The Seattle Seahawks are back at home and fired up after a big win over the Washington Commanders. They welcome in the Arizona Cardinals, who have little room for error should they want to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Seattle has swept Arizona in each of the past three seasons and is looking to make it a fourth on Sunday. It’ll be tough knowing the injuries the Seahawks are dealing with, but it isn’t like Arizona is a beacon of health right now.
Let’s do some game predictions again! First up, let’s
review what happened for the Houston Texans game, since we did not have a predictions column for the Washington Commanders game.
Bold prediction: Jaxon Smith-Njigba won’t be Seattle’s leading receiver
Yeah, he was.
Seahawks offense prediction: A running back has Seattle’s longest play
Nope.
Seahawks defense prediction: No explosive runs allowed
They gave up an 11-yard run to Woody Marks, so just the one. Unfortunately, one isn’t zero.
Texans prediction: Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter each get a sack
Yes for Anderson (plus a TD), no for Hunter.
Game prediction: Seahawks win a close one
Thanks to Seattle’s turnovers, this was a one-possession game on the scoreboard so I’ll count it, even though the flow of the game wasn’t close.
Bold prediction: Coby Bryant keeps his interception streak going against the Cardinals
Last year, Coby had the game-changing pick-six off of Kyler Murray. In the rematch in Glendale, he bounced back from giving up a touchdown by picking off Murray later in the opening quarter. For good measure, he got Murray again in Week 4 of this season with another interception (which he controversially lost on a fumble on the same play).
Bryant won’t get Murray this time since he’s on injured reserve, but Jacoby Brissett can get that work, too. Lest we forget Coby also forced a fumble off of Murray in 2022 as a rookie, so he has a penchant for showing up against Arizona. I believe he picks off Brissett on a downfield shot.
Seahawks offense prediction: Rashid Shaheed scores a touchdown in his debut
Sure, why not? Tory Horton is likely out and Cooper Kupp isn’t 100 percent, so Shaheed should have more opportunities than expected for a midseason acquisition. His familiarity with Klint Kubiak’s offense should mean easing into the system quicker than others would, even if not everything will be uniformly identical to what he did in New Orleans.
I expect Jaxon Smith-Njigba to feast as usual, especially with Arizona down its starting corners, but Shaheed was on his way to a career season in New Orleans and he’ll be keen to impress right away in Seattle.
Seahawks defense prediction: Nick Emmanwori records his first major stat
I’m counting a major stat as a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery, or an interception. Emmanwori has seemingly made a splash play every week since returning from injury, and he’s come close to getting one of those major defensive statistics against the Houston Texans (near-interceptions) and Washington Commanders (near-sack). Is he making some rookie mistakes, some of which have gone unpunished? Sure! Do I expect that to happen? Absolutely.
Emmanwori looks like he’s going to give us a lot of highlight reel moments for years to come, and his time for a real big play is now. As in, in a matter of hours after this article goes live.
Arizona Cardinals prediction: Budda Baker records his first turnover vs. Seahawks since, well…
One of the “What-ifs?” regarding the 2017 draft was the Seahawks bypassing hometown hero Budda Baker to take Malik McDowell. Baker went to Arizona with the next pick, and he’s still one of the better safeties in the league.
And yet, Baker has just one interception, no forced fumbles or fumble recoveries, and only two passes defensed in 17 career games against the Seahawks. Anyone remember what that one interception was?
Seattle seems destined to have at least a turnover a game no matter what the circumstances, and Arizona’s sneaky underrated top-10 defense by FTN’s DVOA is good enough to make this a difficult matchup. If the Seahawks do give the ball away on Sunday, Baker will be involved.
Game prediction: Seahawks win typical game over Cardinals
The Seahawks and Cardinals just play weird games. With the number of key injuries on both sides of the ball, combined with Arizona being a more competent team than Washington, I’d be surprised if Seattle had another blowout win.
Sam Darnold and JSN will be the story of the offense, but it won’t be as crisp as it has been in other weeks. I’m concerned the interior of Arizona’s defensive line will overwhelm the Seahawks offensive line even more than it did in the first meeting. There is also real reason to worry about the lack of Ernest Jones at linebacker, as there may be a big difference between Drake Thomas as a weakside linebacker and Drake as the “green-dot” backer. I can see Trey McBride having a strong day, especially with the rapport he’s developed with Jacoby Brissett.
Ultimately, I think Arizona’s offense is still too limited to consistently trouble the Seahawks defense. Brissett has been sacked on north of 10 percent of his dropbacks, which tells me Seattle’s pass rush should still feast. The offense will do enough to pull away late after some fits and sputters throughout the afternoon. We’ll go with a 27-17 Seahawks victory to improve to 7-2.
That’s a wrap for predictions for me this month! Now it’s your turn! Deliver your picks and predictions in the comments section.
