The Seattle Seahawks are flying high once more after their 17-3 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Seattle rebounded nicely after their blowout loss last week by dominanting their NFC West foe for an 11th-straight game (more on that later). While it is easy to overlook the Cardinals given their reputation, keep in mind the Seahawks were able to do this with seven starters inactive, including quarterback Sam Darnold and defensive tackle Leonard Williams.
Seattle took care of business and found their way over .500 once more, improving to 5-4. The win keeps the similarly 5-4 Los Angeles Rams at bay, and keeps the team still within striking distance of the division-leading San Francisco 49ers.
Without further ado, here are Seahawks Wire's top takeaways
from their NFL Week 9 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
No. 1 - Drew Lock does enough
Seattle remains undefeated when Drew Lock is leading the charge. Technically speaking, Lock is "only" 2-0 this year. Although he played nearly the entire game in Week 1 and was a major reason why the Seahawks won, Sam Darnold did still start the game. The NFL bases quarterback wins off which player was the starter, and Darnold's five plays were enough! Regardless, Lock has played a major role in three of Seattle's five victories this year, and helped notch another one under his belt. The former Mizzou quarterback was 19-of-28 for 175 yards and a touchdown. Keep in mind Lock was able to do this with A) severe tendinitis in his elbow, B) only one day of practice during the week when he even threw the ball, and C) suffered an oblique injury during the game! Lock's status is up in the air for next week, but he has shown considerable toughness, and we should put plenty of stock into his availability when he says he feels confident he will be ready to play.
No. 2 - Seahawks ground attack got going
Incredible what happens when you get your two best ball carriers back in action! No, Sunday wasn't the Seahawks' best rushing performance of the season, but it was enough of a tease to get you excited for what is to come. Zach Charbonnet, in his second game back, looked much improved from his outing last week against the Bears. Charbonnet led the way with 77 yards on 16 total carries. Rookie running back Jadarian Price was also a highly effective weapon, hauling in 54 yards through the air on four receptions, with an additional 24 on the ground as well. The Seahawks rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown as a team, with the lone score coming from tight end AJ Barner on his classic "barnyard" scrum play.
No. 3 - The Dark Side is still plenty powerful without Darth Vader
Seattle was missing three key players on defense: Leonard Williams (Darth Vader in this scenario), Brandon Pili and Uchenna Nwosu. Although everyone would much rather have those guys in the lineup than not, it is still highly encouraging to see the Dark Side still choke the life out of opponents even with them on the sideline. After Arizona began the game with a ten-play, 89-yard opening drive to get their only points of the game, the Seahawks clamped down. Seattle forced Arizona to punt on six of their remaining eight drives. The only times the Cards didn't punt was a drive that ended the first half, and a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter at Seattle's goal line. DeMarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler and Byron Murphy II each recorded a sack, with Fowler getting his first as a Seahawk!
No. 4 - The Emerald City continues to outshine the Valley of the Sun
The Seattle Seahawks have just defeated the Arizona Cardinals for an 11th-straight victory. Not only is this the longest active win streak in the NFL of one opponent over another, it is also the longest such streak in Seahawks franchise history! This recent stretch of pure dominance began on January 9th, 2022 - the final game of Russell Wilson as the Seahawks starting quarterback. Which obviously means Seattle's current streak extends well beyond the Mike Macdonald era, and back to the final few years of Pete Carroll's reign in the Emerald City. It didn't always used to be this way. No matter how good or bad either team was, games between the Seahawks and Cardinals have always been competitive and evenly split. Shoot, prior to the start of this streak, the all-time series record between Seattle and Arizona was 22-22-1! The Seahawks have completely run away with this rivalry to an absurd degree.
No. 5 - Jaxon Smith-Njigba keeps making history
Even on a day when Jaxon Smith-Njigba wasn't an unstoppable force ("only" 51 yards on seven receptions!) he still worked his way into the history book. JSN is the first player to 1,000+ receiving yards this year, and he did so in his ninth game. For those keeping track, he eclipsed 1,000 yards in his ninth game last year as well. JSN became the third Seahawks wide receiver in franchise history to have three-consecutive 1,000+ yard seasons, joining the ranks with Steve Largent and Tyler Lockett. He also became the third player in NFL history with 1,000+ yards and at least 10 touchdown receptions in his team's first nine games. The only other players to do so were Jerry Rice in 1990 and fellow teammate Cooper Kupp in 2021.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Top Seahawks takeaways from 17-3 win over Arizona Cardinals
