Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks
Final Score: Seahawks 44, Cardinals 22
Writer: Jason Wolf
For the second consecutive week, the Seattle Seahawks came out with their foot on the gas and straight up embarrassed their opponent in the first half. This week, it was Sam Darnold and the offense moving the ball with ease with two touchdown drives that lasted less than 5 minutes apiece. Seattle’s DeMarcus Lawrence also recovered two Jacoby Brissett fumbles for touchdowns in the first half to help Seattle race out to a 35-0 lead after 23 minutes of play, effectively ending the game in the first half. The Cardinals managed to turn Darnold over a few times in the second half but was only able to score once off those turnovers, failing to convert on fourth-and-goal situations multiple times. Don’t let the scoreline fool you, this game was nowhere near as the final score suggests.
Two Up
- Trey McBride — On a day where the Cardinals could not do a single thing for the first 25 minutes, Trey McBride was yet again the lone bright spot for the offense, a recurring theme over the past couple of years for Arizona.
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba — You might be thinking, “How could his stock be any higher? He only had 93 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.” You might be right in thinking that this was a slow day at the office for JSN numbers wise but he came out firing with four receptions and 82 yards in the first quarter alone. If this game was even somewhat competitive, JSN could have gone for 200-plus yards, dare I say easily. Him and Darnold are out there effortlessly playing pitch and catch, making defenders look helpless in the process. JSN has become a top five receiver in the league, and he’s not #5.
Two Down
- Kenneth Walker III — Almost two months since he last scored a rushing touchdown, Walker was kept out of the end zone in a game where the Seahawks were up double digits almost immediately. Zach Charbonnet received an equal share of carries, was more efficient with his carries, and scored while Walker again failed to find the end zone. Even third-string RB George Holani found his way in the end zone before the game got out of hand.
- Zonovan Knight — The heir apparent to RB1 duties in Arizona, Knight has been inefficient with his opportunities since he took over the position before the Cowboys game. Knight has been outproduced by Emari Demercado in both of his starting opportunities, and now he picked up an ankle injury in the fourth quarter of this game.
Arizona Cardinals
Quarterback
Jacoby Brissett: 22/44, 258 Yards, 2 TD | 4 Carries, 31 Yards, 2 Fumbles (2 Lost)
Jacoby Brissett‘s box score numbers won’t look too bad considering the final score, however, he accrued most of his numbers with the game far out of reach. Brissett could barely complete a pass before the Seahawks jumped out to a 28-0 lead off the backs of a perfectly on-schedule offense and the defense just wreaking havoc on the Cardinals’ offensive line. I want to stress the fact that Brissett was under fire essentially from the first snap of the Cardinals offensive game but he needs to do a better job of feeling where pressure is coming from and either tucking the ball and taking the sack or trying to escape the pocket using his feet. Thus brings about probably my biggest gripe with Brissett as a QB: That he is capable of making plays happen with his legs, especially when setting up the pass, but he is seemingly unwilling to make it happen. Far too often he stays in the pocket past its expiration date, and he takes sacks that might have been avoidable when he could scramble for a small gain on the ground. He is who he is at this point, which is a pure pocket passer, and that has done wonders for the Cardinals’ offense as opposed to Kyler who constantly unnecessarily scrambles, but he could use a little more of Kyler Murray‘s penchant for running the ball in order to maximize the offense. With the game well in hand, Brissett did show nice chemistry with Trey McBride, hooking up with him many times in the second half in the middle of the field. He was locked on to McBride, sometimes to a fault as there were other guys open at times when he chose to force feed McBride. Granted, it was working but there were a few times he could have gotten a first down throwing it to one of his RB’s out of the flat instead of forcing it in the middle of the field. He doesn’t look to extend plays out of the pocket, and that doesn’t give his receivers a chance to make something off-schedule.
