RENTON, Wash. – Next week should be really fun.

After a second straight blowout victory for the Seattle Seahawks, next week’s battle for the NFC West lead with the Los Angeles Rams looms as a key matchup in the postseason race for both teams (and the rest of the conference).

Another dominant first half performance on both sides of the ball saw Seattle with a 38-7 lead at halftime. DeMarcus Lawrence had two fumble return touchdowns on defense to go along with an all-around offensive showing against Arizona.

While the third quarter was sloppy with multiple turnovers, the Cardinals were able to turn that into points of their own as they made the final score look less like the beat down than it was in actuality.

Seattle also posted its best rushing performance of the season, gaining 198 yards on the day with touchdowns from Zach Charbonnet and George Holani.

“Obviously, it’s a great team win,” quarterback Sam Darnold said. “I thought offensively we were really efficient in the first half. Second half got the run game going a little bit. Third quarter was a little sloppy with the turnovers and we’ve got to clean that up obviously. But to be able to end of game on our terms in a four-minute situation, running the football out, that’s how you want to end every single game.

Coming off a 38-14 romp over the Washington Commanders last week, the Seahawks are now on a four-game winning streak and have won seven of their last eight games. They’ve dominated most of those last wins over Jacksonville, Houston, Washington and Arizona, with the lone hiccup being a game they scored 35 points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Seahawks have the making of a VERY good football team. Next week’s game with the Rams will be the headline matchup of the week in the NFL between two 7-2 teams.

But first, a look back at Seattle’s blowout win over the Cardinals.

Tyrice Knight, DeMarcus Lawrence team up for two touchdowns.

Tyrice Knight and DeMarcus Lawrence may have done something on Sunday that has never before happened in NFL history.

Lawrence scored two touchdowns on fumble returns in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals. Both fumbles were forced by Knight on sacks of Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett.

“You can’t draw that up,” Lawrence said. “T-Knight did a great job running the play exactly how Coach Macdonald drew it up, and I was the lucky recipient of the two forced fumbles. I’ll take it every day.”

Knight came on blitzes and managed to dislodge the ball from Brissett’s hand before his forward throwing motion could begin. Lawrence was perfectly positioned to pick up the football in both instances as he raced for touchdowns of 34 yards and 22 yards as Seattle surged to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter.

“Both of those were pressures we haven’t ran before, and so to be able to go in and execute those things not getting all the reps was some high-powered stuff,” Macdonald said.

“I couldn’t believe the D-Law got the second. I was like, with holy crap. It’s him again. The way that he attacked the ball, T-Knight is just awesome. Haven’t forced any fumbles this year on defense and got two today. It’s awareness, just taking advantage of those opportunities. It was awesome.”

Both plays were reviewed to see if Brissett’s arm was moving forward with the call standing in both instances.

Per Stathead.com, Lawrence is just the fourth player in NFL history to have two touchdowns off fumble returns in the same game. It’s only happened once in the Super Bowl era.

Jeremy Chinn of the Carolina Panthers accomplished the feat on back-to-back offensive snaps for the Minnesota Vikings in a 28-27 Panthers loss on November 29, 2020.

Prior to Chinn, it hadn’t happened since 1948 when Fred Evans had a pair of touchdowns for the Chicago Bears in a 48-13 win over the Washington Redskins. The only other instance came in 1920 as Al Nesser had two scores for the Akron Pros over the Wheeling Stogies.

And if you’ve never heard of those teams? Join the club.

The part that may be unique to Seattle is that Knight and Lawrence combined for both scores. Play-by-play data doesn’t go back far enough to know who forced the fumbles on the touchdowns for Evans and Nesser in their games. Chinn had one fumble forced himself and the other way by Zach Kerr.

Lawrence only had one fumble return touchdown in his career prior to Sunday, a 19-yard score against the Los Angeles Rams while playing for the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 9, 2022.

It’s also the first two forced fumbles of Knight’s career.

Knight was in the starting lineup in place of Ernest Jones IV, who was sidelined with a knee injury. Knight himself had a knee injury and a heart issue in training camp that sidelined him until the start of the season and he struggled early in the year.

Knight said that it took until after their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5 for his knee to feel back to 100 percent.

“I just feel like me again, just back moving and playing football better,” Knight said. “It’s good for my rehab to get back right, just for me staying strong and just staying locked in with everything. Things will work out how they’re supposed to work out.”

How much to read into the best rushing output of the year?

The Seahawks unquestionably had their best rushing performance of the season.

Seattle rushed for over 200 yards in the game before late kneel downs brought the total back down to 198 yards overall.

“Felt like we were physical. Felt like we were going to the right people,” Macdonald said. “We took the line. Thought our running backs played really well. Finished runs the right way. Ball was never in jeopardy. So those are all positive things.”

