5 Key Moments That Got Seahawks Out of Arizona with a Win
The Seattle Seahawks mostly controlled the Thursday Night Football matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. For three quarters, it was just a matter of how much would they win by. Then, the script flipped almost completely. In classic Thursday Night Football fashion, things got weird fast. Still, the Seahawks pulled out the 23-20 victory after overcoming adversity, some of it self-inflicted.
Let’s review the five moments that led to the Seahawks coming out victorious.
Disclaimer- let’s leave out the very obvious walk-off field goal by Jason Myers. Let’s call that the center square of the bingo card, here.
1st Quarter (1:33) - Sam Darnold finds AJ Barner for the first touchdown of the game
After a wild turn of events that involved the Seahawks picking Kyler Murray off. Coby Bryant had the interception and began returning it and then fumbled it back to Arizona. They got a field goal as a result. This drive was a response to Arizona striking first. Seattle’s offense set the tone with a seven-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a touchdown to give the Seahawks the lead. Every point was precious in this game.
2nd Quarter (8:34) - Ernest Jones intercepts a bobbled pass by Marvin Harrison Jr.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is having a nightmare start to his sophomore season in the NFL. That was exacerbated by this play. He bobbled a pass from Murray and was hit in the middle of the process, jarring the ball loose in the air. Linebacker Ernest Jones hauled in the loose ball for his second interception of the season. This pivotal moment is more about where the Cardinals were. Had this been a completion, it would’ve put the Cardinals in the red zone with a chance to retake the lead. It seemed like the Cardinals offense took almost two full quarters to recover from this gut-check moment.
3rd Quarter (3:10) - Josh Jobe and Devon Witherspoon split a sack of Kyler Murray
This is where the Cardinals started to find their rhythm. Trailing 17-3, Arizona desperately needed a touchdown. And it looked like they were well on their way. The Cardinals had just gotten 30 yards on three plays. In a moment where the Seahawks defense seemed desperate to regain momentum, head coach Mike Macdonald sent his two cornerbacks on a blitz. That seemed to catch Murray and the Arizona pass protection on their heels. The two corners brought Murray down for a seven-yard loss for a big sack. That set the Cardinals behind the chains and eventually led to them settling for a field goal and making it 17-6 instead of possibly 17-10.
4th Quarter (0:28) - Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland kicks ball short of landing zone for key penalty
This was perhaps the pivotal moment of the night. Most assumed that this game was headed to overtime after the Cardinals had finished their furious comeback to tie the game at 20 with less than 30 seconds. However, Arizona kicker Chad Ryland made a critical mistake. In an attempt to pin the Seahawks deep by preventing a big return, he kicked the ball short but it landed too short. In the current kickoff format, where the ball landed was a penalty and gifted the Seahawks ideal field position at their own 40. That set up what became the game-winning drive.
4th Quarter (0:23) - Sam Darnold completes pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 22 yards and gets out of bounds to stop clock
Sure, Jason Myers hitting the field goal as time expired was the win-sealing play. However, it’s likely that play is not even possible without the special connection Sam Darnold and Smith-Njigba seem to have. Darnold found his number one receiver down the left sideline for a big gain. Smith-Njigba desperately tried to get out of bounds to preserve a timeout. Initially, the officials ruled he did not get out of bounds and the Seahawks were forced to burn their last timeout. After review, it was clear he successfully reached the boundary to stop the clock. That key move allowed the Seahawks to set up a more makeable field goal, which led to the victory.
