Huard: What Seattle Seahawks need to repeat against Cardinals

The Seattle Seahawks have had a number of important matchups in recent weeks, but this Sunday’s game is shaping up to be the biggest of the season thus far.

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The first-place Seahawks travel to face the second-place Arizona Cardinals with a chance to remain alone atop the division and secure a tiebreaker over Arizona. With just four games remaining after, Seattle (7-5 record) can push its lead to two games over the Cardinals (6-6), who are tied with Los Angeles Rams.

The Seahawks and Cardinals met just two weeks ago at Lumen Field – a 16-6 Seattle victory that was highlighted by a dominant defensive effort.

A major key to Seattle’s strong showing on defense was its ability to contain the running threat presented by quarterback Kyler Murray. The speedy signal-caller rushed for just 9 yards on two carries, one of just three times Murray has been held to single-digit rushing yards this season.

During his Blue 88 segment Thursday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, FOX football analyst and former NFL QB Brock Huard explained why keeping Murray in check on the ground again will be of utmost importance for the Seahawks on Sunday.

“Kyler in the Arizona Cardinals’ six wins this year, he’s run for 252 yards, over 40 a game, including four rushing touchdowns,” Huard said. “In his six losses, he’s run for 29 yards a game (and) no rushing touchdowns.”

Containing Murray on the ground showed up in a major way the last time the teams met on a game-changing play that cemented Seattle’s win. With Arizona facing fourth-and-1 at the Seahawks’ 40-yard down 7-3 midway through the third quarter, the Cardinals attempted to get Murray out on a bootleg off play-action, but Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon was able to keep the edge and force Murray into an errant throw that resulted in a pick-six for safety Coby Bryant.

Huard feels the Cardinals need to do a better job of actively trying to take advantage of Murray’s legs. He just hopes they wait another week to do so.

“If you’re Kyler Murray and I’m Arizona and you’re coming down the stretch of the season … you gotta run,” Huard said. “I would boot him, I would waggle him, I would sprint him, I would get him out of the pocket seven to 10 times a game. I’d run speed option once or twice a game. I would get that guy’s legs activated, and for whatever reason they’ve not done a ton of that. I don’t wanna see that Sunday against Seattle.

“When he doesn’t run, he becomes very, very, very average. It’s gotta stay that way Sunday afternoon in the desert.”

Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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• Brock and Salk: Can the Seahawks’ defense be called elite?
• See uniforms for Seattle Seahawks’ huge road game at Cardinals

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