Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Land Early Punches, Secure 30-18 Win Over Cardinals

Producing 17 points in a rapid flurry, the Seahawks distanced themselves from the Cardinals in the first quarter and didn't look back, strengthening their NFC West lead.

Dec 8, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet (26) runs for a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

GLENDALE, Ari. - Rushing for a pair of touchdowns, Zach Charbonnet paced a suddenly balanced offense and the Seattle Seahawks intercepted Kyler Murray twice as they finished off a season sweep of their rivals with a 30-18 road win at State Farm Stadium.

Maximizing on his latest start in place of an injured Ken Walker III, Charbonnet racked up a career-best 134 rushing yards, including a 51-yard touchdown in the second quarter to put Seattle up by two scores, while adding seven catches for 59 yards out of the backfield. Playing an efficient game under center, Geno Smith threw for 233 yards while completing 80 percent of his passes with no turnovers, connecting with Jaxon Smith-Njigba five times for 82 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Seahawks locked down the Cardinals after allowing a touchdown on the game's opening possession with linebacker Ernest Jones and safety Coby Bryant picking off Murray on back-to-back possessions, leading to 14 quick points. Tyrice Knight paced a once-again solid run defense with a team-high 12 tackles and two passes defensed and Leonard Williams continued his torrid tear with two tackles for loss.

Taking a deep dive into the team's eighth win of the season, here are five key takeaways from a commanding Week 14 victory:

1. No Ken Walker III, no problem as Seahawks ground game finds life in the desert.

Ruled out on Saturday with a calf injury, the Seahawks went into Sunday's rematch with Charbonnet plugged in as his replacement and the second-year bruiser made the most of his latest opportunity as a focal point in Ryan Grubb's offense. With the line creating significant push in the trenches early on gap schemes, he rushed for 31 yards on seven carries in the first 15 minutes, eclipsing his total yardage from the week prior. Motioning on a fly sweep, he took a handoff from Smith at the goal line and plunged his way into the end zone for six to push Seattle out in front 17-7 in the final minute of the quarter, cashing in on Bryant's pick.

Fast forwarding to the final four minutes of the second quarter, Charbonnet followed behind pulling tackle Abraham Lucas and guard Sataoa Laumea on a counter trey run, exploding through a massive crease and rumbling his way to a 51-yard touchdown to push the lead to 14 points before intermission. Between him and fellow sophomore back Kenny McIntosh, who ripped off a 16-yard run of his own while seeing the most action on offense in his young career, the Seahawks amassed a season-high 176 rushing yards while averaging 5.7 yards per carry, finding traction on the ground that has been missing all season long while helping slow down the Cardinals pass rush.

2. Continuity and chemistry starts to show in steadily improving results for Seattle's offensive line.

Two weeks ago, the Cardinals made life miserable for Smith in the first half at Lumen Field, sacking the veteran quarterback four times in a defensive slugfest while dialing up a mix of blitzes, stunts, and simulated pressures. But with their latest starting line combination making a second straight start, the Seahawks did a fantastic job of keeping Smith clean in the rematch, especially early on as the offense benefited from outstanding starting field position off of Jones and Bryant's interceptions.

In just one example, following Jones' pick, which Murray telegraphed right to him as if he didn't see the defender at all, Smith was able to work through multiple progressions with a clean pocket before lofting a perfect corner route to Smith-Njigba in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. For the game, the Cardinals only managed to get two hits on the signal caller and didn't register a single sack after recording six of them two weeks ago. Adding those numbers with the success running the football and it easily was the best performance by the Seahawks' offensive line all year, coming at the perfect time in the midst of a playoff push.

3. Buoyed by pressure up front, turnovers keep coming in bunches for an opportunistic back seven.

For three minutes and change, Arizona looked to have a quality game plan in place after only scoring six points two weeks ago. Comfortable in the pocket without any disruption, Murray completed three of his first four passes, including skying a moon ball to Michael Wilson for a 41-yard touchdown reception after the receiver beat Bryant on a corner route. But the quality protection didn't last long, as Derick Hall came flying off the edge on the Cardinals next possession and drew a holding call, pushing the home team behind the sticks and facing 2nd and 19.

On the very next snap, a rushed Murray gift-wrapped his first interception of the day to Jones, who returned the pick inside the 20-yard line. Only a few minutes later, throwing off his back foot with pressure bearing down on him, he underthrew a corner route to Zay Jones and Bryant undercut the pass for a pick. Seattle only had four pressures and two sacks, but the numbers don't reflect how much they disrupted the quarterback and kept him on his toes, leading to multiple turnovers and a flurry of points.

4. Garbage yardage withstanding, Seattle's run defense remained solid for most of the afternoon.

After limiting James Conner and Murray to 17 combined rushing yards at Lumen two weeks ago, the Seahawks didn't come anywhere close to replicating those numbers in Sunday's road rematch, surrendering 121 yards on the ground and north of five yards per carry. Credit should go to the Cardinals coaching staff for making smart adjustments late in the first half, as they started to attack the edge a bit more and a couple of successful carries breaking contain to the sideline loosened things up a bit in the middle, leading to a couple explosive runs for Conner. Tackling wasn't quite as clean either, leading to far more yards after contact than the first contest.

But with much of their damage in the run game coming while trailing by multiple scores, the Seahawks held the Cardinals under 100 rushing yards for most of regulation again, doing a quality job of keeping Conner at bay and limiting Murray's chances to get outside of the pocket as a scrambler. At halftime, they only had 47 total yards on the ground, with the majority of that yardage coming on a 23-yard run by Conner that set up a field goal. Even by the end of regulation, Murray had just 16 rushing yards on three carries, once again being relegated to a near non-factor in that regard, while holding Connor to just 90 yards remains a general positive for Macdonald's defense.

5. Michael Dickson, Seahawks' special teams unit rebounds nicely from Week 13 debacle.

For most of the week, Dickson's status had been in question due to back spasms, and the Seahawks had additional problems to work through beyond his health, including waiving returners Laviska Shenault and Dee Williams after each of them fumbled away a kickoff against the Jets last weekend. Coming off a dreadful performance as a whole, however, coordinator Jay Harbaugh couldn't have asked for a better bounce back in the third phase of the game, starting with Dickson's brilliance. The All-Pro punter was a game-time decision rolling into Sunday, but he didn't look effected at all by his prior injury, pinning several punts deep in Cardinals territory, including pinning Murray and company at the two-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Away from Dickson punting at his best, Jason Myers nailed all three of his field goal attempts and split the uprights on three extra points. Meanwhile, Seattle didn't have any drama on punt and kick returns with newcomer Jaelon Darden cleanly catching three punts and recording a 27-yard return, fortunately fumbling after being ruled down on that kick. Add in a beautiful tackle by Dareke Young on punt coverage and the visitors outplayed their counterparts on special teams all afternoon, making positive contributions to a fourth consecutive victory.

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