The Arizona Cardinals were arguably even worse than expected
in 2018
Ed Dickson
Color Rush Jersey , finishing 3-13 and sporting the NFL’s worst offense by
some distance. Unsurprisingly, Steve Wilks was canned after just one season as
head coach, and with Josh Rosen chosen to be Arizona’s franchise quarterback,
they’re apparently going to turn to Kliff Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech head
coach.Kingsbury was actually hired as USC’s offensive coordinator last month
after Texas Tech fired him due to just a 35-40 record over six seasons.
Apparently USC was blocking him from doing interviews with the New York Jets and
Arizona Cardinals, but it seems as if he got around it by resigning from his
position. While he’s not managed a lot of win-loss record success in college,
Kingsbury was head coach when Patrick Mahomes starred for the Red Raiders, and
he coached Baker Mayfield before he transferred to Oklahoma. Texas Tech was
consistently one of the highest scoring teams in NCAA Division I FBS, but of
course they had no semblance of defense even by Big XII standards. With the NFL
geared more towards passing offense than ever before, often to the point of
running a lot of concepts we see in college football, it’s opened the door for
guys like Kingsbury to be hot commodities as NFL head coaches. Hey, a win is a
win. It’s been a good while since the Seattle Seahawks had to rely
overwhelmingly on the defensive side of the ball to win a game, especially with
the passing offense rendered toothless. Pete Carroll loves great defense and
running the ball, and whether or not you agree with that philosophy, those two
things were essential in Seattle toppling the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night
Football.As things stand, a win over the San Francisco 49ers and some other
favorable results could mean that they’d have the #5 seed secured before Week
16. Isn’t that amazing?Let’s get to Winners and Losers. WinnersThe entire
Seahawks defenseCollectively, this was the most complete showing by the Seahawks
defense I’ve seen all season. Starting with the secondary - Tre Flowers and
Shaquill Griffin each balled out, with Griffin in particular having one of the
best games of his career. they were great both in coverage and open-field
tackling. Justin Coleman had a fumble return for a touchdown, Bradley McDougald
had a pivotal 4th and goal breakup. Hell, Akeem King generated pressure on a
blitz up the middle on the opening series.You get to the linebackers, and Bobby
Wagner was Bobby Wagner. Nine tackles, a 4th down run stop, and a pivotal
blocked field goal that may or may not have been legal, but I don’t really care.
The Vikings offense was so dismal that I reckon they’d have found a way to not
score anyway. On the front line, Frank Clark added to his sack
total
Jaron Brown
Color Rush Jersey , rookie Jacob Martin had the exclamation mark with a
strip-sack of Kirk Cousins, Dion Jordan was very good in run defense and had at
least one hurry of Cousins. Jarran Reed chased Cousins out of the pocket, Shamar
Stephen had a good tackle for minimal gain on what could’ve been a big play when
two Seahawks players overran a Dalvin Cook handoff. That looked like a vintage
Seahawks defense, except almost everyone I mentioned just now was not even on
the 2014 team. Kudos to Ken Norton Jr for an excellent gameplan and to the
players for an outstanding performance.Chris Carson22 carries for 90 yards and
the game-sealing touchdown. He looked fast getting around the edges, where the
Vikings were decidedly weak for a normally outstanding run defense. On a night
when the Seahawks passing game was struggling, Carson was churning and churning
and powering his way for extra yards.Rashaad PennyI’d rather the slalom run not
be a thing, but if he’s going to do it, do it well! This wasn’t quite the
craziness of the winding dash against the Green Bay Packers, but he had to do a
ton just to get 17 exhilarating yards. He’s looking better each week, I just
want to see him (and other running backs) be more involved as receivers.Tyler
LockettFive catches for 42 yards doesn’t sound like much, but he also drew an
(iffy) pass interference penalty, converted on a two-point try, and was the only
good Seahawks receiver on the night. Also, I recommend checking out his block on
Xavier Rhodes on that aforementioned Penny pitch.George FantTHEY THREW IT TO
GEORGE FANT.Honorable mention to Booger McFarland for his genuine laughter.
