Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Capitalize on Fast Start, Coast to 44-22 Win vs. Cardinals
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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) fumbles the ball as Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight (48) defends during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - Delivering knockout punch after knockout punch before halftime arrived, the Seattle Seahawks rattled off 35 unanswered points with their offense and defense both pitching in to the cause as they secured a season sweep of their rivals with a 44-22 home victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Starring on the defensive side of the ball with a pair of eerily similar touchdowns, Demarcus Lawrence picked up two fumbles forced by Tyrice Knight against Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett and returned them to the house for six points to kickstart the rout. Only throwing 12 pass attempts, Sam Darnold completed 10 of those throws for 178 yards and a touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while George Holani and Zach Charbonnet each added a rushing touchdown on the ground.
Wrapping up a fourth consecutive win and staying atop the NFC West, here are five takeaways from a resounding divisional victory at Lumen Field:
1. Twice is nice for Lawrence and Knight on record-setting day for Seattle defense.
Leading up to Sunday, the Seahawks had only a single forced fumble, and that lone turnover came on kick coverage by an unlikely candidate in nose tackle Brandon Pili one week earlier in Landover. But after being the only defense left in the NFL without a forced fumble or fumble recovery through nine weeks, it’s safe to say that drought has come to an end with two plays that seemed to mirror one another on both sides of the field. On Arizona’s first possession, Seattle sent both Knight and safety Nick Emmanwori on a blitz with the former coming untouched after the quarterback Jacoby Brissett, blowing him up as he winded up to throw and jarring the ball loose before his arm started going forward. In the right place at the right time, Lawrence scooped it up, returning it 34 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 14-0 less than six minutes after the opening kickoff.
Two possessions later, following Holani’s first career NFL touchdown bouncing a nine-yard run outside of the hashmark for six, Knight struck again on a near-identical blitz. Once again flying through the line without a blocker in his way, he delivered a major blow to the quarterback before the ball started going forward, knocking another fumble backwards that Lawrence swiped up one-handed like a vacuum and toted 22 yards for his second touchdown. With the return, per Pro Football Reference, 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, achieving the feat off of a pair of strip sacks from Knight, who only received the start due to Ernest Jones sitting out with a sore knee.
2. Efficient run game helps melt clock, squash any hopes for a historic comeback.
Thus far, while the Seahawks have had great success airing it out week in and week out, consistency has continued to elude their running game. The one exception has been facing the Cardinals, who they have now found great success against on the ground in both of their matchups. Surpassing a season-high 155 rushing yard performance in Glendale in Week 4, Klint Kubiak’s offense replicated that outing and then some, amassing 202 rushing yards on 43 carries with multiple rushers making an impact. In the first half, Arizona did a decent job bottling up Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, but receiver Rashid Shaheed rushed twice for 20 yards on an end around and a toss play out of the backfield and Holani added his first touchdown after making a defender miss and bouncing outside to help build a 31-point advantage.
Fending off a pesky Cardinals squad that kept fighting throughout the second half, Walker and Charbonnet took over in the second half, with the latter single-handedly fueling a 13-play, 79-yard drive bridging the third and fourth quarter that spanned more than seven minutes. On that possession, he carried the ball seven times for 61 yards, including ripping off a 30-yard run to begin the series. Walker finished off the possession, getting stopped short of the marker on a third down run before Jason Myers tacked on a 32-yard field goal. One possession later, Holani returned to action and rushed five times for 19 yards to set up a second Myers field goal, keeping the lead at a comfortable distance as the clock wilted away to secure the victory.
3. Pass breakup frenzy in the secondary helps fuel multiple goal line stands…
On the surface, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald won’t appreciate that his defense had so many chances to defend their own goal line, as the Cardinals managed to advance the football or start a possession in the red zone six times. But for the most part, the unit did a fine job defending every blade of grass, including with timely deflections in coverage in the end zone. Late in the second quarter, facing fourth and goal at the one, Zonovan Knight tried to bounce a goal line run outside to his right, only to be chopped down by Ty Okada at the line of scrimmage for no gain to turn the ball over on downs.
Fast forwarding to the Cardinals first drive of the second half, a crashing Uchenna Nwosu leveled Brissett as he threw to Knight on another fourth and goal play, leading to pass breakup at the goal line by Knight. Continuing to come through in the clutch against the shadow of their own goal post, the Seahawks turned the opposition away again on a fourth down heave by Brissett on the very next possession, this time receiving an incredible pass breakup from cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett, who punched the ball out of Marvin Harrison Jr.’s hands as he went to the ground to once again send the visitors to the sidelines without any points. Stating the obvious, if one or two of those possessions ended with points, the outcome could have been significantly different in the second half with Arizona putting up a valiant fight.
4. The offense didn’t feel like rewarding those efforts very often, however…
While the Seahawks could have let the Cardinals creep closer without a trio of goal line stops, Darnold and the offense didn’t do their counterparts any service with multiple mistakes immediately after those quick changes near the end zone. On the play immediately after Okada’s tackle on Knight, the quarterback wasn’t able to secure a snap from reserve center Olu Oluwatimi, who had checked in late on the previous series in place of an injured Jalen Sundell, only for the ball to slip away from him for a costly fumble recovery by Arizona inside the five-yard line. That miscue led to a four-yard Greg Dortch touchdown run out of a wildcat package, trimming the lead to 35-7 shortly before the half and providing the visitors with a pulse.
Then in the aftermath of Knight’s pass breakup in the end zone, Darnold dropped back on a play action pass and tried to connect with Smith-Njigba over the middle of the field, only for the pass attempt to deflect off of tight end AJ Barner’s helmet as the blocker got pushed back into the pocket. The ball caromed up into the air, allowing cornerback Denzel Burke to dive underneath it for an interception just outside of the red zone, leading to a Brissett touchdown pass to tight end Trey McBride from 15 yards out on 4th and 6 that cut the deficit to 23 points. Between those two turnovers, the Seahawks found themselves on the wrong side of a 15-point swing, and fortunately, they had a massive cushion to withstand mistakes that typically would have been far more costly. Now with seven turnovers in their past two home games, that issue has to be curbed if Macdonald’s team plans to wrestle the NFC West away from the Rams.
5. More history for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who did most of his damage in the opening half.
The extraordinary has become ordinary for Smith-Njigba during the course of his third season, to the point where his remarkable accomplishments have almost become footnotes each week. Just nine games into the campaign, a trio of receptions on Seattle’s first two touchdown drives vaulted the former first round pick past the 1,000-yard mark, including reeling in a 43-yard touchdown between two converging defenders in coverage, making him the fastest in franchise history to reach that milestone. For context, former Seahawks star DK Metcalf previously held the record for most receiving yards through nine games with 816 in 2020, and after Sunday’s effort going for 93 yards on five catches, Smith-Njigba has 1,041 already on the season, blowing that mark out of the water and then some.
With the game getting out of hand early, Smith-Njigba only had one reception after halftime as Seattle leaned heavily on the run to grind out the clock and shorten the game, which helped lead to his four-game streak of 100 or more receivers yards getting snapped. But even with just one catch in the last three quarters, he still led the team in receptions and receiving yards and remains well on pace to dethrone Calvin Johnson Jr. for the most receiving yards in a single season in NFL history.
