Seattle, WA
Game Predictions: Seahawks Week 14 vs. Cardinals
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Seattle Seahawks are taking a three-game win streak into their Week 14 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Seahawks (7-5) are holding a one-game lead over the Cardinals (6-6), but their lead is narrow. This game is close to must-win territory for Seattle if it hopes to remain in the NFC West driver’s seat.
Despite their recent stretch of wins, every game remains critical for Seattle. Any loss will hinder the Seahawks’ postseason hopes — especially a defeat against an in-division opponent. There is little wiggle room in the NFC West this season.
Can the Seahawks stay in the win column on Sunday to take a three-game lead over Arizona? Our writing staff has a few predictions and players to watch in Sunday’s Week 14 game.
Only a few short weeks ago, the Cardinals were one of the hottest teams in the NFL, winning four consecutive games before their bye week to vault to the top of the NFC West. But life comes at you fast in the league, and since that week off, Kyler Murray and the offense have gone cold, with the Seahawks holding them to a mere six points at Lumen Field two weeks ago.
It’s hard to envision Arizona, which will be as desperate as an NFL team can be needing a win to keep diminishing playoff hopes alive, not being able to find a bit more of a spark at home on Sunday. Murray will have his full complement of receivers and the chance to do extra self scouting should provide the opportunity to make adequate adjustments to counter how Seattle shut them down only two weeks ago, including mixing in more bootleg action to get the quarterback out of the pocket and testing the edges a bit more with the run game.
With that said, the Seahawks have been winning games even without Geno Smith and their offense clicking anywhere close to all cylinders, and the veteran quarterback has historically played quite well in Glendale. In his past two starts there, he has completed north of 67 percent of his pass attempts with four touchdown passes and an interception, leading the team to a pair of road victories.
After the two teams combined for just 22 points in Week 12, with the roof set to open on a sunny day in the desert, more scoring will likely be needed this time around to secure a win. Not having Ken Walker III available may make that task a little trickier for Seattle, but at the same time, Zach Charbonnet is coming off an impressive outing in New Jersey and weather conditions should be better suited for Smith to air it out to DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Tyler Lockett, giving the NFC West leaders a significant advantage in this must-win contest. -Corbin Smith
Corbin’s Pick to Click: Zach Charbonnet
The impact of Walker’s absence cannot be understated, as he’s one of the NFL’s most explosive backs and has the ability to take any carry the distance, a trait Charbonnet can’t physically match. But in an odd way, Charbonnet’s more physical, bruising style may be better suited right now for Grubb’s offense with a suspect offensive line up front. Last week, his no nonsense approach netted better results than Walker, as he averaged seven yards per carry and rumbled into the end zone for a game-winning eight-yard touchdown after breaking multiple tackles in the clutch.
As a starter this year, Charbonnet has rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns in wins over the Patriots and Dolphins, averaging a healthy four yards per carry while also adding eight receptions out of the backfield. When he has had extensive playing time, he has consistently found the end zone and found ways to create despite suboptimal blocking in front of him, forcing 12 missed tackles and averaging over 4.5 yards per carry after contact in those two starts. Facing a defense with smaller linebackers in Mack Wilson and Kyzir White, his size and flair for dishing out punishment could ironically be a blessing in disguise in this particular matchup.
Corbin’s Prediction: Seahawks 27, Cardinals 19
Seattle dominated the first matchup because of its defense. That unit has shown no signs of slowing down since, which positions the Seahawks perfectly heading into this game.
Even though Seattle’s offensive production has declined significantly since the bye, the Seahawks are allowing 10 fewer points during that same span. With the aid of defensive touchdowns, they are only scoring three fewer points. Thus, the offense needs to step up or the defense needs to keep putting points on the board.
The Cardinals didn’t show anything in their game against the Minnesota Vikings last week that displays there will be a massive difference in this contest. Quarterback Kyler Murray and running back James Conner were more productive on the ground, but Seattle’s run defense has been tops in the league the last three weeks. There’s no reason to believe that will change in Week 14.
