Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals had many big games in primetime on Sunday night, but none were bigger than the extra time they stunned rival Seattle Seahawks to shake up the NFC West standings. Russell Wilson and Co. dominated the conversation for most of the night. The one-time MVP leader found Tyler Lockett in the air for 200 meters and helped Seattle climb 10 points towards the end of the fourth quarter. Arizona’s injured defense didn’t give up, however, forcing OT and Wilson in the waning minutes to score a game-winning field goal from Zane Gonzalez.
One night when Murray flashed two early 75-yard scoring drives, both limited by picture-perfect touchdowns to wide-angle receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk; Aside from making a comeback in the late game, fueled in part by Arizona’s D, Wilson was just a bit off, overshadowing some nice highlight roll throws with some momentum-shifting head scratchers. The Seahawks were leading late, but the Cardinals closed at the top and decided 37:34 to improve to 5-2 and give Seattle their first loss of the season.
Here are some immediate takeaways from Sunday’s wild NFC West fight:
Why the cardinals won
You never gave up. Seriously. Sounds clichéd, but their defense had nothing to do with forcing three separate sales from Russell Wilson, including one for overtime, and yet they did, with people like Isaiah Simmons and Haason Reddick showing up when they were most needed. The victory was not lacking in explosive games either. Kyler Murray, Chase Edmonds, and DeAndre Hopkins all had loads of highs working against a predictably endangered Seattle D, including during that OT comeback.
Kliff Kingsbury’s running game was nowhere to be found. Murray flipped his legs a couple of times, but the Kenyan Drake couldn’t find much space, and the coach almost gave the game away by demanding a second field goal in OT – and then iced up his own kicker with a time out when the music box expired. Murray also took off some key dropouts, most notably a fourth quarter election that wiped out the Seahawks’ own sales and apparently kept the game in Seattle’s hands. But all in all, the whole group came out big in the clutch and went in quick succession with the consensus candidates MVP and Super Bowl. Murray in particular never seemed to lose his cool – either because of his sales or the weight of the moment – and ended up on Wilson as a result.
Why the Seahawks lost
There’s no such thing as a QB-WR duo like Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett, and for most of the night they deserve every praise. They showed perfect timing for everything from clutch connections to deep ball touchdowns. But when you rely so much on two guys to carry the whole team … well, it doesn’t always work. The running game in Seattle worked flawlessly after an injury to Chris Carson, but DK Metcalf was practically wiped out by Patrick Peterson, aside from his TD-saving tackle against Wilson’s first pick of the night. As a result, Wilson forced several throws that cost Seattle the game.
Throwing three picks is unusual for Wilson, and each and every one of them turned out to be particularly hurtful on Sunday night. Two got deep into the Arizona area and the final near midfield as the Seahawks headed for a possible OT score that won the game. The Seattle defense can’t be let off the hook, of course, considering that the cards could almost always slide up and down the field when Arizona felt like moving. This problem has just been evident for too long.
Turning point
There were probably 12 different turning points in that wild back and forth, but this one was particularly notable for the Cardinals defense: third relegation, Seahawks ball, just in midfield, a little over six minutes in OT. A false start puts Seattle in third and eleventh place. And then Byron Murphy comes in with a big sack of Russell Wilson to force a boat and keep Seattle goalless on the first run of extra time. Arizona would still miss a field goal in its first OT series, but that defensive stand set the tone for the final minutes of the action. Wilson came out on the next trip and relied almost entirely on short throws before forcing one on a clearly covered Lockett who essentially gives Isaiah Simmons the game to take away.
Game of the game
Wilson’s TD passes to Tyler Lockett were beauties and deserve as much credit as possible. And Kyler Murray had some special litters, including some that were supposed to help build up the OT disorder. But nothing fascinated the audience as much as DK Metcalf’s imposing overview of Budda Baker of what initially looked like a simple pick-six for the safety of the Cardinals. Talk about maximum effort and speed that saved Seattle from sacrificing an early TD, and which was critical to a Seahawks win at the time. With hindsight, Arizona fans can at least estimate how much Baker’s pick meant for a unit that took Wilson twice by surprise:
What’s next
The Seahawks (5-1) will be back in action in week 8 with another pivotal NFC West showdown when they host the San Francisco 49ers (4-3) who are just taking the New England Patriots to the .500 eclipse to have. The Cardinals (5-2) take a break in week eight before returning on November 8 with a home game against the Miami Dolphins, who are close to the start of the Tua Tagovailoa era.
