The Arizona Cardinals lost their fourth consecutive game on Sunday, a 20-10 defeat on the road to the Seattle Seahawks. They fell to 1-6 and 0-3 in divisional games.
They did not score in the second half.
What did we learn in the loss? Below are our takeaways.
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Trystan Colon, not Dennis Daley at LG
With Elijah Wilkinson out with a neck injury, it was believed that Dennis Daley would get the start. However, it was Colon.
Garrett Williams in the slot
Williams’ first assignment in his NFL debut was play in the slot. The Cardinals did not have either Jalen Thompson or Antonio Hamilton, as both were hurt, so Williams played in the slot in his first NFL game. He had an interception!
Starling Thomas in place of Kei'Trel Clark
Clark was questionable for the game with a hamstring injury and had limited practice time. As a result, it was Thomas who started at cornerback. He finished with four tackles, one for a loss, and a pass breakup.
Josh Dobbs' legs = good, Josh Dobbs' arm = not so good
Dobbs had another rough game, but he made up for some of it with his legs.
He did not turn the ball over but had a few bad decisions. He had only 146 passing yards on 33 attempts (4.2 yards per attempt). He completed only 57.6% of his passes.
However, he had a 25-yard touchdown run and rushed for 43 total yards.
His legs kept the Cardinals in the game. His passing? Not so much.
More second-half woes
The Cardinals entered Week 7 having been outscored in the second half of games 98-30. The defense did its job, holding the Seahawks to only six second-half points, but the offense was shut out in the second half for the second straight week. They now have a minus-74 point differential in the second half of games.
Emari Demercado given big role
Last week against the Rams, the running back rotation was split pretty evenly, but Keaontay Ingram and Damien Williams split the rushing attempts, while Emari Demercado played on passing downs.
Against Seattle, Demercado was the featured back. He rushed 13 times for 58 yards and caught four passes for 17 yards.
Ingram didn’t appear to play at all and Williams had only one carry.
Takeaways, but not taking advantage
The Cardinals had three takeaways on Sunday, which is fantastic. Safety Joey Blount forced a fumble on a punt return for the second straight week. Garrett Williams had an interception in his NFL debut. Kevin Strong snatched up a fumbled snap by Geno Smith.
However, the Cardinals turned those three takeaways into only three points. That’s bad.
Another 100-yard rusher
Seattle running back Kenneth Walker finished with 105 rushing yards. Over the last five weeks, Tony Pollard, Christian McCaffrey, Kyren Williams and Walker all have gone over 100 yards against the Cardinals.
