11/8/2026
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ARI
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
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SEA
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0 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 17 |
(Seattle, WA) The Seattle Seahawks were home at Lumen Field for the third consecutive week. They’d gone 1-1 over the past two weeks and were looking to make sure this mini home stand ended up on the winning side when they took on the Arizona Cardinals. Seattle had already beaten the Cardinals handily earlier in the season. Coincidentally Drew Lock had his only start of the year in that game at Arizona. His second start of the season would be against the Cardinals.
Starting quarterback Sam Darnold was out and remains week to week with a quad injury and a cracked rib. The Seahawks were also missing defensive end Leonard Williams, and newly acquired offensive guard Quenton Nelson was out with a knee injury.
The Cardinals kicked off and Seattle had the first possession. It was a quick three-and-out. Michael Dixon came in and then pinned the Cardinals back on their own 1-yard line with a perfect 57-yard punt. The Seahawks defense was anxious to get back on the field and erase their last performance against the Bears on Monday night, in which the Bears piled up the most yardage against “the Dark Side” defense all season.
But the Cardinals had other ideas. Quarterback Gardner Minshew would lead Arizona on a 10-play drive all the way to the Seattle 10, where the defense held and forced the Cardinals into a 28-yard field goal attempt. Kicker Chad Ryland would boot it through and the Cardinals would have the first lead in the ballgame, 3-0, with 9:23 to go in the first quarter.
Little did Arizona know that would be all this defense would give up on this day. “The Dark Side” returned to the style of play that they’re known for. A hard-hitting, big collisions and swarming defense thae made the Cardinals earn and pay for each yard they would gain throughout the rest of the afternoon at Lumen Field before the 12’s.
The Seattle offense wasn’t sharp but did enough and more importantly with Drew Lock settling in, there were no turnovers and never put their defense in a tough position. Helping the cause was the return of Zach Charbonnet to a more regular role after a limited debut last week against the Bears. Charbonnet would carry the ball 16 times and end up with 77 yards on the day, averaging 4.8. He also caught one pass for 9 yards. Charbonnet, Jadarian Price, along with Drew Locke and AJ Barner, would combine for 33 carries and 120 yards and a touchdown in the afternoon.
Seattle’s first touchdown drive began with about 5 minutes to go in the first quarter on their own 42-yard line. The Cardinal defense did a nice job of preventing Seattle from any big plays and on this drive only one play went for more than 10 yards. That was a little screen pass to Price that went for 15. Seattle worked it down to the 2-yard line. It was a second-and-one. They could get a first down at the 1-yard line and, again, 2 yards for the 6. In came tight end AJ Barner to handle the quarterbacking duties.
When Barner comes in, that is the Seattle Seahawks version of the Tush Push. On the first attempt he was able to surge forward enough to get the first down. They left the same package in and on the second try Barner was able to cross the goal line to give Seattle the 6-3 lead. Jason Myers booted home the extra point, and Seattle led 7-3 on the first play of the second quarter.
The Seahawks’ touchdown was followed by five possessions where each team would punt it away. Seattle would get it one more time before the end of the first half on their own 19-yard line with less than two minutes to go before the break.
Lock would complete three short passes and then an incompletion, and knew they had to get the ball downfield for a chance at a score before halftime. Finally he broke through with an 13-yard completion to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, to the Seattle 46-yard line. On the next play Smith-Njigba went deep and Lock threw it to him but he could not bring it in. The penalty flag came out and a big 29-yard pass interference penalty against Arizona set Seattle up for a late score on the Cardinal 25-yard line.
Lock would find Smith-Njigba again on the next play with an 18-yard completion down to the Cardinal’s 7-yard line with 26 seconds left to go in the first half. On the next play Lock would drop back and find A.J. Barner over the middle in the end zone, 7-yard pass, touchdown, and Seattle would go to halftime with a 14-7 lead.
As the second half began Seattle’s first possession and only possession of the third quarter was a long 11-play drive and would lead to a Jason Myers field goal. Seattle chipped away with a nice mix of short passes and the run game to get into position to make it a two-touchdown lead over the Cardinals. On a third-and-15 Seattle elected a handoff to Charbonnet, who nearly broke it and still picked up 7 big yards. That left Myers with a 45-yard field goal that he put right between the goalposts for the 17-3 lead.
“The Dark Side” said that’s enough. Took over and absolutely shut down the Cardinals. The Cardinals would go on one long drive in at the end of the game in the fourth quarter but would end up turning the ball over on downs. Seattle would get it back and then get into victory formation to end the game.
Lock would finish the game going 19 of 28 for 175 yards and a touchdown, no interceptions, no fumbles, and a QBR of 91.4. Jaxson Smith Njigba would end up with 7 catches for 51 yards. Jadarian Price added 4 catches for 54 yards, leading in reception yardage. Cooper Kupp had 3 catches, Tory Horton 2, and Charbonnet with 1. AJ Barner with 2, including the touchdown.
The Seattle defense stepped up big time in the second half. They were led by Julian Love in tackles with 8, including 6 solos, Ernest Jones and Devin Weatherspoon each had 7 tackles. While Derek Hall, Byron Murphy, Ty Okada and Drake Thomas each had four. The Seahawks’ defense had three sacks with Murphy, Demarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler each getting to Minshew. They had 8 tackles for a loss led by Derek Hall with three. They added three quarterback pressures and had four passes defended.
The Seahawks defense held the Cardinals to just 13 first downs on the day, 198 total yards with 148 through the air and and just 50 on the ground. A bright note for both sides: neither team turned the ball over. Myers was 1-for-1 in field goals and 2-for-2 in PATs while Michael Dixon continues to show why he is probably the best punter in the league. He had 5 punts, averaged a little over 45 yards, including that 57-yarder he stuck on the 1-yard line.
The Seahawks are now 5-4 on the season, tied with the LA Rams for second. The Rams pulled out a win at Washington, 20-13. The Seahawks will travel to Vegas next week to take on the Raiders. San Francisco defeated Las Vegas on Sunday to push their record to 7-1, holding a two-game lead over both the Rams and Seahawks.
With 8 games left to play, Seattle can make a run here over the next 5 weeks. They have a big game after the Raiders when they travel to San Francisco but then will come home and face the Cowboy then the Giants, they’ll travel to Philadelphia and then they’re home again on Christmas in a big one against the LA Rams. On January 3rd they’re in Carolina. The following week, the final week of the regular season, they are on the road at LA to take on the Rams for the second time.
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