What Loss to Seahawks Means for Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 16-6 on Sunday. It was a poorly-played game, riddled with mistakes and penalties on both sides of the ball.

As I predicted earlier this week, much to the chagrin of Twitter/X, Arizona faced an unfavorable matchup in a tough road environment, and could not get the job done in a critical moment, despite a final score that gives the illusion of a close contest.

The Cardinals fall to 6-5, albeit not the worst position to be in, but will relinquish first place in the NFC West to the Seahawks, who are looking hotter by the week.

With playoff implications rolling out as the calendar nears December, here’s what the loss means for the Cardinals:

The Cardinals didn’t need to win to remain in playoff contention. With that said, it sure feels like Sunday’s loss might be setting an inauspicious tone for the rest of the season. On paper, Arizona has favorable matchups, but most (not this writer) probably assumed they had a favorable matchup coming into week 12.

With today’s loss, the Cardinals’ playoff chances drop to 40%. That in and of itself isn’t the worst number to see, but a win would’ve given them a 76% chance, with a temporary two-game lead in the division.

Now, Seattle holds the division. The 49ers aren’t coming to save the day, and no one truly knows what the Rams can and can’t do in 2024.

I also wrote this during the bye week: Arizona’s playoff hopes ride very heavily on the two matchups with Seattle. A loss at home in Week 14 would likely put this season on ice, unless they somehow win out all their other games.

After four straight wins, and coming off a bye week, it’s actually quite understandable to see a bit of a dud in this type of situation. What’s not acceptable is to do so against a division rival, with first place on the line.

Jonathan Gannon was swept out of the NFC West last season, again, understandably so with the roster he had. Prior to Sunday, he’d gone 2-0, blowing out the Rams at home and coming back to beat the 49ers in Santa Clara.

Those are both great wins, no doubt about it. Gannon, his coaches and his squad deserved the credit they got for doing so. But to truly succeed in this league, you have to be able to win games like Sunday’s in Seattle.

You have to be able to win the close, ugly, sloppy games against a tough opponent in a tough environment. It’s eat or be eaten in the NFC West, and a loss of this caliber is not encouraging as to their ability to play in critical moments down the stretch.

There are three NFC West matchups remaining, and the stakes will only get higher. 2-1 is the worst Arizona could go without sinking to the depths of the division, and they’ll need to play better in brighter lights.

Arizona’s defense played a very good game on Sunday. They allowed just 10 points, with six coming from a Seattle defensive score, picked off Geno Smith in a crucial down, and generated tons of pressure, including five sacks. The Seahawks only managed 285 yards of offense.

With that said, the Cardinals’ offense was the difference in the game – and not in a positive way. There were plenty of missed opportunities, some bad officiating and penalties that hurt them, and mental mistakes on everyone’s part, but Sunday’s loss was one of the most incompetent offensive games we’ve seen Arizona play.

Kyler Murray, who has been quietly playing elite football, was very poor. He threw for 285 yards, but was sacked five times, couldn’t break contain, and was inaccurate, with a costly pick-six in the third quarter.

He looked uncomfortable overall in the pocket, wouldn’t commit to running, and seemed to be in a twitchy state, leading to overthrows and poor decisions.

Part of that was on the poor offensive line play. Murray was pressured 14 times and was a mere 1-for-8 on those dropbacks. But game-breaking running back James Conner was also held to just eight yards on only seven carries. Arizona only ran the ball 14 times, despite never trailing by more than 10.

The Cardinals’ offense is run-first, and it seemed that they never attempted to establish it. When this unit becomes one-dimensional, bad things happen. Outside of a monster 133-yard (and zero-touchdown) day from Trey McBride, even the passing game looked pedestrian.

The Cardinals will face a tough opponent in the Minnesota Vikings next week, before the ultimate showdown rematch with Seattle the week after. If they can flush some of these issues, we’re in for some good, high-stakes football, but it’s hard to be optimistic after a showing like Sunday’s.