The Seahawks needed a “Lincoln Lawyer” game against the Cardinals on Sunday. Matthew McConaughey was one of the fastest rising stars in Hollywood in the nineties with movies like Dazed and Confused, A Time to Kill, Amistad, and Contact, but then he had a string of mediocre dramas and
”guilty pleasure” rom-coms in the aughts and studios didn’t think audiences could take him seriously again.
Then in 2011, “the McConaissance” no longer failed to launch when he developed the perfect role for himself in The Lincoln Lawyer.
It’s not a great movie (from what I recall) — however it’s a good movie that a lot of people liked and a lot of people saw. McConaughey had to do The Lincoln Lawyer before he could do True Detective, Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Dallas Buyer’s Club — all the projects that came within just three years* following TLL in order for us to stop thinking of him as fool’s gold and start seeing him as a leading man to take seriously.
*in this same three years, he ALSO did Mud, Killer Joe, Bernie, and Magic Mike, which is arguably the most insane three years an actor has EVER had
On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks didn’t need to prove they were Interstellar against Arizona. They just needed to pull up in The Lincoln. And that’s exactly what they did:
Seahawks 17, Cardinals 3
I’m not going to sugarcoat it because I think the Seahawks were merely…
Alright, Alright, Alright.
Seattle’s defense certainly delivered above expectations. Not only did the Seahawks hold Arizona to three points, that drive in particular should have been a three-and-out inside the 10 if not for a bad review of a sideline catch by Reggie Virgil that should have been overturned in my opinion.
When Virgil had possession, my eyes went to his toes and the left foot was off the ground. That’s how I see it.
If not for that, the Seahawks deliver a shutout and the exclamation point was Nick Emmanwori’s pass breakup on Trey McBride in the end zone that sent the All-Pro tight end back to the Sahara, and put an end to Gardner Minshew’s best drive of the afternoon. This is the Emmanwori we remember:
Seattle’s best argument for their head coach in fact being a magic Mike is that the Seahawks did all this without Leonard Williams or Uchenna Nwosu. Frailty? ‘Fraid not.
Even Dante Fowler Jr. had a sack.
In his first start with the Cardinals, Minshew went 21-of-30 for 166 yards and a Josh Jobe interception was waved off for pass interference, plus he was also sacked once each by Byron Murphy and DeMarcus Lawrence. Whether this will prove to be a typical start for Minshew this season or especially bad won’t be known this soon, but based on his career we should expect Carson Beck to take over eventually.
I expect the Seahawks defense to be this good against the Cardinals. What most of us were not sure about going into Sunday’s “ghosts of backup quarterbacks past” matchup was whether or not Seattle’s OFFENSE would prove to be any better with Drew Lock and two healthy running backs — especially against the 32nd-ranked scoring defense in the NFL — and in my opinion the answer has to be …
Not really.
Lock finished 19-of-28 for 175 yards and a touchdown, which is totally acceptable under these conditions. The Seahawks won the game and they didn’t turn the ball over, which is all anyone was looking for this week —
A “Lincoln Lawyer”. This didn’t have to end 58-0 like it did when Seattle faced Arizona in 2012.
Lock was incredibly efficient and impressive on the Seahawks’ final drive of the first half, zipping sidewinders to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tory Horton, and A.J. Barner en route to an 81-yard touchdown in only 1:30.
That’s all totally fun and exciting and certainly you should make the argument that Lock is a better starter than what quite a few other teams are putting out there on Sundays. However, I wouldn’t say that it was a different start than what we’ve seen from Sam Darnold most games — for the majority of the contest the only wide receiver being targeted was JSN, and JSN finished with a season-low 51 yards — except that Lock was sacked 0 times.
if anything, Week 9 doesn’t lead us into a QB controversy necessarily, but an OL controversy. Can the Seahawks bench Anthony Bradford and Josh Jones when Charles Cross and Quenton Nelson are healthy?
Obviously Cross and Nelson ARE starters—but is there any controversy there with Grey Zabel and Abe Lucas? Zach Charbonnet would be my pick for Offensive Player of the Game after rushing for 77 yards and 4.8 yards per carry, while Jadarian Price came up with one of Seattle’s offensive highlights on a reception. Could we name Charbonnet and Price the “Tropic Thunder”?
Who would be your pick for OPOG? What about Defensive Player?
The Seahawks are 5-4 now and keep pace with the Los Angeles Rams, who are also 5-4 after beating the Moons on Sunday. The 49ers are 7-1 after beating the Raiders, who Seattle will face next week with Kirk Cousins still at quarterback unless he is surprisingly traded.
That’s what absolutely matters: The Seahawks got the win.
They didn’t have to be fancy, they didn’t need to win awards, they didn’t need to end the day being called “the best team in football” again like they were in the past. This was just about getting in a solid effort and proving to people that they’re far from dead.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
From the sounds of it, I expect Lock and Darnold to be questionable all week. Jalen Milroe could start and Adrian Martinez could be backup.
In my humble opinion it was an average victory against a less than average team. The win today was great and kept the Seahawks on pace with the Rams. However, I don't believe the team the Seahawks fielded today would get the job done against Minnesota, Detroit, even the Packers. Obviously it wasn't good enough versus the Bears. I saw the O-line play very poorly at times today and penalties on the defense extended drives. Yes the Seahawks got the win. Let's see if they can win against better teams in the NFC. I'm not convinced they can. Yet....