Seahawks Prepare For Quick Turnaround vs. Cardinals

The Seattle Seahawks will face their NFC West rivals for the second time in three weeks.

Nov 24, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) passes the ball over Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker (3) during the second half at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The scheduling quirk of NFL teams facing a division rival twice in three weeks is quite common at this point, yet it always presents an interesting dynamic.

For the second year in a row, the Seattle Seahawks' schedule includes this quirk, this time with the Arizona Cardinals. On Sunday, the two teams will face off in a crucial NFC West showdown in Glendale, just two weeks after Seattle won a 16-6 matchup in the Emerald City.

Facing a team twice in such a short span doesn't necessarily make things easier or harder, but it does add a new twist to the matchup.

"I don't think we look at it through the lens of whether it's more difficult or easier. It just kind of is what it is," Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday. "The information that you get in is a little more recent than normal when you play a team the second time, but I think you look at it like any other week.

"When you play a team twice, what went into the game plan, how you felt during the game, how we debriefed, and obviously, you're going to apply that to what's happened over the last week or so, and kind of the game that was sandwiched in between it. I'd say it's definitely way more like a normal week than not."

The last time these two teams met, Seattle's defense put on a masterful performance, allowing just 49 rushing yards while holding the Cardinals out of the end zone.

The highlight came in the middle of the third quarter, when Coby Bryant picked off a Kyler Murray pass on fourth down and returned it 69 yards for the only touchdown of the game.

Unsurprisingly, that performance will serve as a blueprint heading into Sunday's game.

"I think it's an example of having a plan throughout the week and preparing together with a sense of urgency about how we want to play the game and applying that," Macdonald said. "And then as the game starts to unfold, how we communicate on the sideline, how we adjust, how we feel like they're playing us, things like that, how the game's going. The togetherness of our unit is probably the most important thing right now in how we prepare the mentality and the confidence going into game plans and throughout the week.

"The challenge is to take it to the next level. That's what we want to do. So there are things that after that game where we felt like maybe there are some areas where Arizona might want to attack us, and we've got to go to work on those things and do what we do."

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