Seahawks-Cardinals Week 14 preview, picks, predictions and more

Seahawks-Cardinals Week 14 preview, picks, predictions and more

The Arizona Cardinals will take on the Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium. The game is HUGE in the NFC West race. The winner will have the inside track to win the division.

Cohost Seth Cox and I got together for a preview episode of the podcast.

We discussed what the Seahawks have done over the last three weeks in their winning streak. We discuss keys and matchups for the game on Sunday, and we also give our picks and predictions.

We also discuss some of the best prop bets you can make on the game.

Enjoy the show!


Enjoy the show with the embedded player above or by subscribing to the show on Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTube or your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss a show. Make sure as well to give it a five-star rating!


Times and topics:

(1:00) What Seattle has done over the last three weeks

(20:40) Keys to victory and important matchups in Cardinals-Seahawks in Week 14

(28:59) Picks, predictions and prop bets

Seahawks defense peaking in recent win streak

Seattle hasn’t allowed 300 yards of offense in any game during the winning streak.

The Arizona Cardinals’ Week 14 opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, have had a roller coaster of the season, but come to town playing some of their best ball of the year defensively.

They enter this week having won three straight games. In that streak, They have not allowed an opponent to reach 300 yards of offense. In their six previous games when they went 1-5, they allowed an average of 412 yards per game.

The Cardinals got the closest in their 16-6 loss to Seattle in Week 12 with 298 yards. Including that game, they have averaged 362.5 yards per game.

The rush defense has been better. Opponents have not reached 100 rushing yards in three of their last four games. in their previous five, they gave up 167.6 rushing yards per game.

If the Cardinals can’t crack that defense or the rush defense and Seattle has suddenly found itself defensively, the Seahawks under their rookie head coach will have the inside track to the playoffs and might end up being a scary team to face down the stretch.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

 

Does Marvin Harrison Jr. have to improve in areas where Trey McBride has?

Jonathan Gannon might have proffered a clue to why Harrison hasn’t taken the league by storm when he was talking about Trey McBride Friday.

While their draft slots were apart by 51, albeit in different years, there is one thing similar about Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and tight end Trey McBride.

Harrison was selected fourth overall this year and was the first wide receiver to go off the board.

While McBride lasted until the 55th choice in the second round in 2022, he was also the first at his position to be picked in that draft.

That doesn’t mean everything will be great immediately when adjusting to the NFL game no matter how many wish it were so.

Surely, the expectations are heightened for players chosen as high as Harrison, but where you’re picked doesn’t matter a lick when it comes to mastering the nuances of the NFL and getting on the same page as your quarterback when you’re a pass-catcher.

Without saying it, head coach Jonathan Gannon might have proffered a clue to why Harrison hasn’t taken the league by storm when he was talking about McBride Friday.

Especially when both Harrison and Murray alluded to having to get on the same page as each other in the offense.

Murray was asked Wednesday that even though Harrison has seven touchdown receptions, how much upside does he think is still left in his game and your connection, and how can you maximize it a little bit more?

Murray quickly emphasized, “A lot. A lot. That’s exciting and also frustrating when it comes to both of our expectations for each other together. Rookie year, you’re trying to get better each and every week. But I’m not in his mind. That’s where the communication comes from and what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling, what he’s seeing, allowing the game to slow down.

“But there’s also an element of what he’s getting in the room versus what Kyler wants. We’ve just got to get on the same page. We’ve just got to continue to get on the same page, continue to allow him to play fast.”

As for McBride, when Murray was asked about him getting 15 targets and catching 12 in Week 12 for 133 yards against the Seahawks, he had a three-word answer. “He was open.”

Last Sunday, McBride caught all 12 of his targets for 96 yards, so he has 24 receptions on 27 targets for 229 yards in the last two games.

Meanwhile, Harrison was targeted 12 times against the Vikings, but caught only five. For the season, he has 41 receptions on 78 targets (52.6 percent).

McBride has 32 more catches on only 14 more targets. His receptions/targets percentage is 79.3.

We all have to ask ourselves: Does it appear as if Harrison is consistently getting open that often? The answer seems to be no. Or is part of it Murray not totally where Harrison will be on each play.

