Halftime Observations: Seahawks Celebrate Fumble Palooza, Build 38-7 Lead vs. Cardinals
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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) is tackled by Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight (48) during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images [/caption]
When it rains, it pours in the NFL. And, ironically enough, as the Arizona Cardinals learned courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks in the first 30 minutes on Sunday, that apparently is the case even in a sunny Lumen Field in early November.
Sandwiching a pair of Demarcus Lawrence fumble returns for touchdowns between a 43-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a nine-yard touchdown run by George Holani, and a six-yard touchdown run by Zach Charbonnet, the Seahawks raced out to a 35-0 lead midway through the second quarter, turning an anticipated NFC West rematch into a laugher that almost warranted sympathy for the visiting Cardinals.
Here are three quick takeaways from a statement half of football for Seattle on its home turf:
1. Deja vu at Lumen results in a Twilight Zone-worthy pair of plays for Lawrence, Knight.
Prior to Sunday’s game, the Seahawks had forced only one fumble in the first eight games, with that lone turnover coming on kick coverage by an unlikely candidate in nose tackle Brandon Pili one week earlier in Landover. In other words, Mike Macdonald’s defense was the only one left in the NFL that had yet to force or recover a single fumble. But it’s safe to say that drought has come to an end thanks to two eerily similar plays that resulted directly into points on the scoreboard. On Arizona’s opening possession, Seattle sent both Knight and safety Nick Emmanwori on a blitz with the former coming unimpeded towards quarterback Jacoby Brissett, blasting him as he reared back to throw and knocking the ball loose before his arm started going forward. Lawrence promptly scooped it up, returning it 34 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 14-0 less than six minutes into regulation.
Two possessions later, mere minutes into the second quarter and on the heels of Holani scoring his first career NFL touchdown bouncing a nine-yard run outside for six, Knight struck again on a near-identical blitz. Once again unblocked, he delivered a major blow to the quarterback before the ball started going forward, knocking another fumble backwards that Lawrence swiped up one-handed and toted 22 yards for his second touchdown in as many quarters. With the return, the veteran defensive end became only the fourth player in NFL history - and second since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger - to score two touchdowns on fumble returns in the same game, managing to do it off of two strip sacks by Knight, who only started on Sunday due to Ernest Jones being sidelined by a sore knee.
2. Slingin’ Sam and JSN keep making history one beautiful moon ball at a time.
It isn’t often that a quarterback completes close to 90% of his passes and averages 16.7 yards per attempt in a half becomes an afterthought. But thanks to Lawrence and Knight “stealing” two possessions with defensive touchdowns, Darnold became just that even with a highly impressive first two quarters of his own. Getting the rout started in earnest, after converting a 3rd and 5 to Cooper Kupp for six yards, he rolled out to his left on a bootleg and launched a perfect deep ball throwing across his body, dropping the pass right into the bucket to Jaxon Smith-Njigba between two defenders for a 43-yard strike to open the scoring.
On the ensuing drive, Darnold kept firing darts, including back-to-back 17 and 14-yard completions to Smith-Njigba that pushed the third-year receiver past the 1,000-yard mark in just Seattle’s ninth game. Later on the possession, the star receiver drew a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Budda Baker, setting up Holani’s touchdown run two plays later. Continuing his aerial assault dishing out the explosives against opposing defenses, Darnold positioned the Seahawks for another touchdown midway through the third quarter by masterfully moving backwards on a scramble to ensure he stayed behind the line before dumping a completion off to Kupp, who did the rest by racing through multiple broken tackles on a 67-yard catch and run. A few snaps later, Charbonnet leaped past the pylon to increase the lead to a whopping 35 points with eight minutes still left to play.
3. No time wasted getting Rashid Shaheed involved in Klint Kubiak’s offense as well as special teams.
Acquired on Tuesday from the Saints, Shaheed hit the ground running upon arrival due to his previous experience playing for Kubiak in New Orleans last season, and the chemistry between the wideout and play caller couldn’t have been more evident in their first half back together in Seattle. Though the dynamic speedster only had one catch for three yards on a bubble screen, he received a pair of carries as a supplement to the run game, taking an end around pitch for a 10-yard gain and adding another 10-yard run working out of the backfield as a running back on a toss sweep, showcasing his wheels to the perimeter.
Away from immediately stepping in as a fun new gadget for Kubiak to implement alongside Smith-Njigba and Seattle’s other weapons, Shaheed also made his mark on special teams, taking a short opening kickoff and returning it to the 35-yard line to give Darnold and the offense outstanding starting field position. While he did luck out that a fumble on a later return was recovered by a teammate, he finished with two returns for 49 yards in the kickoff game and added three fair catches as a punt returner, getting plenty of touches in his first game action as a Seahawk and playing a role in the blowout.
