Seahawks’ Wings Clipped as They Fall to Cardinals, 27-13

Seattle-  After the San Francisco 49ers scrapped out a 34-31 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, the playoff seeding for the Seattle Seahawks changed once again. The Seahawks went from the one seed to fifth seed and needed a victory over the Arizona Cardinals to keep up within the race for the NFC West division title, as well as home-field advantage.

On the Seahawks first drive, there was a heavy dosage of Chris Carson, who broke for a couple of nice runs. Russell Wilson finished off their first drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Nick Bellore to draw first blood, 7-0.

On the next possession for the Cardinals, running back Kenyan Drake busted the Seahawks’ secondary for an 80-yard touchdown run to tie up the game, 7-7. Defense was the factor today as both teams struggled offensively. Late in the second quarter, Kyler Murray extended a play with his feet around the Seahawks’ 20-yard line, threw a pass to Larry Fitzgerald, who broke his route to help Murry out, and took it to the house to take the lead, 14-7. Before the end of the half, Murray threw what looked like another touchdown pass to Fitzgerald, but after a second look, the touchdown was reversed and they kicked a field goal to go up 17-7 at the half.

In the second half, the Cardinals controlled the game and tacked on a field goal to make it 20-7 early in the third quarter, while the Seahawks struggled to get anything productive going on. However, late in the third quarter, the Seahawks got a break as their defense came up big, blocking a field goal attempt, recovering the ball, and putting the Seahawks in a very good position to finally gain some momentum and some potential points to cut the deficit. The Seahawks capitalized off the blocked field goal attempt and kicked a field goal of their own to cut the lead to ten, 20-10. With 10:13 left in regulation, the Seahawks kick another field goal to climb back into the game, 20-13. The Cardinals iced the game with a five-yard touchdown pitch to make it 27-13. With a loss to the Cardinals, the Seahawks are potentially in trouble of losing the division, home-field advantage, and may have to play on the road in a Wild Card game.

After the Cardinals’ victory, congratulations was in order as Larry Fitzgerald became the second player in NFL history with 17,000 career receiving yards. The only other person who has more yard than Fitzgerald is Jerry Rice.