The Seahawks have now put the Arizona Cardinals through the same defensive grinder twice, and the numbers from those two games are brutal.
Seattle held Arizona under 200 yards of offense in the latest meeting, with the Cardinals averaging just 3.9 yards per play and 4.5 yards per pass. That alone would be a strong defensive day. Put it next to what happened in Week 2, though, and it becomes something even more striking: a clear step forward from an already suffocating performance, even if the points column didn’t fully show it.
Across the two games, Arizona ran 98 offensive plays and came away with only 10 points, 349 total yards, 23 first downs, and a 7-for-25 mark on third down. That’s not just poor production over a couple of drives. That’s poor production over two full games.
What makes it even more notable is that Seattle did it with different pieces in the mix each time. Ty Okada and basically Nick Emmanwori were absent from the first matchup, while Leonard Williams and Uchenna Nwosu were missing from the second.
Arizona also came in with a different-looking offense in each meeting, with personnel changes almost everywhere. None of it mattered.
The result was the same: the Cardinals couldn’t get much going.
That matters because Arizona has generally been able to move the ball this season. Outside of the Seattle games, the Cardinals’ lowest yardage total is 270 against the New York Giants, and they’ve topped 327 yards in every other contest.
They’ve also scored at least 16 points in every non-Seahawks game. This is not an offense that usually gets completely shut off.
So while Arizona is not a great team, it’s still a team that usually does enough offensively to stay afloat. That’s what makes Seattle’s work so impressive. Mike LaFleur has clearly made real progress in his first season, and the Seahawks still managed to make that offense look stuck in mud.
This is where the matchup angle starts to matter. Football is built on those little clashes that keep repeating, the ones that favor one side for reasons that are hard to pin down cleanly. Seahawks-Cardinals is starting to look like one of those matchups, with the early read on Mike LaFleur versus Mike Macdonald leaning hard toward Seattle.
If these two games are any indication of what this rivalry is going to look like in the years ahead, the Seahawks have already taken a major edge. Macdonald didn’t just win this round. He scored an early knockout.
In Other News...
Seahawks May Be Forcing A Receiver Move They Do Not Need
The Seahawks are still poking around for receiver help, but the search says as much about the roster as it does about the market. Seattle is reportedly looking for a pass catcher who can complement Jaxon Smith-Njigba, ideally someone with a different skill set and a contract that fits a tight cap situation. Adonai Mitchell, Quentin Johnston and DeVaughn Vele have all come up as possible trade targets, which tells you the front office is at least canvassing options even if nothing is close.
Still, there is a fair amount of skepticism around whether Seattle actually needs to force the issue. The offense already leans in a certain direction, and the current receiver room has enough pieces to make a move feel more like a luxury than a necessity. With limited cap space shaping the conversation, the bigger question may be whether the Seahawks can find a deal that makes enough sense to justify changing the mix at all. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Catch A Huge Break In Week 10
A late quarterback shakeup in Las Vegas has given Seattle a very different look at its Week 10 opponent. The Raiders sent Kirk Cousins to Minnesota shortly before the trade deadline, and with the move came a clear shift toward rookie Fernando Mendoza taking over as the starter for the rest of the season.
For the Seahawks, the change has already rippled into the betting market ahead of the matchup. Any time a team is preparing for a rookie quarterback instead of a veteran, the preparation changes a little, and Seattle now gets a chance to study a new face under center as it builds toward a game that suddenly feels more favorable. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Face A Deadline Choice That Could Split Fans
The Seahawks already made one notable move by bringing in Quenton Nelson, but the bigger roster questions may not come until the 2026 NFL trade deadline. With the front office still weighing how aggressive to be, the conversation has turned to whether Seattle should keep adding around its core or use the market to reshape the roster in a bigger way.
Among the possibilities being floated are a quarterback swap that would send Sam Darnold to the Vikings for draft capital, along with potential help on defense and at tight end. Jermaine Johnson and Dallas Goedert have both surfaced as names to watch, but for now those ideas remain just that, which leaves Seattle fans debating whether the team should chase immediate upgrades or preserve flexibility for whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]