Another year, another Seattle Seahawks win over the Arizona Cardinals in their building. Not since Russell Wilson’s rookie year have the Cardinals beaten the Seahawks at home in front of a full capacity crowd. Their one (very chaotic) victory over Seattle in Glendale since 2012 was in the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 season. That’s it. And it’s barely a home game when the Seahawks fans are so loud that they were doing a silent count in their own building.
Let’s get to another rousing Winners and Losers
from Seattle’s 31-7 romp!
Seattle Seahawks winners
Drew Lock wheels and deals
I’m giving Lock the biggest winner tag. He was calm, composed, accurate, and looked like he was in comfortable command of the offense. His stat-line of 19/26 for 235 yards and three wonderful touchdowns to Jaxon Smith-Njigba actually undersold his performance. JSN and Rashid Shaheed both had drops, otherwise his stats would look even better.
Whether Lock is a Seahawk in 2027 or not is not something I’m thinking about right now, but in a league where backup quarterbacks, let alone starting quarterbacks, are hard to come by (see: Atlanta Falcons), Lock will have a healthy free agent market for him in some capacity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba might be going for OPOY again
What more can you say about JSN? His first catch goes for a career-long 82 yards and a house call. You’d think the Cardinals would try and sell out to stop him instead of waltz free on a busted coverage. Budda Baker, whom I’ve respected for a long time as an opposition fan, was torched all afternoon by the NFL’s best receiver. It’s JSN’s first three-touchdown performance of his career, and his 155 yards is his fourth-highest total to date. There’s the Super Bowl repeat first and foremost, but what about another OPOY award? He’s doing this with the backup QB!
Julian Love is astounding
How in the hell did he come up with this interception? I thought for sure Love trapped the ball and it was going to be an incomplete pass, which only would’ve meant a punt return and likely worse field position. But the concentration and strong hands to come away with the ball here was otherworldly.
Emanuel Wilson shows why Seattle signed him in free agency
I wasn’t totally wowed by Wilson as a free agent pickup, not when Tyler Allgeier was available and other cheap running backs were also on the market. My tune changed watching him at training camp and seeing how smoothly he moved in outside zone schemes and his willingness to quickly get up the field. Wilson is not going to juke you out of your shoes or wow with speed, but he is an effective north-south runner who is physical at the point of contact. Wilson led Seattle with 92 yards and 21 carries after a fairly uninspired first half. As the game wore on, Seattle’s ground game beat Arizona into submission.
Chazz Surratt might have turned the game in Seattle’s favor for good
The best special teams play came not from Rashid Shaheed (although he was involved) or Jason Myers or Michael Dickson, but Mr. Surratt. Seattle’s reserve linebacker and special teams standout pounced on a Shaheed fumble to start the second half. He not only got the ball but took it all the way inside of Arizona’s 40 to set up Seattle’s go-ahead touchdown.
Seattle’s offensive line keeps Drew Lock upright, pounds Cardinals into submission
Lock was sacked once by Budda Baker on the last play of the half, otherwise there were only three QB hits total and no other sacks. Seattle’s offensive line struggled to establish a run game in the first half before unleashing hell in the second half. That 10-minute touchdown drive to end the game was Seattle’s longest touchdown drive in terms of time off the clock… maybe ever? It’s certainly the longest in Stathead’s drive tracker, which goes back to 2001.
Beau Stephens and Christian Haynes split time at right guard, which is a nice way to get Stephens some reps while Anthony Bradford is out. I hope Charles Cross didn’t mess up his arm spiking the ball after the Barner TD, though.
Leonard Williams is unblockable
He had the first sack of the game and a key run stop on a 3rd-and-1. This is someone who is playing at the absolute highest level as an interior defensive lineman, and he will go down as one of the greatest mid-season acquisitions by John Schneider. I’d argue he’s one of the best mid-season trades made by any NFL team over the past decade.
A.J. Barner can’t be stopped on the Barn Yard
The tush push is here to stay, and the Seahawks use their all-around tight end to get that tough yard. Barner now has two touchdown rushes in his career, and he’s valuable as ever as a blocker in the run game.
Seattle’s entire defense dominated
Outside of a garbage time run by Zonovan Knight, the Seahawks didn’t allow a single offensive play to go for more than nine yards. Trey McBride had eight catches and a touchdown… and had 41 yards. Marvin Harrison Jr had as many catches as his dad did, and his dad hasn’t played in 18 years. Jeremiyah Love had a couple of good runs and early and finished with 29 on nine carries.
Seattle Seahawks losers
Rashid Shaheed was worse than the stats suggested
I’m a little concerned about Shaheed’s slow start to the season. The first game I can write off because of a lack of snaps and the emergency situation of Lock coming in unexpectedly. Shaheed had three catches for 35 yards against Arizona, but he also had a bad drop that would’ve extended a drive and fumbled that kick return into something that fortunately beneficial for Seattle. He’s known as a speedster, which I stress is different for guys who specialize in 200 and 400 meters (which Shaheed did) than a 60- or 100-meter specialist, but he’s looked a bit hesitant on his returns and not in rhythm with the offense. It’s early days and his main connection is ultimately with Sam Darnold, but he’s not off to a flyer in his new contract.
Brian Fleury’s red-zone playcalling needs to be tweaked
I thought Brian Fleury called a good game, but I don’t think the Seahawks are obligated to go run-heavy in the low red zone. To end the first half with four runs inside the 10 (albeit one I think Lock audibled to) was not great. They need to at least have more of a passing threat in early downs when they’re goal-to-go. Otherwise, you know it’s a great Seahawks win when that’s one of the few things I can nitpick.
Final notes
- Jadarian Price has his good and bad moments, plus an injury. I won’t put him in the Losers column for the fumble, but that was his “Welcome to the NFL” moment as far as ball security. He had 13 carries for 52 yards and hit a couple of explosives, plus his only catch went for a first down before he left with a chest injury. It seems he’s fine as far as a more serious injury, although it’s untimely given Zach Charbonnet won’t be back for another couple of weeks.
- Chris Myers was getting names wrong all afternoon. Drew Bledsoe (for Drew Lock), Jeremy Love (for Jeremiyah), Emanuel Lewis for Emanuel Wilson, it was irritating. Mark Schlereth was actually an enjoyable listen but Myers was out to lunch. For that matter, so was the FOX broadcast, which randomly switched to the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders for a brief minute.
- Mike Macdonald probably wishes he had that Josh Jobe vs. Trey McBride touchdown play-call back. Any scenario in which Jobe is on a great receiving tight end is an unfavorable matchup. No safety help, just pure 1-on-1 ball that only ever had one winner. That’s essentially the only blemish in a masterpiece in limiting an opposing offense to small gains and a lot of pain.
- Derick Hall had three quarterback hits. He may not have had a sack but he got to Brissett a few times.
- Jarran Reed got his first sack of the season. Unc still got it. He practically DDT’d Brissett.
- Drake Thomas is about as good as anyone in the league at shooting A- and B-gaps for run stuffs. It’s true.
- The Seahawks are in great position to go 4-0 entering the San Francisco 49ers game. They will be favored over the Jayden Daniels-less Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Chargers over the next two weeks. That doesn’t guarantee victory, but the Seahawks are poised to come out the other side of the Darnold injury still undefeated.
