Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona (Part 2) – 4 Takeaways from 28-21 win
Thursday night in prime time, the Seattle Seahawks beat visiting Arizona 29-21. These are our four biggest takeaways from the game.
Thursday night was Round 2 of the Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals in 2020. This game, played at the newly renamed Lumen Field (The Loo, LOL) in Seattle, was very different than the first meeting between these teams. If you remember that one, despite the best superhuman efforts of D.K. Metcalf, the Seahawks gave away a road win in the desert.
The first matchup was a celebration of offense as the teams combined for 71 points and 1,091 yards. This time out, the teams played a more methodical, ball control, chess match. Seattle got on the board first with a 12 play, 75-yard drive on the game’s first possession. It culminated with a masterful bit of improv from both Russell Wilson and Metcalf on a 25-yard touchdown pass. The rest of the first half was mostly a punt-fest. Seattle took a 16-7 lead into the break.
There were plenty more fireworks in the second half. Both teams had several sustained drives. Seattle only had three possessions in the second half and scored points on two of them. The big story however was the defense, or more precisely the pass rush. Pinned on his 14-yard line, after a nice punt by Michael Dickson, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was pressured by Jamal Adams into throwing the ball away. The pass didn’t go far enough and he was flagged for intentional grounding.
Seattle came after Murray again on the next play as well, which drew another flag on Arizona. This time it was a holding call on former Seahawks guard JR Sweezy in the endzone which cost his team two points. So with just over nine minutes remaining, Seattle had a 25-21 lead. Following a free-kick, the Seahawks controlled the clock for almost seven minutes and kicked a field goal to pull ahead by a touchdown. Murray tried to march his team downfield for a tying score.
Unlike the first meeting between the teams, the Seahawks defense eventually shut down Arizona. This time Seattle got a sack on the elusive Kyler Murray (one of three on the night) on fourth down, to put the game away.
Here are our four takeaways from the game.
1. Tyler Lockett
We like to refer to Metcalf as Superman, but Tyler Lockett is kryptonite to the Cardinals defense. He didn’t put up the same eye-popping numbers, he did three weeks ago in Arizona. Even so, Lockett led the Seahawks in receiving yards with 67 and added a touchdown. He was in-sync with his quarterback the entire game, catching all nine of his targets. More importantly, every time Russ needed him, number 16 was there to make a play.
This Wilson TD Pass to @TDLockett12 is too pretty 👌
(via @Seahawks) https://t.co/1R6VWlinp1
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 20, 2020