Seahawks vs. Cardinals prediction: Sam Darnold, Seattle aim for third straight win against shorthanded Arizona
In the week 4 of the “Thursday Night Football” edition, the Cardinals of Arizona welcome the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC West confrontation.
The Arizona enters this match at 2-1 after taking its first defeat of the season last week. The cards opened 2-0 with completely not impressive victories on the saints and the panthers, then lost against a team 49ers which begins its quarter aid. They seek to bounce back here and avoid delay in the division race, which promises to be incredibly close given the quality of all the teams involved.
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Seattle, on the other hand, won consecutive matches after losing against these same niners in the week 1. The Seahawks played fantastic defense and special teams and their attack finally broke out last week against New Orleans. They seek to stack another victory and stay at a distance from the Niners to the west.
Which of these teams will improve its record at 3-1? We will know it early enough. But before breaking down the match, here is an overview of how you can watch the match.
Where to look at the Seahawks against the live cardinals
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When the Seahawks have the ball
Arizona enters this incredibly short -term game in defense. Walter Nolen and BJ Ojulari remain on the list physically unable to perform. Garrett Williams made an injured reserve. Will Johnson is doubtful to play for the second consecutive match. It is essentially a unit of mash on this side of the ball.
The injuries in the secondary, and especially at the Williams orchestra, are a problem in this match. Jaxon Smith-Migba plays as well as any wide NFL receiver, and it often works out of the slit. (He has, in all honesty, aligned outside more often this year because the Seahawks have looked at some 12 staff looks.) He already has 22 catches for 323 yards in three weeks, ranking second behind Puka Nacua in both categories. He sees targets on an incredible 42% of his routes, via Tri Media, the second highest rate in the league, behind only Nacua.
Sam Darnold completes more than 70% of his passes to an average of 9.0 yards per attempt, and he simply does so by targeting JSN on several occasions on all the ground. Presumably, without two of their first three corners, the cardinals will probably find it difficult to keep this connection, well, by connecting.
The Seahawks have not yet been very successful in running the ball, however, on average only 3.3 yards per race while Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet were each was very ineffective. The problems of offensive line that we expected in Seattle arrived in the year seems to have affected the racing game more than pass attack so far.
Charbonnet, who missed last week due to an injury before training this week and transporting a dubious designation in the game, has only 57 yards on his 27 races. Walker was more effective thanks to a few long races in week 2, but he ran into the mud last week against the saints (38 yards in 16 races) and during week 1 against the 49ers (10 races for 20 yards).
Arizona has been excellent against the race so far, having held its last two opponents below 75 yards on the ground and only granted 3.8 yards per postponement over the year. The cardinals have only given 0.80 yards before contact by attempt, which ranks eighth in the NFL to date. If the cards can slow down the racing game and force the Seahawks in pure drop situations, they can perhaps put pressure on Darnold and force him to make mistakes. The defensive front plays well despite some absences, with Calais Campbell, in particular, dominating as rusher of pass from the interior.
When the cardinals have the ball
The cardinals also entered this short -term attack in attack after losing the Ballon bearer James Conner for the season, thanks to a horrible ankle injury suffered last week.
Conner did not seem particularly effective so far this year, but it is a large part of the personality of what they want to be offensively and its loss is significant. He will be replaced in the rear field mainly by Trey Benson, who had resumed a more important role in starting the season, throwing Emari Demermardo aside to resume the clichés of passage while dividing the work early with Conner. Benson is now slipping into the role of Conner and Demermercado takes long and distance things that he has managed in the past two years.
Benson was an exciting athletic perspective and looks good in its action limited so far this year, but it is not the same kind of physical runner as Conner is, so it will be interesting to see how this change affects Arizona’s racing game. This is particularly the case because it already seemed that said racing game had done something not behind, which was part of fear when they lost the former coach of the Offensive line Klayton Adams to the Cowboys, who rank surprisingly first in the NFL in the success rate hasty with Adams as a new offensive coordinator.
The Seahawks have defended the race as well as almost anyone in the league so far this season, only granting 3.2 yards per race and having not yet abandoned a touch on the ground. Opponents have only 36.4%soil success rate, according to Tri Media, and they have only 2.11 yards on average after carrying by portage, which is the lowest note against any defense of the NFL. Benson and Co. was able to find difficult tobogganing Thursday evening. (Four offensive line players are also listed as questionable for the game, which would make things even more difficult if one of them could not try.)
The defense of Seattle passes has also played very well so far, with more interceptions (five) than the authorized affected (four). The opponents are on average 6.4 yards per attempt and no one has thrown more than 265 yards. The Seahawks also obtain the star Devon Witherspoon star corner and Julian Love security in the alignment of this game, further strengthening the back of the defense.
The connection of Kyler Murray with Trey McBride seems as strong as ever, and the only area where Seattle has been vulnerable to date has been against the tight ends (the tight ends have 24 receptions against the Seahawks so far this season, tied for most of the League), but but Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. are again failed. Harrison does not play much in the slit and Witherspoon spends a lot of time there, but given the relative weakness of the other reception options of Arizona, Harrison could potentially see ghost coverage, which makes the match even more difficult.
Prediction
Cardinals have the advantage of playing this game at home, but everything else is working against them here. They are not in good health. It is not an excellent match on each side of the ball. Seattle brings the players back to the field and already plays well. We drive with the Seahawks to win and cover.
Pick: Seahawks 24, Cardinals 17