Kedon Slovis: 0/1, 0 Yards
Kedon Slovis saw his first action of the season and his career at the very end of the game and threw one pass for incomplete while handing the ball off a couple of times. His presence was a formality as the game was well in hand when he took the field.
Running Back
Zonovan Knight: 10 Carries, 28 Yards | 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 5 Yards
Once again inefficient with the Cardinals’ RB1 opportunities (as cursed a job as it might be), Zonovan Knight was plodding through the day. His stats were not entirely his fault as the Seattle defense has become one of the most fearsome groups in the league, from the front seven and up. The Seattle front stymied the Cardinals rushing game all day (other than one Emari Demercado big run late in the game), and they were constantly in Brissett’s face, refusing to let Arizona establish any kind of rhythm on offense until it was too late. With the game already well in hand and Knight’s role decreased, he picked up an ankle injury of unknown severity (as of now).
Emari Demercado: 4 Carries, 64 Yards | 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 40 Yards
Once again, Emari Demercado did more with his opportunities than Knight, who started. Demercado flashed on some plays in garbage time (seeing as most of the whole game was garbage time for the Cardinals). He had a 55-yard run where he showed his high-end speed, following the blocking nicely on his way to the big run. For a moment it seemed as if he would escape all the pursuing defenders for a house call but he was caught from behind, a somewhat disappointing result for someone with his speed in the open field. With Bam Knight’s efficiency issues and him picking up an ankle injury of unknown severity, it would be surprising if Demercado did not receive the lion’s share of carries moving forward, at least for now.
Michael Carter: 3 Carries, 4 Yards
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Trey McBride: 13 Targets, 9 Receptions, 127 Yards, TD
Trey McBride once again looks like the most dangerous weapon that Arizona has at their disposal. Even though his box score impact wasn’t popping off the screen through the first half, he was still out there doing his damn best to power his way through defenders and make guys miss. In the second half with the Cardinals frantically trying to come back and given a little more room to operate in the middle of the field, McBride did heavy damage while the rest of the team was still sputtering. At one point, he had seven receptions on nine targets for more than 100 yards. The next most targeted receiver was Marvin Harrison Jr., who was only able to snag two catches for 24 yards on his first seven targets. For a brief moment in time, McBride scored the first TD of the game for Arizona but the play was called back due to ineligible man downfield. Greg Dortch eventually ended up scoring the TD instead. McBride did eventually get his TD in the third quarter, when he showed excellent awareness to catch a tipped ball and took it in for the score. When Arizona was trying to claw back, Brissett kept looking toward McBride to lead the way, and lead the way he did. Midway through the 3q, McBride had 127 yards while the rest of the team had 164 total yards. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t make a catch the rest of the way as Seattle decided enough was enough and decided to eliminate him from the game plan.
Marvin Harrison Jr.: 12 Targets, 3 Receptions, 33 Yards, TD
It was clearly Seattle’s game plan to eliminate Marvin Harrison Jr. on the outside. With their incredible defensive backfield, the Seahawks were able to do just that essentially all game. MHJ was not targeted through the entire first quarter, making his first grab, a 14-yard catch in the second quarter and not making much of an impact at all until he caught his TD pass in the fourth quarter with the game already well in hand. MHJ saw plenty of targets but between the constant pressure that Brissett was under and the Seattle secondary focusing on taking him out of the game, MHJ wasn’t able to do much. He has flashes of potential and he is a crisp route runner but Seattle’s defense is nasty from top to bottom, and the Cardinals were not able to do a single thing through the vast majority of the game. With the game pretty much in hand by the second quarter, the Seahawks eased up in the middle of the field, allowing McBride to do work in the middle of the field for intermediate gains but refused to let MHJ do damage down the sideline or over the top. MHJ saved his fantasy day with a 9-yard TD catch late in the game. It was a nicely executed back shoulder fade toward the sideline and MHJ caught it clean as could be. Leading up to that score, MHJ’s day was miserable, only coming down with two catches on 11 targets. The inefficiency can mostly be chalked up to poor quality of targets due to pressure from Seattle’s front seven but also the DB’s focusing in on MHJ on the outside. There are certainly better weeks ahead for MHJ.
