahawks offense took over at their own two yard line. Darnold dropped back to pass, but tight end AJ Barner was pushed into his throwing path, and the ball was deflected off his helmet. Its new course ended perfectly in the hands of Arizona cornerback Denzel Burke. That somewhat fluky INT led to eight points for Arizona, as they scored a two point conversion on their ensuing try.
And then they were given the ball yet again. Sam Darnold was the victim of a strip sack not unlike the ones Tyrice Knight inflicted on Brissett in the first half. Luckily for Seattle, that fumble did not lead to a touchdown. The Seahawks, who were more than happy to just run the ball for the rest of the game, converted some big runs by Charbonnet into another field goal to stretch their lead to four possessions on a long, seven-minute drive. The Cardinals did go on to score another touchdown (good for them, one supposes), but took too much time and failed to recover a desperation onside-kick. The last interesting thing to happen was Seahawks kicker Jason Myers making his third field goal of the game, and in doing so set a record for most field goals made in franchise history. Money Myers always comes through, folks.
What’s Next?
The Seahawks will face their biggest game of the season next week, as they fly down to LA to take on Matt Stafford and the Rams. The Rams are hot on Seattle’s heels in the race for the NFC West. Seattle will certainly be looking for vengeance after missing out on the playoffs last year to the Rams on the fifth tiebreaker. Just like last year, these two games between LA and Seattle may determine the fate of the NFC West.
The game is next Sunday, November 16th down in SoFi Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05PM PST, with FOX handling the TV broadcasting. As usual, the radio broadcast will be available on Seattle Sports 710AM and KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.
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Check out our previous Seattle Seahawks articles here.
Check out our previous articles written by Jake Parr here, and his Lookout Landing articles here.
Cover photo via the Seattle Seahawks website.
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