Yes, defenses play Harrison differently than McBride, but the numbers should be better than 3.4 receptions per game. That projects to 58 for the season.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell revealed after Sunday’s game about McBride, “I told him pregame — he came up to me pregame and said really nice things to me. I said, ‘Hey, man, I think you’re one of the best going right now in the NFL’ because he does it so many different ways. I think that’s where you saw the volume come into play today where maybe they want to be ready for pressure looks and things like that. At the same time, he’s essentially on many of those downs acting as the third wide receiver underneath; catch and run. Tons of yards after catch.

“When you really study them on tape, they’re designing ways to get him the ball, and he’s also a really good blocker. So it can really be a tough task as a defense because you’ve got to basically account for the whole playbook when he’s in there, based upon his skill-set. Really, really special player. I told him that before the game. I was kind of hoping he’d go easier on us than he did, which he did not. He was incredibly impactful today.”

So, let’s get to what Gannon said Friday that elicited this analysis while remembering issues there were at times between McBride and Murray last season when they weren’t on the same page. Read it and be thinking also about Harrison.

Asked where McBride has gotten better and if he has elevated his game, Gannon said, “Yeah. You guys watch the tape (not like coaches, of course!). Where he really has elevated his game is route detail. Just certain routes I think he’s gotten a lot better at running. There’s no indecision with the quarterback. How he’s gonna come out of things, when he’s gonna give him his eyes. That takes time. As good as he was last year, we sat down and said, ‘Hey, how do you become a better player?’

“One of the top things was just route detail. When I talk about detail guys, it’s like fourth outside step instead of fifth outside step. It’s minute (mi-noot). When you do those little things correctly, consistently, you should become a better player if we identified it right. He took it to heart. Ben’s (tight ends coach Ben Steele) done a really good job with him and he’s doing better.”

He surely is. And in time, Harrison will too.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

Cardinals’ psychological bucket will be crucial for win over Seahawks

If Arizona is going to end their losing streak, it will need a strong mental performance in addition to good football.

There is rarely a press conference with Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon in which he fails to refer to his “five-buckets” approach to coaching or at least one of the buckets.

The players often mention it and, broken down, the buckets are physical, technical, schematic, psychological and health.

“It’s not rocket science,” Gannon said during training camp. “It’s just if you look at it, what we ask these guys to do and how can we help them, it’s how can we serve them? What do they have to do on a daily basis? I think we’ve got it pretty wired in the five buckets. I wish we could put it into just three, but it’s hard to.

“The players’ role is to maximize themselves. It’s like, ‘OK, JG, you say that, but what do you mean?’ So, we try to lay it out for them. ‘Here’s what that means’ and in my opinion, there are five ways they can do that. They’re all interlaced together. You’ve got to be working on all five really every day.”

During training camp, rookie running back Trey Benson admitted the psychological area was one that he was learning about.

So it was fast-forwarding three months to this week that Gannon was asked about the success Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has in two-minute situations. Without mentioning it as a bucket, Gannon said, “I would use the word he’s a gamer. He’s brought his team back and won some games, and I think it goes into his skillset. I’m sure he is psychologically trained where the moment’s not too big because it’s not. His skillset is one that in known-pass with the game on the line; he’s hard to defend. He really is, and he does a good job of making the correct decisions and giving his team a chance to win, which he’s done.”

Gannon was then asked how the psychological bucket is implemented by the Cardinals brain trust.

“We educate them,” he said. “We spend a lot of time on it. We’ve got the right people in the building, the actual experts, to educate the players and educate the coaches so the coaches can coach the players on some things. We talk about it, we do. I feel like that’s an advantage that we have because of the people that we have in place. I think they do a really good job of it, and our players take to it. They really do, so that’s a resource that we need to use, and we have used, and we have to continue to use, and we need to use them better.

“Just like all our other resources, just be disciplined to your process, but tweak it and do it a little bit better. I’m definitely glad we have those guys and I’m glad that our players understand the value of it.”

So, coach, how much do the team’s veterans help with that?

“A lot,” Gannon said. “Those are the guys that kind of lead the way on a lot of that because we do have a lot of young guys. They know the advantages of it. How they use that piece, that bucket and that resource; everyone’s a little bit different.

