The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks will meet for the second time in under a month in Week 9. This game could have massive implications for the NFC West. If the Cardinals win, the race for first place becomes tighter. If the Seahawks win, they possibly start pulling away from everyone else.
At this point in the fantasy football season, the top teams begin to separate themselves. If you are on the fringe of the playoffs, these next few weeks are crucial to put your team over the hump.
Let’s take a look at our fantasy picks for Cardinals-Seahawks in Week 9.
The 3-5 Cardinals will take on the 5-3 Seahawks at State Farm Stadium this Sunday.
Sunday’s matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium this Sunday is about as must-win as it gets for the home team. The Cardinals absolutely cannot be swept by Seattle, as their playoff chances would fall from slim to none.
The Cardinals lost in Seattle a few weeks ago, a place they usually have success in. They have not fared well against the Seahawks in Arizona, having won just one of the matchups there since 2013.
Geno Smith is one of the betting favorites to win Comeback Player of the Year due to his surprisingly stellar play to this point in the season. The Seahawks might also have the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year in Kenneth Walker III and Tariq Woolen.
Let’s dive into this must-win matchup for the Cardinals.
Take a look at how the Cardinals have done against the Seahawks in their previous three matchups.
The Arizona Cardinals (3-5) are desperately looking to avoid a sweep by their division rival Seattle Seahawks. A loss on the season would drop them to 3-6, a record that is likely a death sentence for any remaining playoff hopes.
Seattle enters this matchup at 5-3 and is one of the most surprising teams in the league. They were projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL, yet lead the NFC West and are poised to make a playoff run.
The Cardinals have not had success against the Seahawks in Arizona. They beat Russell Wilson and the Seahawks there in 2020, but prior to that had not won at home since 2012.
The Seahawks lead the all-time series 24-22-1, so the Cardinals will be unable to tie the lead or take the record this season.
With that in mind, how have the last few games gone?
It hasn’t been long since the Cardinals and Seahawks last met, but Seattle has taken advantage of their last two games while the Cardinals have not.
The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks met in Week 6 in what was a very disappointing result for Arizona in a 19-9 loss in Seattle.
Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense failed to score a touchdown against what was, at that time, one of the worst defenses in the league. They scored a special teams touchdown on a blocked punt, but otherwise only managed three offensive points.
It was a disappointing result for a team that had the opportunity to get back to .500 prior to getting their All-Pro receiver back in DeAndre Hopkins the next week,
Since then, the Seahawks have not lost a game and come into Week 9 riding a three-game winning streak, their wins coming against the Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants, both of which are respectable wins.
The Seahawks have the possible Offensive Rookie of the Year in running back Kenneth Walker III, who has taken over nicely for the injured Rashaad Penny.
In his last two games, Walker has 218 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. He’ll pose a tall task for a Cardinals team that was just gashed by Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota Vikings.
Since these two teams last met, the Cardinals are 1-1 and the Seahawks are 2-0. It’s a game the Cardinals cannot afford to lose, as doing so would spell doom for any remaining playoff hopes.
One of these two NFC West teams will head into next week back at the .500 mark as they look to keep pace in the NFC West.
The Arizona Cardinals find themselves in a pivotal matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. It’s too early to call a Week 6 game a must-win, but this is pretty close.
A win against Seattle and the Cardinals are back to .500 with All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins returning this week. There are certainly worse scenarios than that one.
Perhaps the Cardinals add more help via the trade deadline in the pass rush department. General Manager Steve Keim hasn’t been shy about doing so in the past three seasons.
None of that matters if the Cards can’t pick up a win against a surprisingly solid Seahawks team. Let’s take a look at this one.
Check out how the Cardinals and Seahawks recent matchups have gone!
The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks were always rivals but became heated ones during the Legion of Boom era for the Seahawks. Bruce Arians and the Cardinals were always taking games down to the wire and they were some of the most anticipated games of the season.
The two teams have played each other very evenly historically.
The Seahawks lead the all-time series 23-22-1, with that one tie being the infamous 6-6 game back in 2016. Since 2013, the Cardinals are 6-3 in their matchups played in Seattle.
Under Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray, these two teams are an even 3-3. They’ve split in each of the past three seasons, so no team appears to have an advantage to this point.
The Seahawks were very active in the offseason, but moreso in moving on from expensive veteran players.
Despite being thought of as one of the worst rosters in the NFL prior to the start of the season, the Seattle Seahawks (2-3) have the same record as the Cardinals through five weeks.
Seattle went through a number of big changes this offseason, but none more notable than the trading of franchise icon Russell Wilson.
Wilson has since struggled heavily with the Broncos and many are already coining Seattle as the winners of the trade. General manager John Schneider got a haul for Wilson that included two first-round picks.
The Seahawks then released the last remaining member of the Legion of Boom in linebacker Bobby Wagner, who went on to sign with the Los Angeles Rams. Wagner is one of the many players from the past few seasons that the organization opted to move on from.
In the draft, Seattle found two rookie standouts in RB Kenneth Walker (third round) and CB Tariq Woolen (fifth round). They also added tackle Charles Cross with the No. 9 overall pick.
It’s currently a youth movement in Seattle that to this point has its fair share of optimism. If they can beat the Cardinals this week, they’ll be back to .500 despite such heavy losses on paper.
Geno Smith has been lights out for the Seahawks to this point. He has completely outplayed Russell Wilson’s Broncos offense. Smith is coming off impressive back-to-back performances against the Lions and Saints.
So far, Smith has thrown nine touchdown passes to only two interceptions. He has a 113.2 passer rating to this point and is far from the reason why the Seahawks have three losses.