With Kenneth Walker III out, Zach Charbonnet could thrive versus Arizona. Charbonnet’s downhill running style could punish Arizona’s front seven, and an established run game would make all the difference for Seattle’s offense. With an improved defense, a quality performance by quarterback Geno Smith and the Seahawks offense would be a massive push towards a win. – Connor Benintendi
Connor’s Pick to Click: CB Devon Witherspoon
Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon is primed for a big game. Witherspoon has no takeaways and no sacks so far this season, but has created plenty of plays for others (i.e. safety Coby Bryant’s pick-six against Arizona in Week 12). He’s been all over the field, but hasn’t had the box score impact that is expected.
The bold prediction for this game is that Witherspoon nabs a pick-six, which would be Seattle’s third in three games. There’s only so many plays the second-year former No. 5 overall pick can make for others before Witherspoon has to get his own game-changer.
Connor’s Score Prediction: Seahawks 28, Cardinals 12
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Santa Clara—When Seattle’s defense stepped on the field for the Week 18 matchup against the 49ers, they had a few goals in mind, winning was of course one of those, but they wanted to show everyone watching they are the best defense in the league.
“We made up our mind that we were going to be the best defense in the NFL,” linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said. “We were going to show the world tonight and that’s what we did.”
As has been the case for the entire season, the Seahawks’ defense was once again a highlight in their 13-3 win. The Seahawks won, in part thanks to a dominant performance by the defense that held the San Francisco 49ers to just three points. The last time Kyle Shanahan’s offense was held to just three points was in his 49ers head coaching debut in 2017. Since then, San Francisco has scored at least 6 points in every game, until Saturday.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the 49ers were riding a three-game streak of great performances by its offense. Throughout all three of those games, San Francisco was averaging 42.3 points per game, 455.3 yards per game and 29.3 first downs per game.
Seattle’s defense held San Francisco to just 53 rushing yards, which included 21 yards from quarterback Brock Purdy, 127 yards through the air, a lone field goal, and just nine first downs. They also picked off Purdy once, sacked him three times and forced the 49ers to punt four times.
“They’re a tremendous offense,” head coach Mike Macdonald said following the game. “Probably top whatever in the league and have been doing it for a long time. They have great players, they have great coaches, and the numbers back it up. Our guys played great complimentary football today. They really did. I can’t say enough, but I can’t wait to watch the tape. There’s a lot of assists going on in there, guys rushing unselfishly to free somebody else up or to let somebody else have a two-way go so they can cover for them. How we played in the back end, it felt like we were ahead of plays. These guys did a great job. I’m looking forward to watching it.”
Christian McCaffery, one of San Francisco’s top offensive playmakers in both the run and passing game was held to his lowest rushing yards all season with 23 yards through the night and his fourth lowest receiving yards with 34.
Nick Emmanwori who had a team high seven tackles, as well as a tackle for loss and quarterback hit said, “Our front seven is the best in the world. Our D-Line is the best in the world. Got dudes like Jarran Reed, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy. Our edges are dogs. They handle business every week. We’ve got the best run defense I the league. It makes it easy for us on the back end.”
We’ll have to wait one more day to learn who takes the NFC South crown.
The Buccaneers, losers of seven of their last eight coming into today, were able to piece together a tough, 16-14 win in bad weather against the Panthers. It was a calming three hours for the Bucs and their fans, who had seen their team go from theorized Super Bowl contender in the early months of the season to bottomless freefall.
Had the Panthers found a way to win today, the NFC South, and the #4 seed in the NFC, would have been determined. Instead, we’ll have to wait another day, as a matchup between the two NFC South rivals who are eliminated from the postseason entirely will now determine everything. Certainly ironic, but great for drama.
The New Orleans Saints travel to the Atlanta Falcons tomorrow to wrap up their respective seasons, and while they’re not playing for much more than pride, both the Buccaneers and Panthers will be watching with great interest. If the Falcons win, today will prove to be little more than a minor setback for Carolina, and they’ll win the division regardless.
However, should the Saints get the road upset, everything gets flipped. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were seemingly skidding towards a shocking early offseason, would be awarded the division on tiebreakers. Their Week Eight 23-3 victory over New Orleans, at the time seemingly innocuous, would end up salvaging their playoff spot.