“You could be amazed at some of those conversations and it’s cool to see because at the end of the day, all you’re trying to do for the players (is) serve the players. All you’re trying to do is make sure that they can become the best player that they can be, and what’s in between your ears is a huge piece of that.”

As physical as the game of football is, mental consistency and focus has to be on point.

If Sunday ends with a good result for the Cardinals, a large part of it will be from a full psychological bucket.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

Cardinals to face reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week

Leonard Williams, who wrecked the Cardinals in Week 12, was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week entering Week 14.

The Arizona Cardinals face the Seattle Seahawks at home in Week 14 this weekend. The Seahawks beat the Cardinals in Week 12 16-6 and cornerback Coby Bryant earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against them, intercepting Kyler Murray and returning it 69 yards for a touchdown.

For the second week in a row, a Seahawks player was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Defensive tackle Leonard Williams was named the conference’s top defensive player for his play in Week 12 after a huge game against the New York Jets. He had two sacks and an interception he returned 92 yards for a touchdown.

Williams played well against the Cardinals as well. In Week 12, he had six tackles, 2.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and a pass breakup.

As for the other NFC players of the week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving was Offensive Player of the Week and Philadelphia Eagles punter Braden Mann was Special Teams Player of the Week.

In the AFC, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen has offensive honors, L.A. Chargers cornerback Tarheeb Still earned defensive honors and New York Jets Kene Nwangwu received special teams honors.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

Cardinals get practice squad tackle back from injury

Barton returns to get work in practice after being out since Week 3 with a toe injury.

The Arizona Cardinals announced a pair of practice squad roster moves on Wednesday. Tackle Jackson Barton is coming back. He was activated from the practice squad injury reserve, where he had been with a toe injury since his start in Week 3.

To make room for him on the practice squad roster, the Cardinals released edge defender Ronnie Perkins, who had been with the team on the squad for six weeks. He even earned the practice player of the week honors, getting to wear a Pat Tillman jersey for a week in practice.

The move allows Barton to practice again.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

Cardinals’ Week 14 game vs. Seahawks has huge playoff implications

The winner is in control of the NFC West. The loser, especially if it is the Cardinals, will face near impossible odds of overcoming it.

The Arizona Cardinals have their most important game of the season on Sunday. In Week 14, they will face the Seattle Seahawks at home, the second time they face them in three weeks.

The Seahawks lead the NFC West at 7-5, while the Cardinals trail them in second place by a game at 6-6. It is huge because a win puts them back in control of their fate as a division title contender.

Win and they improve to 7-6 and take over first place with a divisional tiebreaker over Seattle. Lose and they will trail Seattle by two games and lose the head-to-head tiebreaker, essentially making them trail Seattle by three games with only four remaining on the schedule.

If they lose, they would have to win out to get to 10-7 and Seattle could only win one of their final four games.

It creates a huge swing in playoff chances.

According to FTN Fantasy’s Aaron Schatz, the Seahawks-Cardinals game is the biggest one in the playoff race.


Whoever wins is highly likely to make the postseason, as it will put the division firmly in their control. Whoever loses is near elimination.

This season has so far exceeded expectations for the Cardinals. But a loss would be a huge disappointment. A win would build the momentum they need for the rest of the season.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

This Seattle defender is WRECKING games

Leonard Williams blew up the Cardinals two weekends ago. He is on a tear over the last two weeks.

The Arizona Cardinals will face the Seattle Seahawks for the second time in three weeks this coming Sunday, this time at home.

They must face perhaps the league’s hottest defensive player, Seattle’s defensive tackle Leonard Williams.

He wrecked the Cardinals’ 16-6 loss to the Seahawks two Sundays ago and was the main protagonist in a 26-21 Seahawks win on Sunday over the New Jets.

Over his last two games, Williams has 4.5 sacks, 10 total tackles, six tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, a pass breakup and an interception he returned 92 yards for a touchdown.

Williams singlehandedly made the Cardinals’ guards look terrible.

If the Cardinals are going to snap their two-game losing streak, they will have to find a way to slow Williams and keep him both away from the football and quarterback Kyler Murray.

Pretty simple, right?

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

For the Cardinals, it’s still meaningful games in December

A look at the Cardinals’ final five games of the season.

