The Arizona Cardinals lost their second game in a row on Sunday, falling 31-21 to the Seattle Seahawks. They are now 3-6 on the season, 0-3 in the division and the Seahawks completed the season sweep over them.
Buy Cardinals TicketsIt was another game filled with mistakes and missed opportunities.
What can we take away from another frustrating loss?
We go over our game observations below.
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They started well
Entering the game, the Cardinals had allowed five opening-drive touchdowns — the most in the league — and had not scored a first-quarter touchdown this season.
They remedied both those things.
They held the Seahawks to a field goal to open the game and then scored a touchdown on their opening possession, going 83 yards in nine plays. Kyler Murray threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins to give them the the lead.
Then the mistakes started happening
Nothing seemed to go quite right after that first score.
They had third-and-1 on the next drive and Billy Price snapped the ball over Kyler Murray’s head.
They had two consecutive false starts on their next drive.
In the end, they had 12 penalties and 6-for-14 on third down, and they didn’t score on offense again until the fourth quarter.
The defense missed opportunities and Seattle capitalized
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith threw two touchdown passes but neither would have happened if the Cardinals had taken been able to catch the ball.
Before Smith’s touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, on the play before, Cardinals cornerback Byron Murphy got in front of Metcalf and got both hands on the ball but failed to intercept it. If he catches it, the Seahawks get no points.
Then, in the fourth quarter, just before Smith threw a touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett, Ben Niemann tipped a pass up in the air and Tanner Vallejo should have intercepted it.
Failing to make plays that were there cost the Cardinals 14 points.
Kyler Murray was reckless with the football against the Seahawks again
Murray was the Cardinals’ leading rusher with 60 and he made big plays with his legs. However, just like it happened against the Seahawks in Week 6, when he was in the open field and picked up a first down, he had the ball knocked out and turned the ball over.
The defense wore down
The defense made things hard for rookie running back Kenneth Walker III, but they couldn’t sustain it.
In the end, Walker finished with a game-high 109 yards and two touchdowns.
Noah Fant's 51-yard catch was the killer
Just when it looked like the Cardinals could somehow pull out a win after pulling within three points in the fourth quarter, they needed to get a quick stop.
Seattle was naturally going to try and run the ball, but a play-action reverse bootleg pass to tight end Noah Fant on the first play of the drive netted 51 yards and that all but did it. The Seahawks ended up scoring a touchdown to make it a 10-point game, but that play was the real end to any hopes the Cardinals had.
More offensive line injuries
The Cardinals already lost Justin Pugh for the rest of the season. Center Rodney Hudson has missed five straight games. In Sunday’s game, right guard Will Hernandez left with a pectoral injury and did not return. Rookie Lecitus Smith finished the game.
They just can’t manage to keep their guys healthy.
Can anything be done?
After the game, the answers continue to be the same — they are making mistakes, they have to get better in a hurry and they are not executing in the games the way they are in practices.
