The Arizona Cardinals headed into Week 3 favored to win their matchup with the Carolina Panthers. They were coming off an 18-point comeback against the Lions and an impressive outing in Baltimore. Instead, they were embarrassed at home by Panthers backup QB Kyle Allen, who head a near-perfect passer rating and with four touchdown passes. Kyler Murray and the offense looked good in the first half, but slumped late in the game, while the defense was consistently bad.
This week, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks come to town, who are arguably the Cardinals’ biggest rival. The Seahawks are coming off an embarrassment at home themselves, losing to backup QB Teddy Bridgewater and the New Orleans Saints. Their box score is a lot closer than Arizona’s, but most of those points came in garbage time. The Seahawks were also beaten badly.
The Seahawks (2-1) and the Cardinals (0-2-1) are both needing a win desperately. Arizona has the opportunity to regain pace in the NFC with a win over Seattle and a trip to visit the struggling Cincinnati Bengals next week. The Seahawks can earn their third win to tie the 49ers and Rams at the top of the West.
Before we get into the breakdown of the Seahawks, I’d like to take this week’s preview to discuss Sunday’s halftime ceremony.
A Final Farewell to a Franchise Great:
At halftime on Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals will induct former QB Carson Palmer into their Ring of Honor. The gesture is sort of a final goodbye and a thank you to one of the Cardinals’ best players in recent years.
Palmer’s biggest stats during his tenure with the team are the following:
- 1,373 completions
- 62.5-percent completion percentage
- 16,782 yards
- 105 touchdown passes
- 57 INTs
- 91.1 QBR
While the numbers are impressive on their own, Palmer’s time in Arizona took the franchise out of a depressing time, where the team was lost and unable to recover from the loss of quarterback Kurt Warner. He took the team to the postseason and won one of the most iconic playoff games in NFL history. With Palmer under center, the Cardinals were always a dangerous threat to opposing teams.
This Sunday, fans will take a break from the Kyler Murray mania and reflect in thanks to one of the Cardinals’ best players.
On to the preview of the game…
The Seahawks offense
The Cardinals know all too well the talents of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who is still among the game’s best. Despite their week three loss to the Saints, Wilson threw for over 400 yards and had two passing touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception this season and will meet a Cardinals defense that has yet to force an interception.
The Seahawks receiving core has taken a step back following the retirement of Doug Baldwin, but the unit has still been productive, as made evident by Russell Wilson’s passing numbers. Their main threat is WR Tyler Lockett, who has 277 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Rookie D.K. Metcalf has shown flashes of talent so far with 217 yards.
Seattle had the most productive rushing attack in 2018, but this has yet to translate into this season. Running Back Chris Carson fumbled three times in Sunday’s loss to New Orleans. The struggles have gone beyond just one game, however. Carson is only averaging 3.5 yards a carry on the year, which is far from his 4.7 in 2018. To make matters worse for Seattle, former first-round pick Rashaad Penny missed last week’s game and did not practice on Wednesday. The rushing attack has not been there for the Seahawks, but so far, Russell Wilson has kept the offense moving.
If the Cardinals are to stop Seattle’s offense, they will need a far better performance out of their defense. The pass-rushing duo of Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs has to hit home more often to give the depleted secondary a better chance of success. CBs Chris Jones and Trumaine Brock have to step up after getting gassed against Carolina. S D.J. Swearinger struggled mightily against Greg Olsen, as the Cardinals have all year against tight ends. Seahawks TE Will Dissly is no pushover and must be contained.
The Seahawks defense:
Seattle’s defense is a far cry from the Legion of Boom of a few seasons ago, but they still have playmakers that should give Kliff Kingsbury’s offense some troubles.
The acquisition of DE Jadeveon Clowney was huge for the Hawks, as they’ve been missing a star on the D-line since the departure of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril. He only has one sack in three games, but Clowney at his best is a disruptive force for opposing offenses.
While the Seahawks’ secondary has had its fair share of issues to start the season, the linebacking core is still among the league’s best. Bobby Wagner is arguably the best middle linebacker in football and K.J. Wright is still very effective. The Cardinals run game will have fits trying to run past Wagner, as they did at times against Carolina’s Luke Kuechly.
All in all, the Seahawks defense has allowed a good amount of points the past few weeks, but they still have a few stars that could give Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense trouble.
Final thoughts:
Obviously, this is a huge game for the Cardinals. Losing another game would put them far behind the rest of the NFC West. The Seahawks have a lot to prove as well, coming off a concerning loss of their own.
Kliff Kingsbury needs to get David Johnson more touches. A few of his only touches were very positive runs that took pressure off Kyler Murray in the first half. The offensive line has proven to struggle in late-game scenarios on passing downs, so mixing up the attack early will help this unit greatly.
To state the obvious, the Cardinals defense cannot play the way they did last week, or Russell Wilson is going to utterly embarrass the team in front of their home crowd. When they’ve had success against Wilson in the past, it was usually led by Chandler Jones and company with a consistent pass rush.
If the Cardinals can win this game, they’ll have the chance to get back to .500 with a trip to visit the Bengals the following week.
See you all on Sunday.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