Michael Wilson: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 34 Yards
Greg Dortch: 2 Carries, 2 Yards, TD
Elijah Higgins: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 19 Yards
Seattle Seahawks
Quarterback
Sam Darnold: 10/12, 178 Yards, TD, INT | 3 Carries, -2 Yards, 2 Fumbles (2 Lost)
Sam Darnold has undoubtedly become one of (if not) the best deep ball throwers in the NFL. On the Seahawks’ first drive, Darnold hooked up with Jaxon Smith-Njjigba on a long touchdown, good for a 43-yard touchdown that was dropped right in JSN’s bread basket. This has become a repeating weekly image if you watch Seattle games as Darnold’s touch on balls deep down the sideline has become spectacular. It doesn’t hurt that he has one of the game’s best weapons but he is also delivering to rookie Tony Horton among others as well. Darnold was hyperefficient in this game, connecting on 10 of his first 11 passes and making it look easy along the way. He isn’s just throwing quick, short passes either. He is looking to sling the ball downfield, and he moves through his progressions like a seasoned vet. He moved well in the pocket, working his way around pressure and manipulating the defense with his eyes and legs to boot. On his pitch and catch to Cooper Kupp that went for over 60 yards, all of the work was done after the catch by Kupp. However, the play was set up by Darnold’s patience in the pocket and his good decision-making on when to move out of the packet to buy time. For the (admittedly small) portion of the game that was competitive, Darnold was near perfect. It is worth mentioning, however, that in the second half with the Seahawks sitting on a massive lead, Darnold got a little loose with the ball, fumbling twice on sack fumbles and throwing his lone interception providing Arizona with some opportunities to work their way back in the game. Darnold was fortunate that Arizona couldn’t capitalize on excellent field position multiple times as they turned the ball over on downs within the Seattle 10-yard line twice off turnovers. Against a better team, those mistakes would probably be punished. However, the mistakes likely would not happen if the game resembled anything close to a competitive match, so I am inclined to give Darnold a pass on his turnovers in this one. Darnold attempted two passes in the second half which should tell you everything you need to know about any sense of urgency that he and the offense was playing with at that point.
Running Back
Kenneth Walker III: 14 Carries, 67 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards
Once again to the dismay of Kenneth Walker III‘s fantasy managers, Walker and Zach Charbonnet pretty much had a dead-even split on snaps and RB opportunities with Walker totaling 15 touches on 27 snaps while Charbonnet accrued 14 touches on 23 snaps. Walker did run twice as many routes (6-3) as Charbonnet though, further solidifying his role as the more used dual-threat receiving back in Seattle. However, it was Charbonnet yet again who was more efficient with his carries and who once again found the back of the end zone. It has been nearly two months since KW3 has scored a rushing touchdown, and that doesn’t figure to change unless he breaks off a long one seeing as Charbonnet receives most of the valuable short and goal-to-go carries. In fact, since week 3, KW3 has zero touchdowns while Charbonnet has four and now George Holani has one to his name as well. Walker isn’t dominating the backfield and for whatever reason he isn’t breaking off as many long runs as he has in the past. He doesn’t look particularly out of shape and he is fully healthy in theory so it is interesting to see him struggle from an efficiency standpoint. Granted, his day was fine efficiency wise in this one but the competition was not the standard on which you judge that on as the Cardinals are soft against the run. Based on this game, there doesn’t seem to be a change coming in the dynamics of this backfield anytime soon.