The Seahawks surpassed their previous season-high of 155 rushing yards, which also came against the Cardinals in Arizona in Week 4.

“This is the second game in a row now against Arizona that our offensive staff has done a great job of getting to runs that — through adjustments, part of our game plan, over the course of the game that made our run game finish strong. So both games. They deserve a lot of credit,” Macdonald said.

Getting the running game to be a consistent producer might be the final box the Seahawks need to check in their quest to becoming a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Seattle wants to run the ball and has been committed to it throughout the year, they just haven’t been as successful as they’d like to be.

Against Arizona, the Seahawks rushed 46 times for 198 yards with seven total players getting rushing attempts. Seven of those came from Sam Darnold and Drew Lock, so lets remove those and the minus-6 yards they combined for on those plays and it’s 39 carries for 204 yards and a 5.2 yards per carry average on the day.

“The backs were running great,” receiver Cooper Kupp said. “I thought the O-line did an awesome job as well. It’s not just about being positive, but the explosives that came out of the running game. Those are the kind of plays that make offenses very dangerous, when you can be explosive in both facets of your offense.”

Perhaps the best part of the performance came after consecutive drives with Seattle turnovers in the third quarter and a turnover on downs forced by the defense. The Seahawks ran 12 consecutive rushing plays, gaining 79 yards primarily behind the efforts of Zach Charbonnet that led to a Jason Myers field goal.

Charbonnet gained 61 yards over four consecutive rushing plays alone to begin the drive for Seattle’s offense.

“It feels great for the team,” wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said. “I love seeing that. They can’t stop it, let’s keep going. I thought that everybody did a great job and it’s just another thing to focus on for defenses, which will open more things up, so (I’m) excited for that. They did a great job today.”

But was it just one good performance? Or is it a sign of things to come? The ground game appeared more successful with Olu Oluwatimi at center after Jalen Sundell left with an injury. Is that a causation or just a correlation?

Regardless, if this is a sign of things to come for Seattle’s rushing attack, the ceiling for this Seahawks team could be really high.

Jalen Sundell injury a concern for Seahawks’ offense.

Starting center Jalen Sundell left the game midway through the second quarter with a knee injury and was ruled out quickly by the Seahawks.

Sundell has started every game for Seattle this season and has helped the Seahawks keep quarterback Sam Darnold remarkably clean in the passing game throughout the year. Entering Sunday, Darnold had been sacked just nine times this year, which was tied with Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix for the fewest in the NFL.

The Seahawks built a 28-0 lead in the first half with Sundell at center before his injury with 9:09 left in the second quarter.

Macdonald said they don’t know the severity of the injury yet, but his initial thought is that it’s not season-ending.

“Not sure on the severity,” he said. “Looked like he was in good spirits. You know how it goes. We’ll see. We’ll get it imaged and move on from there. I mean, could come back to haunt me, I don’t think it’s season-ending.”

Olu Oluwatimi replaced Sundell for the rest of the game and the change had an immediate impact for Seattle.

After a goal line stand, the Seahawks were backed up at their own 1-yard line. After getting a yard to get a touch of breathing room, Darnold fumbled an exchange with Oluwatimi that was recovered by Arizona. Greg Dortch scored two plays later for the Cardinals’ first score of the day.

Bryce Cabeldue was the emergency center option for Seattle if they needed to turn to a third option in the game. Cabeldue has had limited action at the position, but had taken some snaps there as a contingency option. So has fellow rookie Mason Richman, but he was inactive for Sunday’s game.

The Seahawks did put Cabeldue in for their final series of the game to get some reps with backup quarterback Drew Lock as they ran out the clock. Cabeldue and Lock also had a fumbled exchange before settling in for the rest of the game. 

“The first one was with Olu,” Macdonald said. “I think was the first snap, so that’s something we have to be better at. Happened again over there in four-minute with Drew and Bryce. Can’t have the ball on the ground in snaps.”

Seattle did run the ball well in the second half with Oluwatimi at center.

“I don’t know how he played, but felt like we moved the ball when we ran it and the center drives that. I can’t wait to watch it. But it’s great to have him right there ready to go,” Macdonald said.

Christian Haynes worked at center during training camp before a pectoral injury landed him on injured reserve. Haynes has been practicing the last two weeks since being designated to return from the injured list and could potentially factor in as a backup option when he returns to the roster.

MORE SEAHAWKS NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Seattle Seahawks place nose tackle Jarran Reed on injured reserve

Tory Horton, Ernest Jones IV likely out for Seattle Seahawks against Cardinals

Seahawks defense warrants NFC contender hype

Seahawks Notebook: Cooper Kupp returns to practice, Tory Horton held out

New Seahawks receiver Rashid Shaheed planning for long stay in Seattle after trade from Saints

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