That’s what most of us were surely thinking.LosersRussell WilsonThat end-of-half
interception was one of the worst plays he’s ever made. If he was uncomfortable
with that sprint out and no one getting open, throw it out of the end zone.
Instead he avoided a clock-draining sack by throwing an interception that was
lucky not to be a pick-6 had Eric Kendricks not fallen. Overall, 10/20 for 72
yards and that turnover was simply brutal, but he made up for some of it with
his best running day in a long time with 61 yards, including that 40-yard gallop
late in the 4th. He has to be better against quality defenses though, because
several of his worst games this season have not coincidentally been against some
of the top defenses by DVOA.The other wide receivers not named Tyler LockettI
hope Doug Baldwin gets healthy soon, and beyond that, the Seahawks need to
improve the WR group in 2019. David Moore should’ve had a touchdown and instead
couldn’t drag his second foot in-bounds at the end of the 1st half. He also had
a 3rd down drop on a pretty simple pass that also required him to get YAC for a
conversion. Zero catches on five targets for Moore, one catch for no yards for
Jaron Brown, and no targets to any other Seattle WR all night.The All-22 will
reveal more, but I suspect some of Wilson’s hesitancy to throw the ball involved
“no one getting open.”End-of-half timeout managementThe Wilson interception came
about in part because the Seahawks essentially had no choice but to pass. With
:16 to go, they burned their last timeout after Wilson ran to the 1-yard line.
No timeouts means the Vikings know you’re gonna throw it. I understand not
wanting to give the Vikings the ball back
late
Tre Flowers
Color Rush Jersey , but letting this much time elapse is not smart.Of
course, the Seahawks wasted a timeout after the Penny run because they couldn’t
get lined up in time. We just have to live with it.Brad Allen and his crew Let’s
see, an “illegal grasp of the helmet opening” by Bobby Wagner, a penalty I don’t
think I’ve ever seen called before or knew existed. The replays were
inconclusive. Wagner then gets away with a clear face mask later in the drive.
Germain Ifedi was wrongly flagged for an unnecessary roughness call that took
the Seahawks out of FG range, then they switched it to Jordan Simmons, who did
instigate some shoving but that’s a weak penalty to begin with. Even crazier is
that the penalty was originally called on the Vikings.I didn’t really agree with
the DPI on Xavier Rhodes on Tyler Lockett, as the ball looked uncatchable and
Lockett pretty much flopped. However, Rhodes did hold the arm, so I can see why
it was called. Tre Flowers’ “hold” on Stefon Diggs? Meh. Then you had the
blocked field goal controversy with Bobby Wagner.They weren’t good, and now we
have to (in all likelihood) once again hear the stupid nonsense about how the
Cheathawks got away with another ref-aided win on MNF. Whatever.The Monday Night
Football broadcastI have a soft spot for Joe Tessitore since I’m a longtime
boxing fan. Booger McFarland isn’t afraid to speak his mind and be critical of
players other analysts seem to shield from criticism. He’s also capable of many
terrible takes, such as thinking turning a 6-0 game to 6-3 makes it a “one
possession game.” IT ALREADY IS, BOOGER! Jason Witten is a disaster up there,
and so is the overall broadcast. I don’t want to listen to them be buddy-buddy
in the booth, call the damn game. The Genesis halftime show is a waste of time.
I listened to the pre-game show by accident and half my brain melted. And then
there was this:Final NotesKirk Cousins isn’t terrible, he’s rarely great, he’s
not an $84 million guaranteed quarterback. And John DeFilippo might be in over
his head as offensive coordinator. Minnesota is in trouble.Everything does stick
to StefonAction Green is 3-0, so I will not speak ill of the jerseys ever
again.Matt Hasselbeck raised the flag, which was pretty awesome. End-of-career
Hasselbeck was sad to watch, but don’t ever forget that he was one of the
catalysts for Seattle’s first Super Bowl team, along with the other NFC West
titles. Those days were fun too, just in a different way. I’m pretty damn
excited that the Seahawks are just about on their way to the playoffs again, and
potentially with room to spare. See you for Enemy Reaction on Tuesday.
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