The Seahawks walked into 2026 thinking a Week 2 date with Arizona would be manageable. That looked reasonable on paper after the Cardinals stumbled to a 3-14 season and tied for the worst record in the NFL.
Then Week 1 happened.
Arizona opened the year with a 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, while Seattle lost starting quarterback Sam Darnold to a glute injury. Just like that, the matchup got a lot more complicated for the reigning Super Bowl champions.
The biggest problem for Seattle is Trey McBride.
Arizona’s tight end has become the kind of matchup headache that can tilt a game all by himself, and the Seahawks’ recent history against tight ends suggests this is exactly the sort of player that can stress Mike Macdonald’s defense. In 2025, Seattle allowed the fifth-most targets to the position with 144, the fifth-most catches with 105, and the sixth-most receiving yards with 1,080. The one area where the Seahawks held up a little better was touchdowns, giving up six to tight ends, tied for 15th.
That matters because the Seahawks’ linebacker group, including Ernest Jones IV and Drake Thomas, is stronger against the run than in coverage. McBride lives in that gray area defenses hate - too reliable as a receiver, too active in the offense, and too difficult to remove from the game plan.
He backed that up in Week 1, finishing with nine catches for 95 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. He also gave Seattle trouble last season, piling up 16 catches for 179 yards and a touchdown in two games against the Seahawks.
The workload is part of the danger. McBride is a strong run blocker, but he also ran 113 more routes than any other tight end in 2025. That kind of usage keeps him involved snap after snap, and first-year Cardinals offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur has shown no hesitation in leaning into it.
The question now is whether that edge, plus Arizona’s strong opener, is enough to turn the Cardinals into a winner against Seattle. The one thing standing in their way is the recent history: Arizona has not beaten the Seahawks since November 2021.
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