Zach Charbonnet: 14 Carries, 83 Yards, TD
Read Walker above. Charbonnet is seeing equal time on the field, but he is getting the more valuable and high-leverage touches. Clearly he is the preferred short-yardage back and in goal-to-go situations. He was more efficient than KW3 on Sunday as he broke off longer runs more often and of course scored a TD while KW3 failed to find the end zone yet again. What was assumed to be a RB1A and RB1B situation is fully an RB by committee approach with the advantage slightly toward Charbonnet. While Charbonnet did not receive a single target (first time since Week 2), that can be chalked up to the wildly positive game script that Seattle was facing as Darnold only threw 12 passes on the day, which will most likely not happen again this season. Charbonnet did have a fantastic run in the third quarter as Seattle was backed up near its own end zone and Charbonnet made a nice cut and broke three tackles in the process of running for an impressive 30-yard gain. It was the best highlight of the day out of the backfield that surprisingly lacked many highlights for a squad that scored 44 points. Makes sense though when you consider that two of Seattle’s five touchdowns were on the defensive end, and it only scored three field goals for the duration of the second half. Charbonnet’s usage remains inconsistent week-to-week but he is finding enough work between rushing and receiving and red-zone carries to have value as an every-week flex option, especially on such a strong Seattle squad that figures to be in every game, every week.
George Holani: 7 Carries, 31 Yards, TD
Normally when a third-string RB gets multiple carries and a touchdown in a massive blowout, it comes late in the game with all of the starters relaxing on the bench. Interestingly enough, in this case, George Holani punched in a 9-yard TD run late in the first quarter when the score was only 14-0. There has been some talk of getting Holani some reps and this was the perfect game for it as the result was never in doubt. For now, I don’t think it means anything for either of Charbonnet or Walker unless one of them gets injured.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 93 Yards, TD
Jaxon Smith-Njigba looks unstoppable. He is leading the league in receiving yards by a large margin, and it is no mystery as to why as the answer is clear as day when watching him. His first step off the line is absolutely killer. Superquick. When you combine that with his top-three route-running ability, it is almost unfair for the defense. You cannot realistically expect a defensive back to stick with him or stay in front of him. In just one quarter of action, JSN accrued four receptions and 82 yards as Seattle jumped out to a 21-0 lead with ease thanks to a humming offense and a swarming defense which forced one of two defensive touchdowns in the first half. JSN could have had a monster day if the offense was asked to do more but they were resting on their laurels for the majority of the game. JSN was also taken to the blue medical tent when it was 21-0 as a spotter flagged him for a potential concussion. However, he was out of the tent and on the sideline wearing a baseball cap just a few minutes later. Usually, the baseball cap is a bad sign but the Seahawks went up 28-0 and there was no need for JSN to go back in. He only made a cameo again late in the second half, catching a ball for 11 yards when the Cardinals made it (somewhat?) competitive after coming within 20 points. JSN is nearly unguardable in 1-on-1 coverage.
Cooper Kupp: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 74 Yards
On a light day for the offense, where every single thing was clicking, Cooper Kupp‘s usage and box score production were a microcosm of Seattle’s day on offense. Darnold only atteepted 12 passes and two of those went Kupp’s way for 74 yards. Remarkable efficiency and made it look easy, Darnold hit Kupp wide open on the flat, and Kupp did the rest, racing down the sideline for 60-plus yards after the catch. Like everything else on the day, it was far too easy for Kupp and Seattle.
Rashid Shaheed: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards | 2 Carries, 20 Yards, Fumble (Recovered)
Freshly acquired from the New Orleans Saints, Rashid Shaheed was worked into the game plan slowly as he was on the field for 21 snaps, running only eight routes and rushing the ball twice. There is no viable takeaway from this game in terms of his receiving production, but he is a great fit for the offense as Darnold has become one of the game’s elite deep-ball throwers this season. Shaheed’s usage as a rusher is encouraging as he is excellent in space and the Seahawks are missing that kind of dual WR-RB threat to its offense.
AJ Barner: 2 Carries, 3 Yards
AJ Barner wasn’t targeted on the day but he did receive two carries in short-yardage situations, going for 3 yards on two carries.
Elijah Arroyo: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 5 Yards