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Brady Henderson, ESPN
SEATTLE — The Seahawks lost five of six games after their 3-0 start. They lost several key defenders to injuries, as well as their starting center to an abrupt retirement. They even lost power to the team’s headquarters earlier this week after a major storm, the latest adversity they faced during Mike Macdonald’s debut season as head coach.
But the Seahawks overcame the stoppage and then overwhelmed Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals offense Sunday at Lumen Field on their way to a 16-6 victory that gave Seattle a share of first place in the NFC West. with 6-5.
“We didn’t blink an eye,” Macdonald said of the focus his team showed in difficult circumstances. “It feels like something happens every week, so it’s kind of normal right now, which is good. Let’s move on.”
The Seahawks snapped Arizona’s four-game winning streak and earned a sixth straight victory over their division rivals.
Their surging defense led the way, keeping Arizona out of the end zone, sacking Murray five times and outscoring the Cardinals’ offense thanks to a pick-six by safety Coby Bryant.
Seattle pressured Murray on 42% (18 of 43) of his dropbacks. According to ESPN Research, that was the highest pressure rate the quarterback has faced in a game starting and ending since 2021. Murray was 4 of 12 for 54 yards and the interception when pressured on Sunday.
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon was approaching Murray during a third-quarter throw when the signal-caller tackled receiver Michael Wilson. Bryant took it, ran 69 yards to the end zone and paid tribute to Marshawn Lynch as he crossed the goal line, grabbing his crotch like Lynch did at the end of his famous 79-yard touchdown run against the Cardinals in 2014.
“I know I’m going to get fined,” Bryant said, “so I hope, Marshawn, you see this.”
Bryant described last week as “crazy” as the Seahawks were forced to make do with limited backup power for several days at team headquarters after high winds from a storm on Tuesday caused a massive blackout that affected hundreds of thousands of people in Western Washington.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” Bryant said. “But it shows that we are willing to work and, no matter the circumstances, we will continue and control what we can control. Obviously, we can’t control power.”
The Seahawks’ Virginia Mason Athletic Center had little to no lighting in some areas, forcing players to use their cellphone flashlights to see inside their lockers on Wednesday and Thursday. They didn’t have hot water either.
“The guys didn’t complain; they just took the hits,” general manager John Schneider said during a pregame interview on the team’s radio network. “To be able to have hot water on Thursday, you would have thought we had struck gold. It was incredible. It was great to see everyone coming together and working on that process because it was… very unusual. I still don’t have power in my house. It was kind of craziness”.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the Seahawks’ offensive standout on a day when their running game struggled again, generating just 65 yards on 25 carries. The second-year receiver caught six passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, continuing his recent tear.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith entered Week 12 tied for the NFL lead with 11 interceptions and threw another on Sunday. He was intercepted on the first play of the fourth quarter while throwing toward the end zone through traffic, which he called a “terrible mistake.”
But Smith, who was 22 of 31 for 254 yards and a touchdown with an interception, responded by leading a 13-play, 49-yard drive that consumed more than eight minutes of the game clock. Jason Myers capped it with a 50-yard field goal to give the Seahawks a two-point lead.
The day belonged to Seattle’s defense, which held Arizona to 3.5 yards per carry and has allowed just 42 combined points over the last three games.
“I feel like the collectiveness and cohesion is growing more and more in this defense,” said defensive tackle Leonard Williams, who had 2.5 sacks and three tackles for loss in his most dominant game since Seattle acquired him in a trade in October 2023. “You can when you look into each other’s eyes, say, ‘Okay, we’ve got this.’ There were times at the beginning of the season where I didn’t feel the same when I looked a teammate in the eye. There were times when we were in a game and we were a little down and I would look at someone’s eyes and they didn’t have the same fight in them.
“And I feel like we’re on that path now and it means more.”
The Seahawks, who snapped a six-game losing streak to the San Francisco 49ers last week in California, will play the New York Jets next week before their rematch with the Cardinals in Arizona. Macdonald laid out what’s at stake earlier this week, saying the Seahawks were approaching this crucial stretch with a “playoff mentality.”
His team responded again on Sunday.
“The whole week has been a little strange, as you know, with the power,” Smith-Njigba said. “I’m proud that my guys came here prepared and ready for today. I thought we attacked well today. We got the win. It was a big win for us. Playoff game, like we’ve been saying.”
