Seahawks defense flexes muscles in 27-10 win over Arizona

The Seattle Seahawks got down to basics in their rebound win over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday afternoon. The visit Seahawks did an about face from the identity void team that was kicked in the you know what last Sunday at CenturyLink Field by the New Orleans Saints.

TRUE TO THEIR WORD

The Seahawks talked all week about how they would play with a sense of purpose and identity. The franchises self proclaimed identity of having a great defense with a punishing ground game was front and center Sunday afternoon as the defense led the way with a 27 yard pick six from Jadeveon Clowney and four sacks on Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray. Running back Chris Carson rushed for 104 yards on 22 carries and kept the ball in his hands when he was looking for running room. The Seahawks defense limited the Cardinals to just 3 of 9 ( 33%) third down conversions.

“I feel like each week we are finding a way to get better,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner, who had a team-high 11 tackles. “The first game we allowed a lot of passing yards and we kind of slowed that down. We’re getting really close to putting together a complete game. We let them in (to the end zone) this week, we don’t feel like they should have got that score. They did a quarterback draw, we should expect that from him. But we shut them down.”

KEEPING IT SIMPLE LEADS TO SUCCESS
Defensive Coordinator Ken Norton Jr’ strategy of playing a base defense led by linebackers Wagner, K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks takes advantage of trio’s experience, speed and play recognition. On Sunday Kendricks’ recorded two sacks and six tackles, Wright’s had seven tackles and moved him into fifth place on the team’s all-time tackles list. Wright’s pressure of Murray led to Clowney’s pick six.

“We’re still trying to learn together,” said Clowney after the game. “We’re getting better. That’s the name of the game, not peaking right now, it’s about improving each and every week. I’m feeling better, I’m getting better with my rushes every week, other guys tell me they’re feeling better. We’re coming together as a unit… It’s still coming together, but I feel like we just keep improving week by week, and we’re stacking wins and still getting better. That’s the name of the game, getting better and still getting wins.”