Winners and Losers from Seahawks vs. Cardinals: When in doubt, go to JSN

Well that was a little more adventurous than it needed to be, but it’s not like we haven’t seen this type of zaniness before with the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals in years gone by.

The Seahawks seemed comfortable with leads of 14-3 and 20-6, then it all fell apart. A furious rally by the Cardinals tied things up at 20-20 with under a minute to go, but Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba connected for one more huge play to set up Jason Myers to be the walk-off hero. It was a 23-20 game that should’ve never been that close, but the Seahawks still own the Cardinals and continue to prevail in Glendale.

For at least this week, I’m back handling Winners and Losers. I deeply thank Terrance Robinson, Jer’rel Coleman, and Tyler Alsin for subbing in over the past few games.

Winners

Sam Darnoldand Jaxon Smith-Njigba

This combination could go in the Seahawks history books as something special. Imagine having zero targets in the first half and then suddenly you finish with four catches for 79 yards and the most clutch of game-deciding grabs. Darnold was 18/26 for 242 yards and a touchdown, playing a very good game yet again and notching his first two-minute drill game-dinning drive as a Seahawk. I’m highlighting Sam and JSN together because their chemistry already looks as crisp as Russell Wilson (and Geno Smith) and Tyler Lockett, or Russ and Doug Baldwin, or Matt Hasselbeck and Bobby Engram. I’d say Darnold has a lot of elements of the best version of Hasselbeck to his game, which I appreciate. He’s also continuing the deep ball success of his predecessors, albeit currently with one guy.

JSN is a bare minimum top 10 receiver in the NFL right now. The explosive downfield part of his game has arrived and the league should be on notice that it’s hard to keep this man down for long. Maybe you can call a questionable holding penalty to take away a game-clinching touchdown, but that’s it.

AJ Barnerand Elijah Arroyo

I’m combining these two because these are your top two tight ends. The Seahawks had a quiet night from Jaxon Smith-Njigba and relied on their big fellas to lift the passing game. Barner caught the game’s first touchdown and finished with three catches for 32 yards, while the rookie Arroyo had two grabs for 44 yards and a pass interference drawn in the end zone, otherwise he’d have likely had his first NFL touchdown.

Uchenna Nwosu

It’s been a long time coming for Chenna. After missing so much of the last two seasons due to injury, Nwosu picked up his first sack of the year early in the first quarter by blowing past Trey Benson and Isaiah Adams to bring down Kyler Murray. Go figure that he’s the first Seahawks edge to sack a quarterback. I’m very happy to see him make an impact. Nwosu also drew a hold on Paris Johnson Jr to help derail a drive and had another sack later in the game.

Leonard Williams

Big Cat with another 1.5 sacks as the Seahawks interior defensive line continues to dominate in the trenches. He’s too damn hard to block and it doesn’t matter whether he’s sniffing out a screen or raising hell on a run play or rushing the passer.

Zach Charbonnet

This is not for his statline, which was 12 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown, but for his final carry. It looked like Charbonnet would be stuffed for no gain but he showed some serious leg drive and determination to surge ahead for some extra yards that may have been the difference between a Jason Myers make or another miss. Defend every blade of grass? How about advance every blade of grass?

Kenneth Walker III

This may be a controversial inclusion considering he had a taunting penalty that cost Seattle a field goal opportunity, a drop on one of his receiving targets, and a few maddening “RUN FORWARD!” moments, but the run blocking is just not up to par and he still managed 81 yards on 19 carries. Add in his big play on his lone catch and that’s 110 yards on 20 touches, even if it didn’t feel like it.

Ernest Jones IV

Another year, another pick off of Kyler Murray in the desert. He also recorded a half-sack that was really just Murray stepping out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage. Jones is a premier linebacker and continues to play like it every week.

Jason Myers

I shouldn’t award winners for helping create the problem, but it still takes some nerves of steel to hit a walkoff field goal from a similar distance you just missed from. He’s now hit walk-offs against the entire NFC West to complete the full set.

