Seahawks: 7 takeaways from a season-crushing loss to the Cardinals
The Seahawks caught the Cardinals at just the right time – Arizona was missing its franchise quarterback Kyler Murray, its top wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, plus star pass-rusher J.J. Watt and a host of other important players. All that didn’t matter, as Seattle just couldn’t shake off the funk that’s followed this team throughout the 2021 season.
Another dysfunctional offensive performance and a couple miscues on defense were all it took to cost the Seahawks their most important game of the year – even against a backup quarterback, even on their homefield. Here are seven takeaways from a season-crushing 23-13 loss to the Cards.
Game over
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There are still seven games remaining on the regular season schedule. You can go ahead and put a fork in this team’s playoff hopes, though. At 3-7, the Seahawks are at their lowest point in the Russell Wilson era and their chances of making the playoffs have dropped to just 6%. We’ll see some heroics down the stretch, but this loss effectively ended their season.
The offense has hit bottom
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With the exception of a cruising victory over a sloppy Jacksonville team, Seattle’s offense has been utterly dysfunctional ever since Week 5. Today, the whole facade fell apart. The Seahawks went 2/10 on third down and managed just 265 total yards. In the fourth quarter, DeeJay Dallas’ short run ended a streak of 20 straight drives without a touchdown.
Time to blow up the offensive line
(AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
The core of this unit’s issues take place in the trenches, where the Seahawks are as bad as they’ve ever been in Wilson’s career in pass protection – and that’s really saying something. Deep dropbacks were completely unfeasible as Arizona’s pass rush dominated on the edges. Wilson was sacked four times, losing 27 yards in the process. Priority No. 1 in next year’s NFL draft should be making a serious investment to rebuild this offensive line.
Russell Wilson is still not right
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Russell Wilson looked better than he did last week in Green Bay. That’s an extremely low bar to hurdle, though. No. 3 is clearly still not himself following the finger injury that put him on injured reserve for a month. Wilson missed several open receivers against Arizona and generally still seems out of sync with his teammates. Wilson finished the game 14/26 for just 207 yards and no touchdowns.
Colt McCoy, Seahawks killer
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Some guys just have your number, even if they’re never going to play in the Pro Bowl. In the case of Colt McCoy, he just doesn’t miss when he’s facing Seattle. Now 3-0 in his career against the Seahawks, McCoy was happy to dink and dunk his way down the field over and over. He got the ball out quick and made the right decisions, posting a solid line of 35/44, 328 yards, two touchdowns and a 112.9 passer rating.
Seattle's defense bent and then it broke
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Since Wilson’s injury, the story has been Seattle’s defense doing a total 180 from their early struggles. Today, that unit just couldn’t live up to the high bar that they’ve set recently. The Seahawks got almost no pressure on McCoy, had trouble tackling and nobody had any luck covering tight end Zach Ertz, who posted 88 yards, two touchdowns and drew a back-breaking pass interference penalty. If not for a bunch of misses from Matt Prater, this game wouldn’t have been close.
Seahawks down two cornerbacks
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The Seahawks entered this game already missing one cornerback, with starting LCB D.J. Reed ruled out due to a groin injury. In the second quarter, Seattle also lost rookie RCB Tre Brown, who went down during the middle of a play and did not return. Sidney Jones and Bless Austin replaced them in the lineup and were a clear step down from the starters.
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