In the battle of the angry birds, the Seattle Seahawks defense turned in one of their best performances of the year en route to a 16-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field on Sunday. It was only the second time all season the Seahawks defense held their opponent to single digits.
Seattle held the league’s fifth-best rushing offense to a mere 49 yards on the ground and sacked Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray five times. Standout cornerback Devon Witherspoon had a colorful response to explain the Seahawk’s success on Sunday.
“We started out pretty good and got a little rocky,” Coach Macdonald, who’s been in his bag lately. “We’re just believing in what we do now, and we’re just sticking to what we do best. We just go out there and do it.”
The defensive line physically imposed their will on the Cardinals all day. No player was more impactful than Leonard Williams, as he recorded two and a half sacks, four quarterback hurries, and six tackles.
“I thought he was dominant,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said about Williams’ impressive performance on Sunday. “I knew he played great and then I looked at the stat line and realized he played out of his mind,”
Fortunately, the Seahawks defense played so well because their offense only produced a touchdown and a field goal in the afternoon. The rushing attack managed only 65 yards on the ground, and quarterback Geno Smith was an underwhelming 22 for 31 for 254 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The lone bright spot on the offensive side of the ball was Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who scored their only offensive touchdown. It was the first offensive touchdown scored on the Cardinal’s defense in the last three weeks.
Rather than dwell on the negatives regarding the offense, coach Macdonald accentuated the positives after the game and used the experience as a teachable moment.
“Offensively, I thought we did some good things, but we need to clean some things up operationally. I thought some penalties drew us back,” Macdonald said. “Just talking to Geno, continue to make better decisions in the red zone, and take care of the ball. We were improving and making plays in that area as well, so be a good game to build off.”
Next up for the Seahawks are the New York Jets. Although the team is traveling across the country to play the early Sunday game, most experts feel the Seahawks should come out victorious, as they are favored by two points against the Jets. We’ll see if the team can add to their two-game win streak.
Please share your thoughts with me on X at https://x.com/cleaviewonder