Losers

Offensive line

That wasn’t a good showing. Darnold’s sack total doubled in one simmering Glendale evening. Charles Cross gave up a strip sack, Anthony Bradford was involved in multiple busts, Jalen Sundell struggled holding his blocks in the pass and run game, Abe Lucas was getting driven back a few times, and I thought Grey Zabel had his worst game as a Seahawk. They were admittedly better in the run game, as evidenced by the 100+ combined yards from Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, but it felt like the backs were making a lot of their own yards. This has to be picked up knowing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans are coming to town in October.

Riq Woolen

I really didn’t want to do this because I feel like some of the Riq criticism has been overblown. A trio of penalties will not help his cause. He committed two DPIs and a face mask, giving him six penalties (four accepted) on the season. The last DPI was a little iffier but the first two penalties were no-doubters. When Riq is very good, you don’t notice him on the screen and he’s doing his job. When Riq screws up it’s loud and noticeable and annoying. He shouldn’t be committing obvious DPIs on guys like Michael Wilson.

Devon Witherspoon

Woof. Welcome back, Spoon. Gave up a touchdown and a few other major catches to Marvin Harrison Jr late on, and missed the tackle on Emari Demercado on the tying TD. Witherspoon did record a half-sack and a pass defensed but that wasn’t an especially sharp showing.

Klint Kubiak

I do not understand why he coached the second half of this game so conservatively. After the big play to JSN on third down, the Seahawks’ next course of action was three consecutive runs to settle for a long field goal, which Jason Myers missed. Even after the JSN hold nullified a Zach Charbonnet touchdown, we saw two runs and a screen to Kupp from a mile out. The last Charbonnet carry just to settle for a long field goal with :18 and a timeout left also felt very conservative. Just because it worked doesn’t make it good process.

That was not impressive stuff from Klint and I am worried as to what will happen when Seattle inevitably trails by double digits in a game. Is this offense truly built to play from behind a significant deficit? I’m skeptical.

Tyrice Knight

I think it’s telling that Drake Thomas (who had a sack tonight) is getting more playing time and indeed even got the start for the first time. Knight may not be physically at 100 percent and that could explain the rotation, but he’s been getting caught out of position all season and one of his biggest tackles of the evening was on Coby Bryant. Something’s not right with Knight and I believe Thomas may get even more snaps moving forward.

Final Notes

• Julian Love nearly had an interception near the end of the first half and looked like he didn’t miss a beat.
• Quieter game for Byron Murphy II as a pass rusher, but he had a possible sack taken away because of a holding penalty on Arizona that was accepted. Murphy still helped out against the run, where Seattle continues to impress as the only team not to allow a rushing TD.
• No updates yet on DeMarcus Lawrence after he left the game with a thigh injury. I’m hoping for the best because that would be a major loss on this defensive line. It’s eerie he got hurt more or less on the anniversary of last year’s season-ending foot injury while with the Dallas Cowboys.
• I’m annoyed that this was a classic “Seahawks get way too comfortable and let the other team back in it” performance we’ve often ascribed to Pete Carroll, but it’s still a win. And it’s another road win, making it nine out of 10 under Mike Macdonald and eight straight overall. I’m not even super worried about the defense’s late collapse because they were so dominant and the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain by putting the game away sooner. Arizona still only had 253 total yards on the night.
• While the San Francisco 49ers game is increasingly annoying in hindsight, I believe 3-1 was a very reasonable record to get out of September. I predicted 4-0 but it didn’t quite happen that way. The October stretch of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans is very tricky to me, especially with the d-lines of TB and Houston, but from what I’ve seen I think the Seahawks should be able to get two wins minimum from this set. I can’t wait for the Tampa Bay game just because of the double throwbacks.
• It’s been a minute since I’ve done two Enemy Reactions in less than a week. This one should be a bit of a rollercoaster ride, except Seahawks fans were able to barf with a smile in the end. See you Friday with more post-game wrap-up, including a live-streamed show with Bryce Coutts with our deeper observations.