Arizona Cardinals find positives in loss to Seahawks, 4-13 finish to season
The Arizona Cardinals’ season might have ended with another thud, but following their wild 21-20 loss Sunday to the visiting Seattle Seahawks, it seemed like everyone in the losing locker room at State Farm Stadium found something positive to take away from a 4-13 finish.
First-year coach Jonathan Gannon said, “The team-first mentality of that entire locker room never wavered, and I feel really good about (it) moving forward.”
Guard Will Hernandez said, “We laid a good foundation” for the future.
Quarterback Kyler Murray said, “There’s a lot to look forward to,” adding, “I’m very confident in what we’ve got going,” and proclaiming, “This is one of my favorite teams I’ve ever been a part of.”
Yes, it was a failure from a won/loss perspective. It was their seventh non-winning season in the past eight years. They tied the franchise record for most losses in a season. They also went 0-6 against the rest of the NFC West for the first time since moving to the division in 2002.
But through it all, the rebuilding Cardinals might have found something on which to reload for the future, much like the Houston Texans did this season after winning 11 games combined in their three previous seasons under three different head coaches.
Arizona outgained Seattle 466 yards to 327 and finished the season with four games of 200 or more rushing yards, including Sunday (206), which made it three times in the last four games. James Conner led the way with 150 yards on 27 carries, including a 29-yard touchdown, for the first 1,000-yard rushing season (1,040) of his career.
“If he didn’t get hurt, he would have killed that,” Murray said, noting Conner missed four games this season.
Murray, in his eighth and final start upon returning from a torn ACL, looked in control of the offense once again by completing 22 of 30 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers and a 110.7 passer rating.
“It felt like there wasn't anything they could do to stop us,” he said of the Seahawks. “I felt we were clicking on all cylinders for the most part.”
After falling behind 13-6, the Cardinals rallied and took a 20-13 lead with 9:48 left to play on a fake field goal call special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers had been sitting on for years. Kicker Matt Prater lined up for what appeared to be a 26-yard field goal, only to sprint out to a wide receiver spot, Murray slid into shotgun formation and hit tight end Trey McBride for an 8-yard touchdown.
“He’s a heck of a coordinator and he schemed up a really good play,” McBride said. “And Kyler threw a great ball.”
Arizona forced a three-and-out by the Seahawks, but after running the clock down to three minutes, Prater missed a 43-yard field goal wide right. Seattle responded with a game-winning drive on just four plays, capped by Geno Smith’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett and a successful 2-point conversion on another pass to Lockett to take a 21-20 lead.
The Cardinals had one last chance to win it, but after moving the ball to the Seahawks’ 32-yard line, Prater missed a game-winning, 51-yard field goal wide right as time expired. Gannon said Prater wasn’t to blame for the loss, but the veteran kicker said the loss was “on me.”
“I missed two at the end and I should have made both of them,” he said. “It was 100 percent on me. I just hit it a little flat and pushed it right. I thought it was a fluke on the first one and just didn’t make the adjustment. I’ll learn from it and hopefully it won’t happen again.”
The Cardinals now head into the offseason armed with plenty of draft capital, including two first-round picks and six of the top 86 selections at present, plus a boatload of salary cap space to refine and refurbish the roster. Gannon already loves what he sees from the current group he’s got.
“They go out there and fight, their competitiveness, being on the details, being able to take the arrow in the forehead, and it starts with me and then goes to the coaches and then to the players,” he said when asked what his takeaways will be from this season. “It’s how they stay connected and their enthusiasm. … They’re ready to start 2024, I know that.”
How rare is that for an NFL team that finished 4-13?
“It’s rare,” Gannon said. “It’s really rare.”
What went right for the Cardinals?
The rushing attack was outstanding once again: After running for 221 yards in last week’s upset win at Philadelphia, they cracked the 200-yard mark again and will finish ranked in the Top 5 overall, which is almost hard to believe considering they only won four games. Murray added 33 yards on keepers, including a 33-yarder that set up the first of two Prater field goals in the first half.
Michael Wilson finished the season strong: The rookie wide receiver dealt with a shoulder and neck issue that disrupted a nice start to his year, but he rebounded with two strong games against the Eagles and Seahawks. On Sunday, he led the team with six receptions and 95 yards, including five catches for 10 or more yards.
“He made some big-time catches in some critical moments. The guy can play,” Gannon said.
Budda Baker had 10 tackles: The Cardinals’ Pro Bowl safety also nearly had his first interception of the season but the pass from Smith was ruled incomplete. Baker, though, was active from start to finish and did what he could on an otherwise disappointing day by the defense overall.
What went wrong for the Cardinals?
Not good enough in red zone: Twice they settled for short field goals from Prater and scoring just one touchdown would have been enough to be the difference in this game. An offside penalty and a false start could be blamed for one of those drives deep into Seattle territory.
Defense couldn’t hold the lead: After taking the 20-13 lead on the fake field goal play, the Cardinals stopped the Seahawks once but then watched them go 67 yards on just four plays for the game-tying touchdown and game-deciding 2-point conversion.
Prater wasn’t Prater in the end: Despite setting a franchise record with nine field goals form 50 yarder or further this season, he was off in his last two tries from 43 and 51 yards. It was uncharacteristic from the veteran, especially when either one of those kicks would have been enough to win the game.
Did you notice?
— Second-year outside linebacker Cameron Thomas was inactive for a second consecutive week after appearing in every other game this season, including three starts.
— Punter Blake Gillikin, after not punting a single time last week against the Eagles, downed two of his three kicks inside the 20-yard line, including one at the 2.
— Murray went down on what appeared to be a late hit by Seahawks linebacker Devin Bush in the fourth quarter. When he tried to get up and fell back down, clutching his right leg, there were immediate fears that may have re-injured his knee. Turns out Murray said it was his ankle, which had been bothering him recently, but he was back in the game after missing one play and said he was fine afterward.
The grades
Offense (B): This unit did more than enough to win the game by piling up more than 400 yards overall and running once again for 200 more. The Cardinals just ran out of time after getting the ball back late once Seattle grabbed the lead for good.
Defense (C): It’s not like Arizona was awful. Holding Seattle to 21 points was a fair effort, but this side of the ball needed to make a play late and couldn’t do it. Once again, the Cardinals also failed to get a quarterback sack, ending the season with just one in their final six games.
Special teams (C): Gillikin was great and has proved he deserve to be the punter moving forward, but the two misses by Prater will haunt him heading into the offseason. The designed fake fourth-and-3 call from the Seattle 8 that resulted in a Murray touchdown pass to McBride was sensational.
Personnel notes
With 34 receiving yards on three catches, McBride finished the season with 825 yards, joining Hall of Famer Jackie Smith as the only tight ends in franchise history to accomplish the feat. Smith had 1,205 in 1967 and 810 in 1966.
Conner joined David Johnson (4 in 2016) and Chris Johnson (4 in 2015) as the only Cardinals players with at least four 100-yard rushing outings in a season since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988.
Conner scored at least one touchdown in each of his last five games, the third time in each of his three seasons with the Cardinals he’s had such a streak. Despite playing in just 41 games for Arizona, that ties him with Sonny Randle for the most such games in team history.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. with Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals' season ends with loss to Seahawks, 4-13 finish
