Arizona Cardinals can wreck Seattle Seahawks' playoff hopes with win Sunday
The NFL regular season ends on Sunday as the Cardinals play host to the Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium. The Cardinals, who already have wins over playoff teams Dallas and Philadelphia, can mess up Seattle's postseason hopes with a win in the finale. The Seahawks don't control their own destiny in terms of getting into the playoffs, but a loss to the Cardinals would end any chances they have.
Seattle Seahawks (8-8) at Arizona Cardinals (4-12)
Time/site: Sunday, 2:25 p.m. MST, State Farm Stadium.
TV: FOX. Radio: 98.7 FM, 106.7 FM in Spanish.
Last time they played: The Seahawks won 20-10 on Oct. 22 in Seattle. The Cardinals had a 10-7 lead in the second quarter but were shut down after that. Defensive lineman Kevin Strong and linebacker Dennis Gardeck recovered fumbles and rookie Garrett Williams had his first career NFL interception, but the Cardinals offense couldn't get much going.
Series history: Seattle leads 26-22-1, and has won four straight meetings and five of the past six. Since the teams became NFC West rivals in 2002, Arizona has won the season series three times, Seattle has done so six times and the teams have split 12 times. Sunday marks the 50th meeting.
Coaching matchup
Arizona: First-year head coach Jonathan Gannon, who turned 41 this week, is 4-12 as he hopes to close out season one at the helm on a winning note.
Seattle: Pete Carroll has been the Seahawks head coach since the 2010 season. He's tied for 13th in NFL history with 180 wins as a head coach (also with the New York Jets and New England). He is the 39th head coach in NFL history to reach 100 regular season wins, the 22nd head coach to reach 150 regular season wins and the 15th to reach 175 wins.
Storylines
The Cardinals currently hold the fourth spot in the 2024 NFL Draft this April. A loss might move them up in the draft order. A win could move them down, after Arizona once held the No. 2 pick earlier this season.
The Cardinals can ruin the Seahawks playoff chances with a win Sunday. The Seahawks have to win and get help from the Chicago Bears, who must defeat the Green Bay Packers in order for Seattle to get into the postseason. There are a couple of other ways Seattle gets in, but they involve ties and other teams. Bottom line, lose and the Seahawks are definitely out.
It will be interesting to see how Murray looks coming off a big win last week, and if the confidence and level of play carries over into the finale.
Arizona will win if . . .
The Cardinals can run the ball the way they did last week. The Seahawks give up about 134 rushing yards per game, so there could be a lot of James Conner and Michael Carter on Sunday for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals defense keeps it close. The Seahawks do most of their damage through the air, so Arizona's crew of young cornerbacks will have to limit explosive plays.
Kyler Murray stays hot against the Seahawks at home. In his last three starts against Seattle at State Farm Stadium, Murray has completed 87 of 122 pass attempts (71.3 percent) for 775 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception. He also has rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.
Seattle will win if . . .
The Seahawks' talented crew of wide receivers makes plays. D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and promising rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba lead the way here for Seattle. If quarterback Geno Smith has the time to survey the field and find those guys, it could be a long afternoon for the Cardinals.
The Seahawks get to Murray enough to disrupt offensive rhythm. Seattle is tied for the NFC lead in sacks with 46 and Boye Mafe is the pass rusher to watch for the Seahawks.
Geno Smith finds late game magic. If the game is tight near the end, some things to keep in mind: Smith has led four game-winning drives this season (defined as a drive that gave his team the lead for good in the fourth quarter or overtime).
They said it
"I'm honestly not a huge believer in momentum from week to week because everything starts over from scratch. I am a believer in confidence. So we're looking to go out and win two in a row, you know, I know that's in the past but we want to go out and play well and win and I'm a believer in that." — Gannon, on if he believes that momentum from a win Sunday can carry over into next season.
"It's about the season, you know, just, it's the last game of the season, of course we're not going to the playoffs. So, you know, it's always going to be something that you always want to win out at the last game of the season, especially at home. It's been a while. So just being able to go and play in front of our fans and just try and get a 'W,' that's gonna be the main focus. Everything else will take care of itself." — Cardinals safety Budda Baker, asked about his social media post saying this week is his "Last ride Sunday at State Farm Stadium. I appreciate the loyal (fans) for all of your support."
"It's a challenge because it's the next week. ... Obviously, we need other things to play in our favor, but none of that means anything if we don't do our job. And so our job is to make sure we go out there, perform better, win and see what happens." — Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner, on the disappointment of last week's loss to Pittsburgh and a lot to play for this week.
"I've picked his brain a lot. He's helped me a lot. You know, how did the messaging get received? You know, how is it interpreted? How is this getting delivered? How is this hitting the players, you know, I mean, he's got a really good handle on all that. He's come up to me with critical feedback. —Gannon, on running back and team captain James Conner.
By the numbers
4.99 — Rushing average for the Cardinals in 2023 (433 carries for 2,159 yards), ranking them second in the NFL in yards per carry this season.
3 — Games this season in which the Cardinals have rushed for 200 or more yards, including last week at Philadelphia (221). Arizona and Detroit (3) are the only teams in the NFL this season with at least three games of 200-plus rushing yards.
0 — Punts for the Cardinals in last week's comeback win over the Eagles. It marked just the third time since at least 1950 that Arizona did not punt in a game. It is the only game in that span that resulted in a win.
32 — First downs for the Cardinals last week against the Eagles. It marks the second-highest single-game total in franchise history.
92.9 — Completion percentage for Murray in the second half of last week's comeback win over the Eagles. He finished the second half completing 13 of 14 pass attempts for 133 yards, three touchdowns and a 145.8 passer rating.
26.26 — Average age of the players on the Cardinals current roster. Only Green Bay (25.65) and Indianapolis (26.23) have younger rosters than Arizona. Of the 53 players on the Cardinals current roster, 22 are either rookies or second-year players.
14 — Rookies on the Cardinals current active roster. Only Seattle (15) has more.
78 — Receptions for tight end Trey McBride in 2023. That is a franchise single-season record for a tight end, easily surpassing the previous mark of 56 (Zach Ertz in 2021 and Jackie Smith in 1967).50.6 — Punting average for Blake Gillikin this season. That ranks third in the NFL. Should that total hold, Gillikin would establish a Cardinals franchise record for punting average. The current record of 49.0 was established by Andy Lee in 2021.
Who will win and why
Cardinals 27, Seahawks 24: The Cardinals are a better team with Murray than they were — with all due respect — with Josh Dobbs at quarterback, which was the case the last time these teams played. The Seahawks are in a must-win situation to make the playoffs, but they are banged up with injuries and are coming off a demoralizing loss at home to Pittsburgh in which they lost the ability to control their playoff destiny. The Cardinals got their most wow-factor win of the season last week and should be able to ride that momentum to victory Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What to look for when the Arizona Cardinals host the Seattle Seahawks
