Cornerback D.J. Reed and linebacker Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks stop Larry Fitzgerald from making a touchdown catch.
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.
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.
*rubs eyes*
Is this real or just a mirage? Did Seattle’s defense really do this? Did they actually stop an opponent’s offense, a really high octane offense? Or is this just another case of Thursday Night Football not being very good because of the short turnaround?
For example, there were only three combined offensive plays that went for 20 yards or more. All night long, Murray and the Arizona offense were bottled up and struggled to get out of their own way. The visitors committed four false starts. Shocking because the stands were empty of the 70,000 plus screaming 12s who typically drive other teams nuts.
Let’s not forget that one beautiful hold in the endzone which gave the Seahawks both a two-point safety and possession of the football in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks really needed their defense to step up after Arizona pulled to within 2 points. They did. L.J. Collier exploited the A-gap and earned a hold in the endzone.
Seattle held Arizona, the NFL’s best rushing team coming into the game, to less than 60 yards on the ground all night! That was very impressive considering Murray’s running prowess. Running back Kenyan Drake had 100 yards rushing and averaged 6.25 yards-per-carry last week against Buffalo. Seattle held him to only 29 yards on 11 attempts.
Carlos Dunlap recorded a pair of sacks, which ups his total to three in three games wearing Seattle Seahawks colors.
The most important sack he had was at the end of the game. With the Cardinals facing fourth-and-ten at Seattle’s 27-yard-line and 38 seconds remaining, the game was on the line. Seahawks new LEO took down Murray, ending Arizona’s hopes of another late comeback. There’s a reason the Seahawks went out and got Dunlap.
Playing without starters Quinton Dunbar and Shaquill Griffin, Seattle’s “B” team cornerbacks did an excellent job on Cardinals receivers. Arizona’s vaunted receiving trio combined for 17 receptions, 163 yards, and no touchdowns. As a matter of fact, the only two passing scores Arizona made went to a running back when the Seahawks sold out for a blitz on the two-yard line and a back up tight end. Cheers to Tre’ Flowers and D.J. Reed.
Another thing that changed for the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night was the run game. It was back, well, sort of. It was much more effective and kept the offense balanced. Defensive linemen and linebackers couldn’t tee off on Wilson because Seattle ran the ball effectively.
Carlos Hyde looked sharp in his return after missing several games due to injury. His 15-yard run to set up his touchdown reminded everyone why Hyde was such a highly-touted free agent signing this spring. Then his touchdown run on the following play was good old fashioned power football.
Even recently promoted Bo Scarborough had a good game. The 6-1, 235-pound power-back carried six times for 31 yards and punishing would-be tacklers.
Overall, this was just an odd game for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson threw for less than 200 yards, and the offense ran for 165 yards, 79 coming from Hyde. It was a balanced attack. Something we haven’t seen from the Seahawks offense in 2020. Heck, this was a balanced performance from the team. The defense held Arizona to 314 total yards. That’s quite a 180-degree turn from the standard turnstile defense the Seahawks played all season.
Even some of the stats were similar between the two teams. Both teams had three sacks for about the same yardage. The team’s yards per play were about the same. And both teams ran just about the same number of plays. Finally, both teams scored the same number of touchdowns, with both QB’s throwing for the same number of touchdowns.
Stick with Pacific Northwest Sports tomorrow when we present our Dud and Stud of the game.