Seahawks Rapid Reaction: 'Hawks Season Ends With a Thud Despite 21-20 Win vs. Cardinals
Seeing their season come to a bittersweet end with playoff elimination courtesy of the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks finished on a winning note by fending off the Arizona Cardinals in a 21-20 win.
Throwing his NFL record-setting seventh touchdown pass to take the lead in the fourth quarter, Geno Smith hit Tyler Lockett for a 34-yard score inside two minutes to play and connected with his veteran receiver on a two-point conversion to take a one-point lead. Devon Witherspoon spearheaded the defense with three tackles for loss, while Darrell Taylor added a sack.
Here are five quick observations from Seattle's season-ending victory at State Farm Stadium:
1. After struggling for most of the second half, Smith delivers on a late comeback drive with the playoffs out of picture.
Despite playing against a secondary missing multiple starters at cornerback that had given up 30 passing touchdowns this year and a pass rush that ranked near the bottom of the league in sack and pressure rate, the Seahawks couldn't find an answer to the Cardinals frequent blitzing. Under duress early and often, Smith had to unload several passes out of bounds in the first half with receivers somehow unable to get open and pressure bearing down on him, leading to a rare sub-50 percent completion rate in the first half. Despite that, however, he did lead three scoring drives, throwing three explosive completions, including a 19-yard touchdown to Dissly that put the visitors up by seven in the second quarter. He also scrambled away from a sack for a 21-yard run to set up a Jason Myers field goal before half.
Unfortunately, things got much worse after halftime with Smith and the passing game unable to get back in a rhythm and pass protection falling apart. Starting with possession in the third quarter, the offense went three-and-out on two of their next four series and each drive ended with a Michael Dickson punt. But after news broke that the Packers had beat the Bears to eliminate the Seahawks, the signal caller engineered a four-play, 67-yard drive that culminated with the touchdown to Lockett. With the game no latter mattering from a postseason perspective, they went for two and converted on a short throw to Lockett over the middle for the win, securing his fifth game-winning drive of the year.
2. Ending the season on a strong note, Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet ran well in a rare 100-plus yard performance.
For most of the 2023 season, the Seahawks struggled to sustain a viable run game to complement Smith and his stable of receivers. But as they did against the Cardinals back in Week 7, they found a way to get Ken Walker III rolling early, using him as the engine driving three scoring drives out of the backfield. In a dizzying display, he frenetically bounced back and forth from sideline to sideline, turning several seemingly dead plays into big gains. Among several highlight-worthy carries, he sling-shotted himself from the right sideline across field midway through the first quarter, out-running several pursuing defenders to the opposite sideline before turning upfield for a 16-yard run. This followed a 12-yard run earlier in the drive where he cut back against the grain to his left to turn nothing into a first down.
Unfortunately, with Seattle's offense floundering for much of the final 30 minutes, Walker wasn't near as effective in the second half rushing seven times for 23 yards. After rushing for 108 yards in the first two quarters, Arizona bottled up the visitors with 30 total rushing yards after halftime, a microcosm of the inconsistency that has plagued the team in the run game all season long. The coaching staff will have to go back to the drawing board searching for a way to get the ground attack back on track after a disappointing season controlling the line of scrimmage and establishing offensive balance as a whole.
3. New day, same issues as the Seahawks couldn't tackle or defend the run to save their postseason lives.
For the first 15 minutes and change, Seattle looked to have successfully hit the reset button defending the run after Pittsburgh gashed them for over 200 yards a week ago. At the time, Arizona had just 16 yards on seven carries. But after that point, the same tackling and run fit woes that have haunted the team over the past two months returned with a vengeance. Leading to a Matt Prater field goal, Kyler Murray slipped outside as a scrambler and exploded past several defenders for a 33-yard run. On the next play, James Conner rumbled down the left sideline for a 20-yard run inside the opposing five-yard line.
After halftime, the Seahawks continued to struggle giving up explosives on the ground, starting with an embarrassing display of defense on the opening drive of the third quarter. Letting the Cardinals sprint 87 yards on just four plays, Conner starred on the drive with a 34-yard catch and run on a screen and a 29-yard touchdown where he went untouched off the left tackle to knot the game at 13 apiece. Allowing 206 yards and 5.6 yards per carry with Conner rushing for 150 by himself, it was another rough performance for a once-prideful defense surrendering 5.4 yards per carry and six runs of 12 or more yards on the afternoon.
4. Explosives weren't limited to the run game as Arizona torched Seattle with screens, downfield pass plays.
Taking advantage of a Seattle defense that hasn't been able to consistently tackle in space for large chunks of the season and a hobbled linebacker in Jordyn Brooks, Arizona turned to the screen game right off the bat to combat an aggressive pass rush and kept going back to them as the game progressed with a ton of success. On the game's opening series, tight end Trey McBride caught a quick bubble screen and raced 25 yards down the sideline coming off a successful block on the outside. On the next possession, Conner opened the second quarter taking a quick screen from Murray and took off behind a barricade of blockers for an 18-yard pickup. The versatile back later added a 34-yard gain on a second screen early in the third quarter to set up his own touchdown run.
Away from the screen exploits, Murray found ways to beat Seattle's secondary with chunk plays in the passing game as well. In particular, he connected with rookie receiver Michael Wilson on a pair of explosive receptions, including a 28-yard catch on a successful flea flicker in the second quarter. Receiver Elijah Higgins also got into the act with a 25-yard reception in the fourth quarter moments before Murray hit McBride for a touchdown on 4th and goal in the fourth quarter. Overall, he threw for 268 yards and averaged 8.7 yards per attempt with a touchdown and a 110.7 passer rating in defeat.
5. On the plus side, the Seahawks were the better team on special teams...
Dealing with the same issues on both sides of the ball that have given them fits throughout the year, Seattle nearly coughed up another close game in the final quarter. But thankfully, the defense did hold firm on several drives, including holding Arizona to only a pair of field goals in the first half. Then in the second half, normally reliable kicker Matt Prater picked the worst time to have an off game, first missing a 43-yard field goal wide right after the Seahawks had used all three of their timeouts before the two-minute warning. If he would have made the kick, it would have been a 10-point game without the visitors being able to stop the clock.
Following Smith's latest game-winning heroics, Prater had another opportunity to send his team to a fifth victory and end the season on a good note. But with only one second left on the clock, his final attempt faded right of the uprights just as the previous kick did, sending the Seahawks into a frenzy despite the fact the win didn't catapult them into the playoffs. With Myers making both of his field goal attempts, that discrepancy between kickers proved to be the difference.
