The Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-3 in a get-right game at home. Halftime of Week 9 marked the exact middle of the regular season. The Seahawks started slow, let the Cardinals take the lead, and turned it on before halftime to make it a two-score game heading into the second half. The Seahawks kicked a field goal on their lone drive of the third quarter, and were content to run the clock out with both of their drives in the fourth. Those were the only points scored after halftime.
Without further ado, here are your Studs and Duds for Week 9.
STUDS
DeMarcus Lawrence
Death, Taxes, and Seahawks outside linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence dominating the Cardinals. After an unforgettable two-touchdown performance against the division rivals last fall, Lawrence terrorized
the Cardinals’ defensive linemen once again with a sack, a forced fumble, a quarterback hit, two tackles for loss, and three total tackles. As the veteran in the outside linebacker room, he dominated the Cardinals’ offensive tackles with timeless play strength that allowed the rest of the group to rack up even more stats. Lawrence is a leader the likes of whom the Seahawks’ culture benefits astronomically from. He was as excited to credit his teammate and fellow outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. in the postgame press conference when I asked him (timestamp 3:37 in this YouTube link) as he was to speak about his own Stud-worthy performance. He was the top choice in Week 9.
AJ Barner
Tight end AJ Barner has been a great blocker all season, but has been relatively quiet on the stat sheet. Some have been puzzled by his lack of yardage under new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury, whose background includes serving as George Kittle’s tight ends coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Fleury clarified what he thinks of Barner on Sunday, trusting him with the ball at the goal line early and often. He’s always an excellent blocker — which also helped the run game — and a good pass-catching offense should be unpredictable. Barner’s still young, and still growing; don’t expect him to stack yardage like other young superstar exceptions like Trey McBride of the Cardinals or Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders. Expect him to take a unique path in his development going forward, building upon what he’s already shown.
Byron Murphy II
With the Seahawks down one of their best overall players at defensive tackle in Leonard Williams, third-year standout Byron Murphy II handled his position group like a dependable veteran. He ate up plenty of double teams for his teammates to get home first and foremost, then grabbed two tackles for loss and a sack himself. He’s also been standing up and rushing from stand-up looks. Most people don’t realize how rare an athlete he is just by looking at him on TV and in pads, but once you see him up close and see how ripped he is, you will understand why he’s able to execute such rare techniques for his size on the football field. Murphy is a fascinating human being.
Derick Hall
As far as defensive ends go, Derick Hall is incredibly process-oriented. He’s excellent at generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks, especially executing the technique of getting his hands into offensive tackles’ chests and blowing them back that creates a power rush. He’s also strong as an ox and stonewalls the edge blocks opposing offenses try to seal off in the run game. The one “knock” on his style of edge rusher is that he forces plays back to his teammates more than finishing them off himself. However, that’s exactly what the Seahawks defense needs. The term “force multiplier” isn’t just a saying. They play with force in their effort level getting downhill, but also force players back to their opponents with a swarm-like style of tackling. However, Hall also grabbed three tackles for loss in Week 9. He was a bonafide Stud against Arizona’s backup offensive tackles.
DUDS
Emanuel Wilson & George Holani
For the second straight week, running back Emanuel Wilson — who is the team’s leading rusher — didn’t receive a carry on offense. He could be having excellent practices and remaining process-oriented, but he’s clearly not the preferred first- or second-choice option when Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price are healthy enough to lead the running back room. George Holani has also been phased out of the rotation — although he did have a few nice contributions on special teams. I might be reaching for negatives, but these are players who will be especially hungry to look for every opportunity to improve in the coming weeks.
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This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks Studs and Duds in 17-3 win over Cardinals
