In the Week 4 edition of “Thursday Night Football,” the Arizona Cardinals host the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC West showdown.
Arizona enters this game at 2-1 after taking its first loss of the season last week. The Cards opened 2-0 with thoroughly unimpressive wins over the Saints and Panthers, then lost to a 49ers team starting its backup quarterback. They’re looking to rebound here and avoid falling behind in the division race, which is shaping up to be an incredibly close one given the quality of all the teams involved.
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Seattle, meanwhile, has won back-to-back games after losing to those same Niners back in Week 1. The Seahawks have been playing some fantastic defense and special teams and their offense finally erupted last week against New Orleans. They’re looking to stack another win and keep within striking distance of the Niners in the West.
Which of these teams will improve its record to 3-1? We’ll find out soon enough. But before we break down the matchup, here’s a look at how you can watch the game.
Where to watch Seahawks vs. Cardinals live
Date: Thursday, Sept. 15 | Time: 8:20 p.m. ET
Location: State Farm Stadium (Glendale, AZ)
Stream: Amazon Prime
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds: Seahawks -1.5; O/U 43.5 (via DraftKings Sportsbook)
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When the Seahawks have the ball
Arizona comes into this game incredibly short-handed on defense. Walter Nolen and BJ Ojulari remain on the physically unable to perform list. Garrett Williams went on injured reserve. Will Johnson is doubtful to play for the second consecutive game. It’s basically a M.A.S.H. unit on this side of the ball.
The injuries in the secondary, and especially to slot corner Williams, are a problem in this matchup. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is playing as well as any wide receiver in the NFL, and he operates quite often out of the slot. (He has, in fairness, aligned outside more often this year because the Seahawks have leaned into some 12 personnel looks.) He already has 22 catches for 323 yards through three weeks, ranking second behind only Puka Nacua in both categories. He’s seeing targets on an incredible 42% of his routes, via Tru Media, the second-highest rate in the league, behind only Nacua.
Sam Darnold is completing over 70% of his passes at an average of 9.0 yards per attempt, and he’s doing it by just repeatedly and relentlessly targeting JSN all over the field. Presumably, without two of their top three corners, the Cardinals will likely have a difficult time keeping that connection from, well, connecting.
The Seahawks haven’t had much success running the ball yet, however, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry as Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet have each been very inefficient. The offensive line issues we expected Seattle to have coming into the year appear to have affected the run game more than the passing attack so far.
Charbonnet, who missed last week due to injury before practicing this week and carrying a questionable designation into the game, has just 57 yards on his 27 carries. Walker has been more efficient thanks to a few long runs in Week 2, but he was running in mud last week against the Saints (38 yards on 16 carries) and in Week 1 against the 49ers (10 carries for 20 yards).
Arizona has been excellent against the run so far, having held its last two opponents below 75 rushing yards and allowing only 3.8 yards per carry on the year. The Cardinals have yielded just 0.80 yards before contact per attempt, which ranks eighth in the NFL to date. If the Cards can slow down the run game and force the Seahawks into pure dropback situations, maybe they can get some pressure on Darnold and force him into some mistakes. The defensive front is playing well despite some absences, with Calais Campbell, in particular, dominating as a pass rusher from the inside.
When the Cardinals have the ball
The Cardinals also come into this game short-handed on offense after they lost running back James Conner for the season, thanks to a gruesome ankle injury suffered last week.
Conner wasn’t looking particularly effective so far this year but he’s a big part of the personality of what they want to be offensively and his loss is significant. He’ll be replaced in the backfield mostly by Trey Benson, who had taken over a larger role to start the season, casting aside Emari Demercardo to take over the passing-down snaps while splitting the early-down work with Conner. Benson now presumably slides into Conner’s role and Demercado takes over the long down and distance stuff that he handled for the last couple of years.
Benson was an exciting, athletic prospect and has looked good in his limited action so far this year but he’s not the same kind of physical runner that Conner is, so it’ll be interesting to see how that switch affects Arizona’s run game. That’s especially the case because it already looked like said run game had taken something of a step backward, which was part of the fear when they lost former offensive line coach Klayton Adams to the Cowboys, who surprisingly rank first in the NFL in rushing success rate with Adams as their new offensive coordinator.
The Seahawks have defended the run as well as almost anyone in the league so far this season, allowing just 3.2 yards per carry and having yet to give up a touchdown on the ground. Opponents have just a 36.4% rushing success rate, per Tru Media, and they’ve averaged only 2.11 yards after contact per carry, which is the lowest mark against any defense in the NFL. Benson and Co. could find tough sledding on Thursday night. (Four offensive linemen are also listed as questionable for the game, which would make things even tougher if any of them can’t give it a go.)
Seattle’s pass defense has also been playing extremely well thus far, with more interceptions (five) than touchdowns allowed (four). Opponents are averaging 6.4 yards per attempt and nobody has thrown for more than 265 yards. The Seahawks are also getting star cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love back in the lineup for this game, further strengthening the back end of the defense.
Kyler Murray’s connection with Trey McBride looks as strong as ever, and the one area where Seattle has been vulnerable to date has been against tight ends (tight ends have 24 receptions against the Seahawks so far this season, tied for the most in the league), but but Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. are again seemingly just not on the same page as they have has several missed connections due to either missed throws or drops. Harrison doesn’t play a lot in the slot and Witherspoon spends a lot of time there, but given the relative weakness of Arizona’s other receiving options, Harrison could potentially see some shadow coverage, making the matchup even more difficult.
Prediction
The Cardinals have the advantage of playing this game at home, but everything else is working against them here. They’re not healthy. It’s not a great matchup on either side of the ball. Seattle is getting players back on the field and already playing well. We’re rolling with the Seahawks to win and cover.