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# Report Card: Top Performers From Seahawks’ 23-20 TNF Road Win vs. Cardinals
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/report-card-top-performers-seattle-seahawks-thursday-night-arizona-cardinals/
- Published: 2025-09-30T17:36:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:00.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Seahawks, Ernest Jones, Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Derick Hall, Sam Darnold

Though the final score ended up way too close for comfort, the Seattle Seahawks managed to fend off a late rally by the Arizona Cardinals to lock up a 23-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.

Looking back at the prime time win in the desert, who shined brightest for the Seahawks under the lights at State Farm Stadium? Here are my top five grades and other noteworthy performances in Week 4:

### Ernest Jones

**Overall Grade**: 88.0 (Run Defense 90, Tackling 90, Pass Rush 80, Coverage 92)

As he has done since changing zip codes last October, Jones made his presence felt in all phases for the Seahawks defensively, wasting little time making an impact shutting down Arizona’s run game. Just three plays into the action on Thursday night, he rocketed out of his MIKE spot shading the center through the weakside A-gap to meet Trey Benson in the backfield, eventually corralling him at the line of scrimmage for no gain. Showing off his wheels in pursuit, he chased down speedy quarterback Kyler Murray on a scramble attempt outside of the pocket on 2nd and 17 to force him out of bounds for only a four yard gain, setting up a punt two plays later.

In coverage, Jones benefited from a lucky bobble from Marvin Harrison Jr., who failed to hang onto a perfectly thrown slant ball by Murray while being hit from behind by linebacker Drake Thomas. The pass wound up popping up into the air and Jones found himself in the right place at the right time, snagging the deflection with a running head start and returning it 29 yards past midfield, setting the Seahawks up with outstanding field position that they unfortunately couldn’t cash in on with any points. He later hustled in pursuit to trip up Murray on a scramble up the pocket, combining with Leonard Williams for a split sack.

### Uchenna Nwosu

**Overall Grade**: 87.0 (Run Defense 84, Tackling 88, Pass Rush 92)

Battling injuries each of the past two seasons that limited him to a grand total of 12 games in 2023 and 2024, Nwosu’s re-emergence as a dynamic edge rushing threat was a long time coming and just happened to materialize in one of his favorite stadiums to play in. In two prior games at State Farm Stadium, he produced two sacks and three quarterback hits and continued to haunt Murray with another multi-sack performance on Thursday Night Football. Getting started in the final minute of the first quarter, the Cardinals sent a pulling guard on a play action pass aiming to kick out the veteran defender, but he quickly orchestrated a swim move to shoot past the blocker before gobbling up the quarterback in the pocket for his first sack of the year.

Fast forwarding to the fourth quarter, Nwosu again pinned his ears back and went to work hunting down Murray, this time taking a hard right step inside against right tackle Jonah Williams before using a club/swim move combo to shoot around the blocker. Without any additional resistance, he zeroed in on the quarterback for his second sack, knocking the Cardinals back seven yards. Overall, he finished with a pair of sacks, two quarterback hits, and two run stops netting three or fewer yards, looking much more like the Pro Bowl alternate from his last healthy season in 2022.

### Sam Darnold

**Overall Grade**: 86.0 (Passing 87, Rushing 85)

Darnold wasn’t quite on the same level as he was one week earlier against the Saints, at least in terms of passing yards and completion percentage. But the veteran signal caller continued to play at an incredibly efficient level both in and out of the pocket, completing 18 out of 26 pass attempts for 242 yards and a touchdown with no turnover-worthy plays. Among his best throws, Darnold’s lone touchdown came in the red zone from an under center drop back, as he connected with an open AJ Barner on a wheel route against man coverage and dropped the pass perfectly in the bucket for six points. He later set up Seattle’s second touchdown drive rolling out to his right, keeping his eyes downfield before taking a chance throwing to well-covered tight end Elijah Arroyo for a 32-yard completion.

While the Seahawks didn’t find the end zone in the second half and Darnold took a few sacks against an aggressive Cardinals defense, he delivered on a couple of beautiful downfield passes, including a well-executed back shoulder completion to Jake Bobo over the middle between three defenders and a 22-yard completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the game-winning drive that set up Jason Myers for a 36-yard field goal as time expired. Adding in a 24-yard run, he contributed 266 total yards of offense while leading five scoring drives with no turnovers, maintaining his outstanding play early in his first season with the franchise.

