Seattle Seahawks Rapid Reaction: Explosive Plays, Stingy Defense Key in Messy Win Over Arizona Cardinals
Overcoming self-inflicted mistakes on offense and special teams with another fantastic defensive effort, the Seattle Seahawks held off the Arizona Cardinals for a 20-10 victory to improve to 4-2 on the season.
While he threw an interception for the second consecutive game in the red zone, Geno Smith connected on 75 percent of his pass attempts for 219 yards and threw a pair of touchdown passes to receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo. Running back Ken Walker III grinded out 105 yards on 26 carries, while Jordyn Brooks led a feisty defense with nine tackles and two tackles for loss as Seattle held the opposition to five third down conversions on 15 opportunities and 249 total yards.
With the Seahawks maintaining a stronghold on second place in the NFC West, here are five quick takeaways from Sunday's divisional win at Lumen Field:
1. Explosive plays help offset ugly mistakes by Geno Smith, 'Hawks sloppy offense.
Completing nearly 80 percent of his passes, Smith played sharp football for most of the afternoon and when he had chances to do damage downfield, he delivered. Taking advantage of an Arizona secondary missing multiple starters, he completed five passes of at least 18 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown to Smith-Njigba and a 25-yard dart to tight end Noah Fant in heavy traffic. For the majority of the game, his yards per attempt average hovered north of 10 yards.
Unfortunately, Smith's recent trend of uneven play continued one week after throwing two interceptions against the Bengals. On the few occasions where he missed on passes, he missed badly, including fluttering a mini arm punt in the red zone that was intercepted by cornerback Garrett Wilson at the one-yard in the third quarter that erased at least three points off the scoreboard. He also botched a snap from center Olu Oluwatimi early in the fourth quarter, which luckily didn't turn into any points with Cardinals kicker Matt Prater missing an ensuing field goal attempt. Stating the obvious, such mistakes have to be corrected with tougher opponents on tap in coming weeks.
2. Setting career-highs before halftime, Bobo and Smith-Njigba save the day with DK Metcalf sidelined.
Playing without Metcalf for the first time in his NFL career due to a hip injury, the Seahawks were able to get by without the star receiver thanks to Bobo and Smith-Njigba picking up the slack. On the team's opening offensive drive, Bobo created separation on a deep ball down the left sideline and Smith hit him in stride for a 31-yard gain near midfield. Just one possession later, Smith-Njigba came wide open down the seam against a busted coverage without any defenders in the same state, reeling in his first NFL touchdown as he coasted into the end zone to give Seattle an early 7-0 advantage. Two first down catches later in the half, he had already eclipsed his personal best for receiving yards.
Demonstrating "toe drag swag," Jake Bobo emulated teammate Tyler Lockett with an acrobatic 18-yard touchdown catch to help beat the Cardinals.
© Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Not to be outclassed by his teammate, Bobo turned in one of the most impressive catches you'll see on an NFL field. After Arizona had briefly taken a 10-7 lead, Smith lofted a jump ball to the 6-4 receiver in the end zone, only for him to display remarkable acrobatics tip-toeing the sideline after high-pointing the football for a highlight reel 18-yard touchdown grab. He later would add a key block to spring Smith-Njigba on a third down screen play to move the chains and helped put the finishing touches on the win falling forward for a first down on his fourth and final catch to lead to a Jason Myers field goal.
3. For a half, Seattle's top-five run defense showed cracks that kept Arizona in the game, but rebounded nicely.
Even without leading rusher James Conner, who landed on injured reserve two weeks ago, the Cardinals were able to find some traction with their ground game in the first two quarters by effectively using misdirection. Catching Seahawks defenders out of position and unable to set the edge, Emari Demercado ripped off an 18-yard run midway through the second quarter on an off tackle run and receiver Rondale Moore went for 15 yards on a jet sweep two plays later. This set up a 25-yard touchdown run by Dobbs on a read-option keeper, who broke through ugly tackle attempts by Quandre Diggs and Riq Woolen. At the half, Arizona had already eclipsed 100 rushing yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry.
But coming out of the half, Seattle buttoned things up and then some behind an energetic effort from Brooks, who seemed to be in on every stop. Forcing Dobbs to win the game with his arm, Arizona was limited to only 23 rushing yards on eight carries in the final two quarters. Lacking any semblance of balance with Demercado shut down and Dobbs not able to get anything else going with his legs, the visitors converted only one third down on seven attempts after halftime and failed to reach 90 total net yards in the last two quarters.
4. Led by Boye Mafe's big day, Dobbs couldn't get comfortable against a stingy pass defense.
While the Cardinals found a way to convert four of their eight third down attempts in the first half, passing the football wasn't really part of the equation, as Dobbs came out flatter than a 10-year old opened Sprite completing only eight of his first 18 attempts for 64 yards. At the center of those struggles, the Seahawks frequently got him off of his spot with quick pressure, as Mafe led the charge with multiple hurries and a third down sack in the first two quarters.
Once Arizona had been rendered one-dimensional without a run game to lean on down the stretch, things only got worse for Dobbs. The veteran signal caller found himself under constant duress, taking three sacks and six quarterback hits in the final two quarters. This didn't include a sack on a cornerback blitz by Devon Witherspoon, who had the stop negated by a questionable holding penalty on Riq Woolen in the secondary. To cap off the game, Darrell Taylor and Jarran Reed put a bow on an impressive win sacking Dobbs to lead to a turnover on downs and secure the victory.
5. Larry Izzo's special teams unit had a day to forget and wipe from the hard drive.
Aside from Smith's gaffes, in a game that wound up being closer than it should have been, Seattle's special teams miscues played a central role in keeping Arizona within striking distance. Right off the bat, Myers shanked a kickoff out of bounds along the right sideline, gifting the Cardinals with outstanding field position at the 40-yard line. Moments later, rookie Derick Hall was busted for holding on a punt return, driving the Seahawks back inside their own 10-yard line on their first possession. Putting an exclamation point on a disgusting half of football in the third phase of the game, DeeJay Dallas coughed up a fumble on a punt return in the second quarter, leading to a field goal for the opposition.
If there's a silver lining, Myers made both of his field goal attempts and Dallas later redeemed himself to an extent with a 32-yard punt return. But at the end of the day, this was one of the worst performances by Izzo's unit since he took over as the coordinator and the team will be looking to erase this performance from memory as quickly as possible.
