The Seahawks left State Farm Stadium looking every bit like the defending Super Bowl champions, rolling past the Cardinals 31-7 in a game that was never really in doubt.
Even with Sam Darnold sidelined, Seattle controlled both sides of the ball and turned in the kind of complete performance that makes a statement without needing much decoration. Drew Lock stepped in at quarterback and looked right at home, the running game carried its weight, Jaxon Smith-Njigba took over the passing attack, and the defense smothered Arizona from start to finish.
Lock’s numbers tell the story pretty cleanly: 19 completions on 26 attempts, 235 yards, and three touchdowns. But the bigger point was how steady he looked.
He stayed composed, made the right decisions, and never gave the sense that the Seahawks were scrambling because their starter was out. In a backup role, that’s about as clean a performance as a team can hope for.
The ground game had to do plenty of the heavy lifting too. Seattle ran the ball 40 times for 162 yards, with the backfield absorbing the extra responsibility after Darnold was ruled out.
Rookie Jadarian Price chipped in 52 yards before leaving with a shoulder injury midway through the game, which opened the door for Emmanuel Wilson to handle a larger workload than he did in Week 1. Wilson answered with 92 yards on 21 carries and made a strong case for a bigger role going forward.
Price’s fumble, though, kept the group from earning a perfect grade.
Smith-Njigba was the clear engine of the passing game. He caught nine passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns, and the Cardinals never really found an answer for him.
The rest of the receiving corps combined for five catches and 55 yards, which says plenty about how centered the game plan was around him. When one player is that clearly the best option on the field, Seattle kept feeding him - and it worked.
The tight ends didn’t make much noise as pass catchers, but they did their job where it mattered most: blocking. AJ Barnard also added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a sneak, giving the position group a little extra credit in a game where the offense leaned on physicality. With the move from Brian Fleury’s offense to Clint Kubiak’s, the tight ends are carrying more blocking responsibility, and through two weeks, that switch has been handled well.
Up front, the Seahawks kept rolling even without Anthony Bradford. Christian Haynes filled in, and the line held up in a big way, both in the run game and in pass protection. Lock was only sacked once, and Seattle won the trenches enough to make life miserable for Arizona all afternoon.
The defense was just as punishing. The line got after Jacoby Brissett throughout the game, with Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed each recording a sack as part of a seven-hit day for the quarterback. Arizona had no real rhythm, no easy answers, and no room to breathe.
Seattle’s linebackers added another strong layer to the effort. Ernest Jones IV led the group with eight tackles and kept everything organized, while Drake Thomas and Uchenna Nwosu also turned in solid outings. The whole unit looked connected and disciplined.
The numbers on the back end were just as eye-catching. The Seahawks held the Cardinals to 95 passing yards, and Arizona did not complete a single pass of 10 or more yards.
That last piece hadn’t happened since October 11, 1987, when the Cardinals were still in St. Louis and using replacement-level players.
It’s the kind of stat that explains exactly why Seattle’s defense is being talked about the way it is.
There were plenty of A’s in this report card, and they were earned. Seattle was dominant, plain and simple. Not every week will look this one, but if this game was any indication, the Seahawks can put together a complete performance with anyone in the league - and they look like a real threat to win the Super Bowl again.
In Other News...
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Arizona did manage one touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play, but it was nowhere near enough to change the feel of the afternoon. Jaxon Smith-Njigba did most of the damage for Seattle with three touchdowns, and once the Seahawks separated in the second half, the Cardinals were left chasing a game that had already slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Suddenly Have A Bigger Problem Than One Ugly Loss
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Arizona has at least shown a knack for creating takeaways, recovering fumbles in back-to-back games, but that kind of splash play can only cover so much. The concern now is whether the Cardinals can clean up the broader problems that showed up against the Seahawks before they start to linger beyond one bad afternoon. [Read more 🡒]