Stock Report: Cardinals Humbled By Seahawks After Bye Week

The good, bad and between of the Arizona Cardinals' loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Nov 24, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) walks to the locker room following a 16-6 loss against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals didn’t get the result they were hoping for following a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West, bringing an end to the Cardinals' four-game winning streak.

It was a tough watch for a multitude of reasons ranging from a low-scoring slugfest to sloppy football on both sides of the ball. There were missed opportunities for Arizona to capitalize on and perhaps win the game, but this will hopefully give them some motivation to get better and more to study in the film room.

As to be expected, some players still had good days and raised their stock, but there were some who struggled enough to lower their stock as well. We’re here to break it down, but buyers beware that not all stock changes are equal – some are big drops and others are slight falls.

That said, let’ start with the stock up group.

Stock up

Trey McBride

If you don’t think McBride is one of the five-best tight ends in the NFL right now then you’re sleeping under a rock. The third-year tight end was by far the most consistent and reliable weapon for Kyler Murray in a slugfest and helped Arizona stay in the contest.

McBride hauled in 12 of his 15 targets for 133-yards and a long of 20-yards. Chunk plays were the name of the game and McBride was the safety valve that would get you hard-fought yards.

It’s not the first time McBride dominated the box score this season and it assuredly won’t be the last. An argument could be made that McBride is the best player on offense for the Cardinals.

Pass rush

The Cardinals' pass rush was supposed to be pitiful at best and they’ve instead been an underrated unit that produces with a great scheme and some overlooked studs like Dante Stills, who has a fan club owned by yours truly. Once again, the pass rush caused havoc against the Seahawks.

Arizona was able to bring down Geno Smith five times with five different players, including Stills who is up to 4.5 sacks on the year and paces the team. The unit also managed to hold the Seahawks to 65 rushing yards on 25 carries to show how good the front seven performed. 

Nick Rallis and Jonathan Gannon have proven time and time again how smart they are with calling defense and this was one of their best weeks yet.

Michael Wilson

Two catches for 54-yards may seem bad, and by fantasy football standards it certainly is, but if you watched the game, you know how clutch those two catches were and how important Wilson has become to this offense.

Marvin Harrison Jr had an OK day, pulling in three of his six targets for 47-yards against a terrific pass defense and it helped Wilson find opportunities to succeed… and he did exactly that.

The hope heading into the season was that Wilson would become a terrific WR2 across from MHJ and he’s been exactly that. When a big play is needed, Wilson has shown the ability to step up. That’s all you can ask from a guy.

Garrett Williams

Williams is #good, according to my sources. In a tight game, Williams hauled in an interception that could’ve swung the game back into the Cardinals’ favor, but it wasn’t to be… and it was NOT on the fault of Williams, who stalled what should’ve been a scoring drive for Seattle.

There were high hopes for Williams as a rookie and he showed some good stuff considering he was recovering from a significant injury. In year two, he’s proving why he had so much hype surrounding him.

With every passing week, Williams just gets better and better with a case to be the Cardinals’ best defensive back. Williams has proven himself to be a key cornerstone for this team and today was just another day in the office for him.

Stock down

Kyler Murray

Take this with the lightest grain of salt possible, because this was not a horrible game for Murray. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good one and that obviously impacts his stock.

Murray played very hesitantly against the Seahawks, and it severely hurt the Cardinals’ chances to win the game. I applaud Murray for being safe with the ball all season, but at some point, you must take risks, and we haven’t seen him do that enough this year.

It’s not all on Murray, but he shoulders blame for this loss.

Offensive line

This is two-fold, as the offensive line botched this game both in run blocking and pass protection.

The Seahawks front-seven is terrific, but the Cardinals need better o-line play if they want to compete. The unit was bullied for 60 minutes, allowing five sacks on Murray and allowing just 3.5 yards per carry. And keep in mind that Emari Demercado had a 14-yard run to boost that average.

Simply put, you must rise to the occasion against top defenses and the offensive line didn’t do it today.

Tackling 

How many missed opportunities did the Cardinals whiff on because of poor tackling? Fans probably had flashbacks to teams of old who struggled with open-field tackles and simply finishing plays and that wasn’t there today, save for a few players.

Clean it up or expect more games to be lost by big plays.