Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals Preview & Prediction | PFF

Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals Preview & Prediction | PFF

So, let’s start with Thursday Night Football. The Seattle Seahawks are taking on the Arizona Cardinals. This one is in Arizona. Uh, this game started off with the Seahawks getting a point and a half. And as the week has gone on here, now obviously we are recording this on Wednesday, so things can change uh in either direction, but now the Seahawks are the ones who are favored by a point and a half. So, it was the Cardinals, now it is the Seahawks. How do you feel about that one? What do you want to talk about here with this game? I I just look at, you know, watching the first three games for Seattle and they’re obviously working through the offensive line and they’ve been playing at an average level. They’re 16th and PFF grade. It’s kind of that creep back towards average thing. So, the offensive line’s looked okay. The defense I think has looked really good, but the best part of this team right now and honestly exceeding my expectations even with reuniting with Clint Kubak is Sam Darnold. He’s the highest graded quarterback in football through three weeks. Now, he’s he’s made fewer pass attempts than any quarterback who’s played in all three games this season, but that’s in part because in week one, they didn’t have the football at all. Week two, he was pretty efficient, and last week the game against the Saints was pretty much over before it started. But to be the highest graded quarterback in football is an accomplishment. I see him being more decisive. He is the second lowest average time to throw at 2.55 seconds, only behind Matthew Stafford. That number was closer to 3.1 seconds for him last year. So, he’s getting rid of the football quickly. He’s decisive and I think the biggest part of his game that’s impressing me right now is he’s dominating over the middle of the field. Between the numbers, he is the highest graded passer in football. He’s completing 88% of his passes, leads the NFL and 11.1 yards per attempt. Sam Darnold’s been attacking the middle of the field with such precision that it’s giving so many all of their opposing defenses big problems. And when you look at the Cardinals and the way they play their zone defenses, they sit back, they try to exp they try to prevent explosives down the field, they run a lot of quarters. That’s the moment where I go, okay, Sam Darnold’s got a pretty good matchup against this secondary. That is, it’s banged up on the outside, but I still expect them to attack the middle. The Arizona Cardinals through three games have allowed the most receptions and yards between the numbers in the passing game in the NFL. I expect Darnold to continue to attack that area of the field. I don’t know. That’s my boy. That’s my boy DTD’s territory right there. Drien Taylor Demerson, the safety from Arizona. He’s got himself an interception already this season. I don’t know, man. I feel like he’s an over the middle of the field ball hawk. So maybe he might get one on Sam Darnold this week. But I do think that’s a good thing to point out that, you know, people looked at Sam Darnold last year and they I think they looked at the last game of the regular season in the first game in the playoffs and they just said, “Ah, Sam Darnold, he is who he is. First 16 games were totally fools gold.” Well, that wasn’t going to be the case either. And so it’s great to see him playing well in Clint Kubak system. We talked about that being a really good fit when they went out and they signed him this off seasonason after, you know, moving on from Gino Smith and everything. Uh, it was going to be a lot of change, but I I thought the change could have been good and I know that you agreed with that as well. So, I’ve been a big Seahawks believer. I had them win in this division before the season. Now, I had them win in the division because I kind of wasn’t sure what to make of Matthew Stafford’s back injury. I felt like he was not going to play this season. So, if I could kind of go back at probably go with the Rams, but I do think that the Seahawks are going to be right there. I think it’s going to be close down to the very end. This is team, a really good football team, and I think we’ll see a really good showing from them on Thursday. The Cardinals were sort of people’s surprise team to maybe win this division. Maybe I shouldn’t say surprised because they were leading the division eight weeks through the season last year and did not have a good second half of the season. Not only did they not win the division, they did not make the playoffs. This year, I think that they have a ton of defensive potential. I like what the Cardinals are on the defensive side of the ball, which you would probably expect that to be the case given the fact that they have a defensive head coach and that they’ve spent the most money on that side of the ball, but when it comes to their passing attack, that like we talked about in the review show on Monday, leaves a lot to be desired. Now, they’re decently efficient. When Kyler Murray does in fact throw the football, he’s pretty efficient with it. 78.9 team passing grade, which is seventh in the NFL. That’s a top 10, top eight mark. But you look at yards per attempt, 6.6. That’s 24th in the NFL. And then average depth of target specifically, 6.5. That’s 31st in the NFL. And so when Kyler is letting the ball go, it’s normally a good decision and it’s normally good for the team. But it just feels like he’s not doing that at an explosive enough level. He’s he’s not afraid to hit the easy passes um 10 yards or less, but he’s just not pushing the ball deep down the field. And you’ve had a couple of opportunities like the Marvin Harrison Jr. dropped catch, you know, like that changes some of the numbers a little bit, but this team’s also a 57.1 receiving grade as a team with just its wide receivers. Their wide receivers are not winning right now. They’re not winning down the field. And I think that’s really capping what this team is. Of course, you can talk about the running back side of it as well. knows James Connor anymore for the rest of the season. I think Trey Benson is a um high potential running back to get you those explosive runs, but I’ve also talked about over the last couple of weeks, Arizona, their run game is okay when it comes to their offensive lineman, but they don’t have those high impact run blocking plays they still need to have to uh get Trey Benson to be able to showcase his athleticism that way. So, ultimately, Dalton, I I am going with the Seahawks in this one. I’m I’m going a little bit more highscoring than you, though. I think we’re in for a little bit of a of a fireworks show here. I’m going 31 to 27. We’re gonna have fun here on Thursday night. And if obviously if it’s that score, uh it’s going to be a very entertaining game to watch. But I think the Cardinals will get right when it comes to passing the ball deeper down the field. They’ll have a couple more of those plays that’ll keep them in it till the very end. But I do wonder if they have the consistency in the run game to be able to match. And that’s the sort of the story with the Cardinals the whole season for me is I just I don’t know how much I can trust this team and so I’m not going to trust them here to get the win on Thursday night even with them at home. Yeah, I agree. I have Seattle. I have it 24 to 17. I think this game is dictated a little bit more by the two defenses, but I I just don’t like at all the way that the Cardinals are are not really executing on offense right now. The James Connor loss is a huge loss. This is a really good Seahawk defense, especially up front. Again, those big defensive tackles, Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy, can really control the pace of the game. And I’m curious to see if Seattle can run the ball on Clay Campbell and Arizona’s defensive line. I do think Sam Darnold and Jackson Smith and Jigba are the difference in this game, throwing over the middle of the field, throwing through that zone coverage. And Darnold, like I said, has been so decisive. He looks more decisive and confident than ever in Clint Kubak’s system. It may be a new system for the rest of the team, but it’s not for Darnold. I like the Seahawks in this game by a touchdown.

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals.

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