The Cardinals got exactly what Mike LaFleur warned about: the NFL can turn on a dime, and “Humility is a day away.”
After Arizona’s Week 1 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, LaFleur had already stressed that lesson. On Sunday, the Seahawks delivered the reminder in a 31-7 rout, and LaFleur didn’t sugarcoat why it got away from his team.
“When you play really good teams, you don't have to do the extraordinary, but you have to do the ordinary extra and we certainly didn't do that “particularly on offense.”
That offensive collapse in the second half - 12 plays, 20 yards before the final two snaps, and only 6:54 of possession - left the defense hanging out there for too long. Seattle poured in 24 points over the final two quarters, and the Cardinals spent the back half of the game trying to survive field position and fatigue.
LaFleur called it “A weird one” right after the game, and the second half opened with the kind of swing play that can wreck a team in a hurry. Tied 7-7, Cardinals tight end Elijah Higgins forced a fumble on the kickoff at the 28-yard line. It looked like Arizona had landed a massive break.
Instead, the ball bounced Seattle’s way. Chazz Surratt grabbed it and raced 37 yards to the Cardinals’ 37. Four plays later, and just 2:33 after the recovery, Drew Lock found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a seven-yard touchdown - Smith-Njigba’s second score of the day - and the Seahawks were up 14-7.
The next shot came after Jacoby Brissett overthrew Michael Wilson, who appeared to slow down, and Julian Love picked it off at the Cardinals’ 44-yard line. That sequence ended with a field goal and a 17-7 Seattle lead with 6:47 left in the third quarter.
From there, the Cardinals’ defense looked worn down in the fourth quarter. Seattle had the ball for 23:06 in that half, and the last two touchdowns came on drives that lasted 15:47 and covered 130 yards on 26 plays with 11 first downs. That was nearly half of the 23 first downs Seattle finished with for the game.
The final possession was a bruiser all by itself. It took 10:14 and 16 plays, and even after Arizona kept Seattle out of the end zone on two straight snaps from the one-yard line, A.J. Barner lined up under center and finished it off.
LaFleur said, “I'm not going to question them battling. They did battle on that last drive for it to get down to fourth and inches.
I told them I do appreciate that. They didn't back down; took everything Seattle had right there.
I've been on the other side of that too, where you want to stomp one in right there on offense and our guys made it hard.”
Emanuel Wilson was the hammer on that march, pushing for extra yards repeatedly and finishing the drive with 48 rushing yards on nine carries. He ran the ball on seven straight plays at one point.
George Holani added 11 yards on two carries. Wilson had six carries for 21 yards in the first half and then 15 for 71 in the final two quarters.
The real damage, though, came from Smith-Njigba. He torched Arizona for nine catches, 155 yards and three touchdowns, including an 82-yard score on Seattle’s second play of the game. He beat Will Johnson on the play, and Budda Baker couldn’t close the gap.
The numbers were as ugly as the tape. Smith-Njigba’s 155 receiving yards were more than the Cardinals produced as a team, which finished with 151. LaFleur didn’t try to pin it on one defender afterward, saying only, “That's one obviously you want back because it doesn't really matter who that is; we can be better in that, just from an execution standpoint.”
Seattle’s other seven receivers combined for just 80 yards on 10 catches, but Lock barely had to do more than feed Smith-Njigba and stay on schedule. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and a 139.1 passer rating.
There were a few defensive notes worth salvaging for Arizona. Baker led the team with 11 tackles, including seven solo stops and one for loss, and also added a 16-yard sack on the final play of the first half.
Mack Wilson Sr. came back after injuring his thumb and finished with nine tackles, four of them solo. Darius Robinson may have had his best game as a Cardinal, posting six tackles with three solo and one for loss.
Zaven Collins also produced a turnover when he stripped Jadarian Price and recovered the ball at the Cardinals’ 47-yard line in the second quarter. But Arizona couldn’t turn that into points and went three-and-out.
Special teams barely moved the needle outside of the kickoff mishap that set up Seattle’s big break. Chad Ryland didn’t get a field-goal attempt, and Blake Gillikin’s line - 41.3 average and 37.1 net - was dragged down by short fields, including punts from the Cardinals’ 43-yard line and the Seahawks’ 47 and 49 on three of his seven kicks.
There were penalties, too. Wydett Williams Jr. was flagged for an illegal block on a Seattle punt, Karson Sharar drew a late-hit call on a Cardinals punt, and Jalen Brooks was penalized for fair-catch interference.
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