The Arizona Cardinals were rested, relatively healthy and had been playing some of their best football in years.
That’s why Sunday’s sobering 16-6 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks was so surprising.
“Frustrating day offensively, especially the way we’ve been playing to come out here and lay an egg and get physically dominated in a sense,” quarterback Kyler Murray said.
The Cardinals (6-5) had their four-game winning streak snapped. Murray completed 24 of 37 passes for 285 yards, but made a brutal mistake, throwing an interception that was returned 69 yards by Seattle’s Coby Bryant. The running game never got going, gaining just 49 yards. James Conner, the team’s leading rusher, had just 8 yards on seven attempts.
“There were a lot of things where it felt like the flow of things just wasn’t in our favor,” receiver Michael Wilson said. “Some games go like that. And then we didn’t execute enough to make up for the game sort of not going our way.”
Arizona’s still in decent playoff position, tied with the Seahawks on top of the NFC West with six games to play. But after all the good news and winning over the past month, Sunday’s loss was humbling.
“We’re going to learn a lot from this game,” Gannon said.
What’s working
Arizona’s defense continued its remarkable midseason turnaround, giving the team every opportunity to win Sunday.
The front seven doesn’t have any stars, but continues to cobble together a respectable pass rush. The Cardinals finished with five sacks, all by different players.
Second-year cornerback Garrett Williams intercepted a pass by Geno Smith on the first play of the fourth quarter, briefly giving the Cardinals some momentum as they tried to fight back. Williams — a third-round pick out of Syracuse in 2023 — is growing into a steady starting corner that the Cardinals have missed for years.
“I thought that they hung in there and battled, forced a bunch of punts, kept points off the board,” Gannon said. “I thought the interception by Garrett was fantastic, kept us in the game there, kept points off the board. We made some mistakes. We made some mistakes, starting with me.”
What needs help
The Cardinals aren’t going to win many games with a rushing performance like Sunday’s.
Conner, held to a season low in yards rushing, did have 41 yards receiving. Rookie Trey Benson had four carries for 18 yards, while Emari Demercado broke a 14-yard gain.
Getting Conner going is key. Arizona has a 5-1 record this season when he has at least 100 total yards from scrimmage. Gannon said falling into an early hole affected some of the things the Cardinals could do, particularly in the second half.
“I thought there was plays there, but again, where you get down in that game, you’re not really playing normal ball there for a good chunk of the game,” Gannon said. “So we’ve got to do a better job earlier in the game to make sure we’re not playing left-handed.”
Stock up
Fourth-year edge rusher Zaven Collins isn’t necessarily the star fans hoped for when he was selected with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2021 draft, but he has quietly had a productive season leading the team’s no-name front seven.
Collins picked up his fourth sack of the season Sunday and put consistent pressure on Smith.
Stock down
Murray’s still having a great season, but the quarterback’s MVP credentials took a hit with Sunday’s mediocre performance.
He played pretty well at times, but the interception that turned into a pick-6 was a backbreaker. The sixth-year quarterback had largely avoided those types of plays this season, which is a big reason they’re in the playoff hunt.
“Can’t give them seven points, especially when our defense is playing the way that they’re playing,” Murray said. “I feel like if I don’t do that, we’re in the game four quarters because that’s the way it was trending.”
Injuries
The Cardinals came out of Sunday’s game fairly healthy. Gannon said starting safety Jalen Thompson (ankle) should be back at practice Wednesday. He missed the last two games.
Key numbers
12 and 133 — Tight end Trey McBride continued his breakout season with a career-high 12 catches for 133 yards.
Next steps
The Cardinals have another difficult road game against the Vikings (9-2) on Sunday.
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