The Arizona Cardinals face the Seattle Seahawks for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon. This matchup is on the road and both teams are 2-3 and coming off losses.
The Seahawks are different this season following the Russell Wilson trade.
To help us know a little more about the Seahawks and what to expect this weekend, Seahawks Wire contributor Kole Musgrove answered some questions to give us some insight to the team he covers.
Read on for the questions and answers.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Latest show:
Previous shows:
and
Geno Smith's play
Where has the success of Geno Smith come from? Did anyone see this coming?
If anyone can honestly (key word) tell you they saw Geno Smith’s electrifying start then you need to ask them for tomorrow’s lottery numbers. The general consensus heading into the season was a hope that Smith could be a competent game manager. Instead, he is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It’s safe to say Smith is in the most stable, well-coached organization in his career with the best weapons he’s ever had which is definitely contributing to the success. But I believe the answer is two-fold.
First, the Seahawks clearly have confidence in him and confidence goes a long way in the NFL. They didn’t go out to get Jimmy Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield, they didn’t draft a rookie, and they let him win a fair competition against the one quarterback they did acquire in Drew Lock.
Second, they are opening the playbook and being uncharacteristically aggressive. Geno isn’t dinking and dunking his way to 75% completion, he’s tied with Josh Allen for second in the league with 8.3 yards per attempt on his throws. Additionally, Geno is doing what Russell Wilson rarely did: throw to the middle of the field. Whether it was inability or preference, one of the few holes in Wilson’s game was utilizing the middle of the field, which limits what an offense can do in the passing game. So far, Geno Smith does not have those limitations.
Rashaad Penny's loss
How much will the loss of Rashaad Penny impact the offense?
I may be an outsider on this, but I don’t think it will impact the offense that much. Despite bursts of utter dominance from Penny, the Seahawks’ ground game is still very inconsistent with a few games this year where Penny didn’t make much of an impact at all. Rookie running back Kenneth Walker III will look to take the lion’s share of the load moving forward. Aside from a 69-yard touchdown against the Saints, Walker hasn’t been too involved in Seattle’s offense thus far. That will certainly change as he will have a trial by fire of sorts. I believe Walker will step into the role well, and show why the Seahawks felt him worthy of a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
The offensive line play
How has the offensive line been with 3 new starters – veteran C Austin Blythe and rookie T Charles Cross and Abe Lucas?
It doesn’t take a football savant to know Seattle’s Achilles Heel for a decade has been their porous offensive line. Now they look to be one of the league’s better units. The magic of the NFL, huh? All it takes is one solid draft to turn things around and right now it looks like the Seahawks have franchise-caliber bookends at the tackle positions with Charles Cross and Abe Lucas. Blythe has also helped bring stability, and familiarity with OC Shane Waldron’s style of offense during their shared time with the Rams. So far the sight of seeing a Seahawks quarterback instantly pressured on every dropback has not appeared thus far in 2022. In Geno Smith’s words, he’s “cooking steaks” in the pocket.
Defensive issues
What has caused the defensive issues? What do they struggle most with and is there anything they do well?
For a third straight year, they are starting off as one of the worst in the entire NFL. Seattle was able to right the ship in the second half of the last two seasons, so there is optimism in the northwest that they’ll be able to do so again. But for now, they somehow are finding new ways to regress. The biggest issue has been concerningly poor tackling, which is quite unusual for a Pete Carroll-led defense. The lone bright spot has been rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen who leads the team in interceptions and has snagged one in each of the last three games – including returning one for a touchdown.
Lesser-known players
We know the big names – Geno, Lockett, DK, Penny. Who are lesser-known players Cardinals fans should know about?
Geno Smith is cooking and the tight ends are eating. A byproduct of Russell Wilson not throwing to the middle of the field was the lack of notable production from the tight end position, something that has been remedied in 2022. Tight ends Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson have become more integral parts of Seattle’s passing attack, having hauled in four of Geno Smith’s nine touchdown passes on the year.
Prediction
What will the final score be and how will it go down?
Ahh, the infamous Seahawks/Cardinals rivalry where neither team can seemingly win on their home turf. The Cardinals are the one team that is seemingly immune to the powers of the 12th Man, having won six of their last nine in the Emerald City. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, Arizona’s nine total victories at Lumen Field are the most by any opponent in this venue. I was very impressed by Arizona’s ability to slow down the Eagles last week, but right now the Seahawks’ offense is playing at an incredible level.
Unfortunately, it might not matter if all their accomplishments are immediately undone by the defense. Since the new Call of Duty doesn’t come out until the end of the month, I suspect Kyler Murray will have little trouble moving the ball with ease on Sunday. The Cardinals win 33-27.
