Say what you want about blowing a 14-point lead to Brett Favre last week, this loss to the Seattle Seahawks, at home, was far worse. The Arizona Cardinals could have gotten right back in the race to the top of the really bad NFC West with a win and it's not like the Seahawks have been tearing things up this season, either. This was a game the Cardinals both needed for the standings and had to have for their confidence.
"We played awful," Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt said in his post game press conference.
Unfortunately, the Derek Anderson-led and Ken Whisenhunt-coached Cardinals showed no fight at all. Defensively, the secondary made Seattle's otherwise mediocre offense look like world beaters. Seattle made play after big play down the field in the process of racking up 490 total yards and a season-high 380 passing. I supposed you can be happy that the Cardinals prevented an even worse beating by forcing the Seahawks into four fields goals (and one missed FG) instead of giving up touchdowns in the red zone.
Anderson threw for 322 yards on 23-for-45 passing. He gave up one interception, turned the ball over on a fumble and was sacked five times to go along with one touchdown pass. The Cardinals running game, again without an injured Beanie Wells, only ran for 41 yards on just 14 rushing attempts. Only two third down conversions capped off the horrible offensive performance.
The Cardinals (3-6) now fall to a tie for last place in the division with San Francisco, who beat the St. Louis Rams. With the win, Seattle is now 5-4 and holds first place in the NFC West. The Cardinals travel to Kansas City next Sunday, while the Seahawks go to New Orleans to face the defending Super Bowl champions. Seattle has now swept Arizona and holds the tie-breaker should the Cardinals somehow figure out how to win enough games for that to matter.
For more post game discussion, visit Revenge of the Birds.