Both Atlanta and New Orleans are on hot runs right now, the Falcons winners of three straight and the Saints on a four game streak. It’s a surprisingly compelling game given that both teams are guaranteed losing records on the season.
And this is very relevant to the Seattle Seahawks, because depending on tonight’s result in San Francisco, the NFC South division winner will either possibly, or definitely, be the team they play in their first playoff game.
If Seattle prevails tonight and takes the top seed in the NFC, it is entirely possible that their Divisional Round opponent is whoever comes out on top here. As the top seed, they play the lowest remaining seed, which would be either Carolina or Tampa Bay if all three home teams win on Wild Card Weekend. I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s entirely possible.
On the other hand, if the Seahawks drop their game tonight and end up the #5 seeded NFC squad, then they’re drawing the winner of the NFC South in the first round for sure. Seattle has already played both teams this year, dropping an early-season bout to Tampa Bay 38-35, and just last week handling Carolina 27-10.
Of course, the Buccaneers were a far better team in that Week Five matchup, and the Seahawks have changed radically over the last three months as well, so it’s a matter of debate which team Seattle matches up better with. I imagine most Seahawks fans would feel good about either opponent, but there’s probably a preference somewhere in there.
Regardless, we’ll be waiting one more day to find out who the opponent will be, by which Seattle will already know if they’re watching the first round of the playoffs on a bye, or facing off against the south’s winner on the road.
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Kicker Harrison Mevis aims to get back on track when the Rams play the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Mevis, signed by the Rams in November, made all eight of his field-goal attempts before missing from 48 yards late in the fourth quarter of the Rams’ 38-37 overtime defeat by the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 18 in Seattle.
“Just continuing to keep firing away,” Mevis said. “I’m not going to be perfect in my career — nobody is. And it’s all about how you respond and bounce back and make the next kick.”
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Gary Klein breaks down everything you need to know heading into Monday night’s matchup between the Rams and the Atlanta Falcons.
In the aftermath of the loss, which included a fourth-quarter punt return for a touchdown by the Seahawks, Rams coach Sean McVay fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn.
Three of the Rams’ four losses have resulted from major kicking-game miscues, and Blackburn’s firing was just the latest change made to solve the issues.
When the Rams signed Mevis to replace Joshua Karty — who last week was signed by the Arizona Cardinals off the Rams practice squad — they also brought in veteran snapper Jake McQuaide to replace Alex Ward.
The game against the Falcons will serve as Ben Kotwica’s debut as interim special teams coordinator.
Kotwica has worked in the NFL for most of the last 18 years, and he coached with McVay on Washington’s staff. Kotwica was the Denver Broncos special teams coordinator in 2023 and 2024 before joining the Rams staff as a special teams assistant.
“We’ve had a couple of plays that have cost us during the course of the year, but I love the way that our guys are going about the business,” Kotwica said. “They understand the urgency. We’re part of a championship football team and we’re just ready to contribute to holding up that Lombardi [Trophy] early next year.”
Key injuries
Rams: OL Kevin Dotson (ankle, out); DB Josh Wallace (ankle, out); WR Davante Adams (hamstring, doubtful); OL Alaric Jackson (knee, questionable); DL Braden Fiske (ankle, questionable but expected to play); CB Roger McCreary (hip, expected to be activated to roster from injured reserve).
Falcons: CB Mike Hughes (ankle, out); CB Clark Phillips III (triceps/illness, out); DL Sam Roberts (knee/ankle, out); WR Drake London (knee, questionable).
How to watch and listen to Rams vs. Falcons
The Rams (11-4) and the Atlanta Falcons (6-9) will play at 5:15 p.m. PST Monday. The game will be shown on ABC in the Los Angeles area and nationally on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. In Southern California, fans can listen to the game on 710 AM, 93.1 FM and 1330 AM (Español).
Betting odds and lines for Rams vs. Falcons
Who will win Rams vs. Falcons?
Gary Klein’s pick: A few weeks ago, this looked like a potential easy victory for the Rams. Now it could be more difficult. Still, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will outduel Kirk Cousins. Rams 30, Falcons 24
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