By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

Seahawks defense leads the way in dominant 16-6 win over Cardinals

A dominant display by the Seahawks placed them in a tie for first place in the NFC West with a 16-6 win over the Arizona Cardinals.  The Hawks defense brought energy, pressure, and physicality. Leading the Charge for the Seahawk’s defense was Leonard Williams. Williams had 2.5 sacks,  four quarterback hits, and three tackles for loss.

“ I thought he was dominant. I knew he played great, and then I looked at the stat line, and he played out of his mind,” said Head Coach Mike Macdonald. “It’s just everybody working together all the time, staying together, trusting the process. Then you have games where you feel like you played pretty well and helped the team win, but it’s about consistency,” Macdonald added.

TOUGH INSIDE PLAY

The middle of the Seahawk’s defense was just as dominant as the front line.  Ernest Jones IV and Tyrice Knight were one and two in tackles for the defense. Jones had ten, and Knight had nine. With the interior line and middle backers bringing pressure, the defensive secondary made several clutch plays. Coby Bryant returned a Kyle Murray pass for 69 yards, and once he hit the endzone, he did his best Marshawn Lynch impression. Lynch did his famous crotch grab celebration in the Seahawks  35-6 win over the Cardinals on December 21st at Arizona.

ENERGY WAS THE KEY

All week long, the team had been dealing with adversity. The Virginia  Mason Athletic Center was without power until Friday afternoon.  Players and coaches had the awareness to wish the best for their fans who were without power and looked at their situation as a mere inconvenience.  The team used the adversity to stay focused and bond. The team committed to bringing more energy and physicality in that bonding process.

“Honestly, we’ve just been working off of each other, for real,” said Riq Woolen. “ We were really just feeding off of each other. We had a great week of practice, which led into the game.”

OFFENSE WAS EFFICIENT  AT BEST

While the defense was feasting on Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, the offense had another efficient day.  After punting on its first four possessions to begin the game. The offense finally found its rhythm on the fifth drive. Geno Smith hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba with a three-yard pass to take a 7-3 just before the half ended. The offense finished the first half with  145 total yards, 125 passing and 20 rushing.  

SUBPAR  SECOND HALF

Things did not get much better in the second half. The second half was worse than the first. The offense managed one field goal, and  Geno Smith was picked off in the endzone during the offense’s second possession of the second half. The Seahawk’s defense held the Cardinals to a field goal, and the offense atoned for its earlier transgressions with  13 13-play 49, 49-yard drive that ate up 8:12 of game cl. The drive ended with a 50-yard Jason Myers field goal that put the game out of reach

BIG TAKE

This game was about the defense taking another step. After last week’s win over the Niners, in which the defense made the stop it needed to make late in the game, Sunday’s win showed that the defense was dominant from start to finish.

“We just played cohesive. Guys were resilient. Even when they had a few drives, we just tried to bow up in the red zone. It’s cohesive ball, man. People are playing fast, physical, and just a style that we wanted to play,” said Julian Love. 

The defense held the Cardinals below double-digit points for the first time this season. Entering the game, the Cardinals scored at least 28 points in their last three games, all of which were wins. 

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