As I Sea It: Seahawks-Cardinals

Immediate Thoughts on Week 7's game between Seahawks-Cardinals: Seaside Joe 1694

The Seattle Seahawks have an intense schedule over the next eight weeks:

Browns (4-2), at Ravens (5-2), Moons (3-4), at Rams (3-4), 49ers (5-1), at Cowboys (4-2), at 49ers (5-1), Eagles (5-1)

Even if it is sort of stretching the meaning of the word “strength” in the term “strength of schedule” to mention the Moons or Rams, the Seahawks are not in a position to think there are any easy outs coming up. Especially given how Seattle played against the 1-6 Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, writing them back as hard as they possibly could in the nightmare we call: Seahawks Second Half Football.

The Seahawks held on to win the game 20-10 and are now 4-2, proving that all any team needs to win while turning the ball over three times and giving up in the red zone is the Josh Dobbs Cardinals and a rookie undrafted free agent receiver who is faster than 5.00 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Football is easy!

Seattle should be grateful for a 4-2 record given what’s on deck — the Browns defense had their worst game of the season this week and Deshaun Watson left the game early but Cleveland still won 39-38 — but Pete Carroll can’t ignore the broken record that is the second half Seahawks offense.

On their first drive of the second half, Seattle had first-and-goal from the 1 but settled for a field goal. The next drive, Geno Smith threw an interception inside the red zone when the team would have been grateful for the opportunity to try another field goal and make it a two-score game. On the third drive, Geno fumbled the snap from Olu Oluwatimi. On the fourth drive, the Seahawks lost two yards and punted while still hanging onto a 7-point lead.

It took a PITIFUL special teams trick play attempt by the Cardinals at midfield just for the Seahawks to get a nail-coffin field goal in the fourth quarter and that drive featured six runs by Ken Walker to two attempts by Geno, completing one for five yards.

In losing to the Bengals in Week 6, the Seahawks managed three points, two interceptions by Geno Smith, two turnovers on downs inside the red zone, and a punt in the second half.

In the second half of their Monday night win over the Giants, the Seahawks had two turnovers on downs, a missed field goal, a punt, and a field goal.

And of course in Week 1, the Seahawks had three yards in the second half of their loss to the Rams, with nine tacked on by Zach Charbonnet on the final meaningless play.

The Seattle Seahawks are 4-2 and that’s a much better feeling than 2-4. However, upcoming teams won’t be starting Josh Dobbs at quarterback and Emari Demercado at running back, won’t have their starting left tackle ejected in the first half, and will have better number one receivers than Marquise Brown and better number two receivers than Michael Wilson. The Seahawks won this game because of Ken Walker; the defense did take advantage of that opportunity — and could keep showing up with upcoming matchups against Cleveland, Washington, and L.A.; and because Jake Bobo decided, “I’ve had enough of this red zone shit.”

However, Bobo can’t bail out the offense every time and that was abundantly clear in the second half. Again.

If you remove the only two teams that have lost six games so far this season, the Seahawks are 2-2. Seattle’s other two wins are over Daniel Jones (his only win this season came against the same Cardinals) and a Lions team that lost 38-6 to the Ravens on Sunday, putting Week 2’s overtime result into a little different light.

But look…I’ll take an ugly win just as much as I’ll take a touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba when there’s nobody within 20 yards of him. In the recent past, the Seahawks haven’t been as good as they should be because they weren’t consistently hitting the easy touchdowns or winning all the games they “should” win.

A 4-2 record through six games is good. It’s what we would have said before the season is acceptable, if not expected. Giving up 30 points in the last three games is GREAT!

I just think the season starts now with the Cleveland Browns and the throwback uniforms in Week 8. Luckily, P.J. Walker has been terrible and Deshaun Watson somehow looks worse. Seattle’s defense has been outstanding and they have another chance next week to keep their streak of dominant performances intact.

The Seahawks are going to need that from the defense, especially if the offense keeps their streaks intact.

That’s all I have to say in the immediate aftermath of the win, what are your takeaways?

I’ll post more reflection on Monday for Regular Joes, so join premium for $5 to support the newsletter and more insights on the Seahawks. (I swear, many of them are positive!)