With the loss to the Seattle Seahawks two games ago fresh in their minds, the Arizona Cardinals obviously know the importance of the rematch that takes place Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

Still, head coach Jonathan Gannon is always locked in on the next game, not the big picture, while noting that the process remains the same whether a game had a good or bad result.

He said, “We kind of turn over every stone with what we could have done better; win or a loss and everybody involved in the operation. My thing with these guys was I think we’ve earned the right to play meaningful games in December, so we’re kind of right where we wanted to be when we set out for the season. They’re not thinking about that, but they know this is Seattle, divisional game at home now.

“They know where the standings are at, but they’re focused on just Seattle. I told them in the locker room yesterday (after the game); I said, ‘If we’re thinking about the next five games, we’re out of alignment.’ We have to be thinking about one game, so that’s what we’ll be thinking about.”

Gannon called it “competitive stamina” that enables a team to focus forward after a gut-wrenching loss like against the Vikings.

“You win some, you lose some,” he said. “You have to get back at it. We have the whole boxing analogy. We got beat up in that round. Well, we didn’t get beat up in that round. We went toe-to-toe in that round. They didn’t get knocked out. We didn’t get knocked out. If you said who won that round, they did. We have to get rejuvenated, get back up and get swinging. We’ll be excited here when it’s time to go. I know that.”

Still, the importance of Sunday’s game is undeniable. Win, and the Cardinals will be tied with the Seahawks at 7-6 having split the season series, but they would have a 3-1 division record to Seattle’s 2-3. The 6-6 Rams play the 10-2 Bills and they are 2-1 in division games.

Lose and the Seahawks would be two games ahead of the Cardinals, but it’s essentially three because of the head-to-head sweep. The only way for the Cardinals to then finish ahead of Seattle would be winning out to finish 10-7 with the Seahawks winning only one of their remaining four games to be 9-8.

It might be unlikely, but it could happen.

The Cardinals’ final four games are New England, Carolina, the Rams and San Francisco. For Seattle, it’s Green Bay, Minnesota, Chicago and the Rams.

Everyone should know that nothing is ever truly predictable in the NFL and it’s best to expect the unexpected. Obviously, though, a win Sunday would create a clear path to the post-season.

Asked about being in position to control their own destiny, Gannon said, “One at a time. We just keep stacking good days, keep doing the right things and let the chips fall, but I like us. I really do.”

Here are the remaining schedules for the NFC West with the combined records of opponents:

Seahawks (7-5): at Cardinals 6-6, Packers 9-3, Vikings 10-2, at Chicago/Thursday 4-8, at L.A. Rams 6-6: 35-25

Cardinals (6-6): Seattle 7-5, New England 3-10, at Carolina 3-9, at L.A. Rams 6-6, San Francisco 5-7: 24-37

Rams (6-6): Buffalo 10-2, at San Francisco/Thursday 5-7, at N.Y. Jets 3-10, Arizona 6-6, Seattle 7-5: 31-30

49ers (5-7): Chicago 4-8, L.A. Rams (Thursday) 6-6, at Miami 5-7, Detroit/Monday 11-1, at Arizona 6-6: 32-28

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on SpotifyYouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

What did the Cardinals’ loss to the Seahawks mean?

Jess Root and Seth Cox break down the Cardinals’ loss to the Seahawks.

The Arizona Cardinals lost on Sunday in Week 12 on the road to the Seattle Seahawks in a 16-6 game.

With the loss, the Cardinals fell out of first place despite being tied with Seattle with a 6-5 record.

What did the loss mean?

Cohost Seth Cox and I reacted to the loss and more in the newest edition of the podcast.

We discussed the implications of the loss moving forward and our confidence in the team to still win the division. For me, a win would have been a 100% confidence level. It is now at about 60%.

We talk about the offensive and defensive performances, both the good and the bad.

Enjoy the show!


Enjoy the show with the embedded player above or by subscribing to the show on Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTube or your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss a show. Make sure as well to give it a five-star rating!


Times and topics:

(1:00) What the loss to the Seahawks means moving forward

(16:44) The Cardinals’ offensive performance vs. Seattle

(33:15) The Cardinals’ defensive performance vs. Seattle

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