Halftime Observations: Seahawks in Command, Leading Cardinals 14-3 on TNF
Amid a half of football that wasn’t always pretty for either team, the Seattle Seahawks finished off two lengthy touchdown drives with Sam Darnold connecting with AJ Barner for six and Zach Charbonnet punching it in to give the visitors a 14-3 lead over the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.
Here are three quick takeaways from the opening two quarters at State Farm Stadium:
1. Seahawks can’t take advantage of two fortunate miscues by Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr.
When the Seahawks visit State Farm Stadium, fans should always expect chaos, and it only took a few minutes before chaos struck on Thursday night. On the Cardinals second offensive series, Murray appeared to have a communication issue with one of his receivers, airmailing a throw that landed right in the hands of safety Coby Bryant, who had a running start and looked poised for a long return on the gifted turnover. However, linebacker Tyrice Knight peeled back trying to make a block and ended up hitting his own teammate, knocking the ball loose for a fumble that the Cardinals recovered and turned into a Chad Ryland field goal to open the scoring.
In the ensuing quarter, Murray again was let down by his receiving corps, as a perfect throw to Harrison on a slant ended up being bobbled by the former top-five pick before a hit popped the ball into the air for linebacker Ernest Jones to run underneath for the pick and returning it past midfield. But Seattle again failed to capitalize, this time having a 3rd and 3 turn into 3rd and 18 with running back Ken Walker III getting flagged for a devastating taunting penalty. A four-yard loss on a screen on the next play further pushed the team out of field goal range, leading to a Michael Dickson punt with two turnovers netting a negative three point differential.
2. While pressure got home a few times throughout the half, Sam Darnold continued to light it up as a passer and a runner.
Fortunately for the Seahawks, despite the fact that they couldn’t cash in on either of the turnovers generated by their defense, Darnold kept slinging it and showing off his underrated wheels to orchestrate a pair of first half touchdown drives. After punting on their opening possession, following nine and 21-yard runs by Walker, the veteran quarterback delivered a fastball on 3rd and 2 over the middle to Cooper Kupp for an 11-yard gain into the red zone. On the ensuing snap, Darnold stayed aggressive inside the opposing 20, hitting Barner in stride on a wheel route from the slot for six points to cap off a seven play, 77-yard drive to take the lead.
A sack by defensive tackle Calais Campbell thwarted the next drive and Walker’s taunting penalty ruined another promising possession the next time Seattle had the football. But after a booming Arizona punt pinned the road team inside the 10-yard line, Darnold went back to work, hitting rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo with a back shoulder throw while scrambling out to his right for 32 yards. On the next play, the seas parted in front of the quarterback and he took off for a 24-yard gain. After Arroyo drew pass interference in the end zone on a dime from Darnold, Charbonnet punched it in with help from tackle Charles Cross to extend the lead to 11.
3. Defense keeps making plays, again limiting Murray’s effectiveness as part of the Arizona run game.
Playing in their first game since losing star running back James Conner for the season, the Cardinals tried early to get Murray involved with designed runs, but the Seahawks had no interest in letting him get going. On the first series of the game, Derick Hall showed off his quick twitch containing the edge and diving to trip up the speedy quarterback for a minimal gain. Later in the quarter, Murray tried to escape on a third down scramble and Demarcus Lawrence pursued him towards the sideline with other defenders bearing down on him, preventing him from turning upfield as Arizona was forced to punt.
From there, every time Murray tried to escape the pocket, the Seahawks devoured him, as Uchenna Nwosu and Leonard Williams each registered a sack on him. Even with a late scramble in the final moments netting a six yard gain, he concluded the half with just 11 yards on three carries while completing 14 out of 23 passes for just 83 yards and 3.6 yards per attempt with two interceptions. Just as they did in both matchups last year, Mike Macdonald’s squad seems to have a pretty good handle on the dual threat quarterback, even if they did have a third interception dropped by Julian Love late in the second quarter and the offense couldn’t score off either of the other two.
