I can’t be the only one who feels this way.
The Seattle Seahawks comfortable win against the New Orleans Saints last week was an aberration. Once again, I felt like throwing up a few times and now have a splitting headache from the way Seattle let the Arizona Cardinals hang around in a game that had no business being that close. Stupid penalties buried drives, Jason Myers missed a field goal, and the defense gave up two consecutive scoring drives at the end
of the game. Yet, Seattle gutted out a 23-20 walk-off win in the desert.
There was a lot of good for the first 55ish minutes of the game and a whole lot of angst for the final five minutes. This was a game that the Seahawks should have won handily, and they were lucky they were playing the Cardinals who were missing a huge part of their offense in James Conner.
Seahawks Droppings
- As I said above, there were some really idiotic penalties. Ken Walker III got a taunting penalty that took away a short third down and pushed them back out of field goal range – eventually leading to a punt. Jaxon Smith-Njigba got called for an unnecessary holding call on what would have been a Zach Charbonnet TD to put Seattle up by three scores in the fourth quarter. Instead, they settled for a FG and kept Arizona alive. Riq Woolen played more like the version in Week 1 with multiple pass interference penalties. Boneheaded plays all around that the Seahawks were lucky didn’t cost them the game.
- K9 had a few good runs, but he also had multiple plays where he ran backwards and lost four or five yards. You just can’t do that since it puts the offense farther in the hole. Walker had been better about that the last few weeks until the issue cropped up again tonight.
- Jason Myers missed a FG in the fourth quarter that would’ve made the game much harder for the Cardinals. He made up for it by squeaking the game-winner through the uprights.
- Sam Darnold once again was superb. He’s in complete control of this offense and had some fantastic throws like the deep shot to JSN and the throw to Elijah Arroyo in the end zone that drew a pass interference penalty.
- Seattle let Kyler Murray off the hook a couple times early in the game. Coby Bryant had another interception and then proceeded to fumble the ball back to the Cardinals on the return after getting hit by friendly fire. Julian Love had another interception go right through his hands. This obviously frustrates Macdonald because he mentioned it in his interview after halftime. Not taking advantage of those opportunities will cost them a game some day as it nearly did in this one.
- The defense was so good for the first three and a half quarters today. They were all over Kyler Murray and got six sacks on the day! Leonard Williams was a beast again. It looks like Uchenna Nwosu is rounding into form. Witherspoon was active in his first game back since the opener, and was a fingertip away from breaking up that late Marvin Harrison Jr TD catch.
- This was probably the first game since the preseason that Grey Zabel looked like a rookie. He was blown up a few times and gave up his first pressure of the season. Honestly, the whole line got pushed around quite a bit today. The Cardinals have some talent on the defensive line and of course Calais Campbell played well against Seattle, as per usual.
- I’ll admit, I was nervous pretty much the whole game. When Myers missed that FG, it didn’t surprise me considering all the weird things that have happened for the Seahawks in Glendale over the years. They usually win the game, but crazy shit almost always pops up.
Ok, I can exhale now. Seattle survived Arizona’s charge and gets an extra break following the Thursday night game. You never complain about a win, and the fact that the Seahawks gutted this one out is a testament to the character of the team that Macdonald has built. Up next is the 50th Anniversary game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers featuring double throwback jerseys! For now, though, let’s all try to bring the heart rate down a little and enjoy this win for a few extra days.