### Jaxon Smith-Njigba

**Overall Grade**: 84.0 (Receiving 88, Rushing 70, Run Block 78)

Coming off a three-game stretch where he averaged north of 100 receiving yards per game, Smith-Njigba looked to be well on his way to the quietest game of his season thus far at intermission, going into halftime without a single catch and a carry for two yards as the Cardinals took him out of the equation in the first two quarters. But a 10-yard reception on the Seahawks’ opening drive of the second half seemed to jumpstart the standout receiver in the second half, and in the final 16 minutes, he came through with several clutch receptions in key moments. With Seattle facing 3rd and 7 inside a minute left to play in the third quarter, he created late separation on an out route and hauled in a 10-yard reception to move the chains.

Moments later, Smith-Njigba came through again, reeling in an 11-yard reception on 2nd and 10 for another new set of downs, eventually leading to a Myers’ field goal. With the game hanging in the balance, he hauled in a 43-yard reception along the sidelines on a fade route, only for Myers to miss from 56 yards out a few plays later as the Cardinals mounted their late comeback. But the rising star helped slam the door shut on Arizona in the final minute, as he came up with a 22-yard back shoulder reception on a fade route on a perfectly placed pass from Darnold to advance Seattle into field goal range, granting Myers his moment of redemption two plays later. He wrapped the game up with four receptions on five targets - his third straight game with an 80-plus percent catch rate - for 79 yards.

### Derick Hall

**Overall Grade**: 82.5 (Run Defense 86, Tackling 88, Pass Rush 77)

Through four games, Hall has yet to notch his first sack, and he didn’t get any quarterback hits on Thursday night. Still, he quietly had a fantastic game setting the edge for the Seahawks against a tough draw dealing with Murray’s mobility. On the game’s opening series, the Cardinals dialed up a read option play out of two-back personnel and the third-year linebacker crashed down hard on running back Trey Benson, giving Murray the read to pull the football and take off as a runner himself outside to the left. Normally, with how Hall played the option, he would have positioned himself too far inside to be able to recover and make a tackle on the quarterback, but he demonstrated remarkable change of direction and effort running down Murray and managed to trip him up for only a three yard gain.

Away from that impressive stop against Murray, Hall also chased the quarterback out of bounds on a third down scramble that came up well short of the sticks to force a punt and added two other run stops that netted less than a yard, including stuffing Emari Demercado late in the fourth quarter in the red zone. He also had an active day as a pass rusher that didn’t show up in the box score with sacks or quarterback hits, as he pursued Murray off his spot several times and two of his three pressures led to incompletions for the Cardinals. Though the sacks have yet to come, the disruption has been there from Hall and he may be on the verge of a breakout game soon.

**Other Notable Performances**

An uneven game as a run blocker and a sack allowed prevented Charles Cross from earning a top five grade, but he only allowed one pressure in pass protection and pushed Zach Charbonnet into the end zone for Seattle’s second touchdown, earning an 80.0 score. Jake Bobo made the most of his limited opportunities, helping spring Ken Walker III on a pair of runs with quality blocks and snagging his first catch of the season for a 17-yard gain and a first down to notch a 79.0 grade. Walker contributed three explosive runs of 19 or more yards as well as a 29-yard reception on a bubble screen, and if not for a few negative runs in the backfield and a missed blitz pickup, he would have likely been in the top five, ultimately finishing with a 77.5 mark. Abraham Lucas had a rock solid game as a run blocker, getting out in front of Charbonnet on a 15-yard sweep run for a second level block, to go along with steady pass protection for a 77.0 score.

Continuing to eat in the middle, Leonard Williams narrowly missed out on his third straight top five score after producing 1.5 sacks, a pass deflection, and a run stop for an 82.0 grade. Like Hall, Boye Mafe had a far better game than his stat line would suggest, as he swatted away a screen pass and delivered a big hit on Murray to force an incompletion, receiving an 80.0 grade. Making his return from a knee injury, Devon Witherspoon allowed two touchdowns in coverage, but one of those was an incredible reception by Marvin Harrison Jr. against quality coverage and the veteran cornerback had two pressures, a sack, and a pass breakup, still managing to earn a 76.0 grade. Missed tackles were problematic for Julian Love in his own return from injury, but away from leaving a few plays on the field, he played sharp football in coverage allowing just two catches for 11 yards to receive a 75.0 grade.