Seahawks vs Cardinals preview: Seattle look to grab NFC West lead from Arizona

The Seattle Seahawks bought an vital win towards the San Francisco 49ers final week, but when the workforce nonetheless goals of constructing the playoffs, the work is way from over. Within the subsequent three weeks, the Seahawks will face the Arizona Cardinals twice (and play the hapless New York Jets in between these video games), and the workforce must win to manage its personal future within the NFC West. A win over the Cardinals and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams to the Philadelphia Eagles would put Seattle again on prime of the division.

What are the principle keys to the sport? Let’s undergo them in our Week 12 recreation preview.

The Seahawks must maintain Kyler Murray within the pocket

Don’t let the subject title idiot you. Kyler Murray is a wonderful passer, each inside and out of doors the pocket. Observe within the video above that the Cardinals name a variation of the 4 Verticals. Even with a better possibility with Elijah Higgins (No. 84) on the out route, Murray decides to throw to Trey McBride (we’ll discuss him later), who’s in the course of 4 defenders, exhibiting glorious accuracy.

My greatest concern is his operating. Murray is fourth amongst QBs (behind Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, and Jalen Hurts) in speeding yards, with 371 yards and 4 TDs. He’s second in yards per carry common with 8.1, behind rookie Drake Maye (9.3).

The issue is that Murray is completely different from the cell QBs the Seahawks have confronted. He received’t search contact like Josh Allen; in reality he’ll at all times run away from it. Kyler is extraordinarily agile and a very good athlete who can reap the benefits of any area left by the protection.

The fixed menace of the Cardinals’ glorious operating recreation opens up area for an offense that makes use of quite a lot of zone-read. As talked about above, Murray does the whole lot he can to keep away from contact, however he’s a problem to deal with within the open subject in 1-on-1 conditions.

So, one option to attempt to remove this menace is to attempt to make him run as a lot inside as potential, between of the tackles, to get him out of his consolation zone. The issue is that the Seahawks had quite a lot of bother sealing the sting towards the 49ers. Brock Purdy, who will not be recognized for being an excellent cell QB, managed 40 yards on 5 makes an attempt plus a TD on the bottom.

It appears that evidently Mike Macdonald offers his DLs quite a lot of freedom to improvise tips on the road. On this play, for instance, Dre’Mont Jones sees a chance to stress the QB, however finally ends up permitting Purdy to flee to the sting.

One other huge check for the Seahawks’ entrance seven

I imagine that one motive for pleasure for the followers is that within the final two video games is the truth that the Seahawks held Kyren Williams and Christian McCaffrey to 69 and 79 speeding yards, respectively. Life received’t be any simpler towards the 49ers, for the reason that operating recreation is a elementary a part of the Arizona recreation plan.

Arizona’s starters embrace Paris Johnson Jr., Evan Brown (former Seahawk), Hjalte Froholdt, Trystan Colon, and Kelvin Beachum. Maybe none of those names have the burden of a Trent Williams and even Rob Havenstein. Nonetheless, this Cardinals OL has been very nicely coached and performs on the sector a lot multiple would count on when studying the depth chart.

The bread and butter of this floor assault is the Counter. This run consists of the operating again threatening to run to at least one aspect earlier than going the opposite approach. The OL blocks within the preliminary path of the RB and the workforce ship two pullers on the alternative aspect to function lead blockers with the intention of making a spot in the course of the DL.

This can be a nice matchup when your RB is James Conner, the league chief in missed tackles compelled amongst RBs with 49 (three greater than Derrick Henry). With this means to interrupt tackles, he’s second in runs for 10+ yards with 23, behind solely Saquon Barkley’s 26. He leads the league in hole runs (as exemplified by the counter) with 112 carries, 20 greater than the second-placed Kyren Williams.

Conner has six video games with 100+ yards from scrimmage. Of the 4 video games by which he didn’t attain that mark, the Cardinals misplaced three. The one recreation they received was towards the Dolphins, principally on the ultimate play.

The brand new Seahawks linebacker duo won’t have a straightforward job

The Seahawks obtained quite a lot of reward for his or her new inside linebacker duo of Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight. Along with the problem of containing the operating recreation, they’ll have so much to fret about towards the move. Trey McBride is likely one of the workforce’s standouts. The previous Colorado State participant boasts the next numbers:

4th in targets (61);
third in receptions (49);
third in yards (552);
third in yards towards zone protection (410);

He’s vital as a result of Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s offense makes use of play-action so much, particularly towards man-to-man protection. He’s an athletic tight finish, so any time the linebackers are fooled by play-action it is going to be sufficient for him to discover a window behind them.

Observe that it’s not simply McBride who has benefited from play-action. Elijah Higgins has managed to be a great weapon on this idea, as a result of the play design favors him. He even has two TDs this season.

The Seahawks offensive line’s probability to ascertain itself?

The OL has been an issue week after week for the Seahawks. With the return of Abe Lucas and the wonderful play of Olu Oluwatimi, this has given rise to a glimmer of hope for the long run.

Week 12 brings the Cardinals, who’re the thirtieth ranked workforce in stress charge. They’re solely forward of the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers. This might be the workforce’s probability to have a great recreation on this regard and achieve confidence for the next weeks.

The workforce’s chief in pressures is LJ Collier—sure, that LJ Collier—with 21 (however only one sack). He’s adopted by the swiss military knife of the entrance seven, Zaven Collins, with 16 (and a team-leading 4 sacks), then Dante Stills (4 sacks) and Roy Lopez (1 sack) with 13, and Dennis Gardeck (3 sacks) with 13. No different participant on the roster has 10 or extra pressures. Gardeck is out for the season with a torn ACL.

It’s price remembering that the Cardinals traded for Baron Browning on the commerce deadline (paying the identical worth that Seattle paid for Trevis Gipson, however for a significantly better participant).

Nonetheless…

Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis have been extraordinarily inventive in looking for methods out of this. They gave the Lions’ glorious offensive line a tough time within the matchup between them.

To comprise the operating recreation, a method they use so much is the Pirate Stunt. This consists of a play by which all the defensive position stunts inside. The outcome was efficient and in three of thee final 4 video games they’ve contained their opponents to lower than 80 yards.

With regards to pressuring the QB, they’ve additionally been inventive, whether or not it’s in numerous blitzes or with simulated stress (one thing Mike Macdonald makes use of so much).

On this play they threaten with 5 gamers on the road of scrimmage. The second the middle lowers his head for the snap, the linebacker who was threatening the blitz drops. This doesn’t give the OL time to regulate and the Lions are left with 4 gamers towards simply two on the fitting aspect, leaving a rusher towards the RB (which isn’t superb) and permitting the sting to go 1-on-1. The sack occurs after the defenders win their battles.

Right here they use simulated stress, one thing that gave Jared Goff quite a lot of complications. As a substitute of the 5 who threaten, solely 4 go after the QB. The Cardinals drop Dennis Gardeck to cowl the brief route. Goff doesn’t notice this and attempting to move on the brief route is intercepted.

Ultimate Ideas

Beating the 49ers gave the Seahawks the fitting to manage their playoff destiny. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply it’s a straightforward job. The workforce has to face the division chief twice in three weeks and so they should win. Additionally do not forget that the Cardinals are coming off a bye after two straightforward wins towards the Chicago Bears and New York Jets.

Make no mistake, nonetheless, because the Cardinals gave the Payments a tough time in Week 1, shedding by only one possession to each them and the Lions. They’re probably the most constant workforce within the division.

If the Seahawks need to go far, they should beat the perfect!

Go Hawks!