Game Overview ::
By Mike johnson >>
- Arizona has been playing their best offense of the season the last three weeks with QB Jacoby Brissett under center, and they have named him their starter going forward.
- The Cardinals passing game has centered around TE Trey McBride and WR Marvin Harrison Jr., with a revolving cast of running backs operating at middling efficiency.
- The Seahawks defense has allowed more than 20 points in a game only once all season, in a 38-35 shootout with the Buccaneers while their defense dealt with several injuries.
- Seattle’s offense has been thriving as a low-volume, high-efficiency passing attack powered by offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and QB Sam Darnold.
- Seattle continues to struggle running the football, a weakness which is likely to be exposed if not fixed during the second half of the season.
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How arizona Will Try To Win ::
The Cardinals offense seemed lost for much of the start of the season, capped off by an ugly loss at home to the Titans where they were incapable of consistently moving the ball and had multiple self-inflicted errors. After that game, the Cardinals turned to veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett as their quarterback in relief of Kyler Murray who suffered a foot injury. The Arizona offense has looked completely different since the switch, scoring 27, 23, and 27 points against the Colts, Packers, and Cowboys. For context, the Cardinals had not scored more than 21 points of offense in a game all season prior to this (they had a defensive touchdown in their 27-22 victory over the Panthers). This is a completely different team and offense than the one that lost 23-20 to the Seahawks at home on a Thursday night in September.
The Cardinals are fifth in the NFL in pass rate over expectation over the last four weeks, and third for the season. On the surface, it would seem that they are playing similarly under both quarterbacks. However, the structure of those passes is quite different. Murray’s short stature and preferred playing style meant the Cardinals played primarily out of the shotgun, whereas Brissett has allowed them to play under center at a much higher rate. This change has helped the timing and versatility of their offense as they force defenses to respect multiple aspects of the field at once. Brissett is also pushing the ball down the field at a MUCH higher rate than Murray was. Brissett ranks 5th in the NFL at 8.6 average intended air yards per pass attempt, while Murray was at a putrid 5.9 – higher than only Dillon Gabriel and Aaron Rodgers. Murray was unwilling or unable to pull the trigger and would often revert to just checking the ball down or running around and hoping something would open up. Brissett plays the quarterback position how it is supposed to be and while his success these last three weeks may regress a bit, his approach and style is much more predictable and helps everyone on the offense do their jobs at a higher level.
Arizona ranks 25th in rushing offense DVOA and 28th in PFF run blocking grade. They have been playing without their two best running backs in James Conner and Trey Benson, so their lack of efficiency shouldn’t be surprising. This week they face Seattle’s second ranked run defense, so it should once again be tough sledding. This means Arizona will have to move the ball through the air. Seattle ranks 31st in the NFL in blitz rate and 4th in zone coverage rate, as they tend to only send their four primary rushers and leave seven men in coverage. They do a very good job of eliminating deep passing and were exposed on the back end only once, by the Buccaneers in a game where they were missing three starters from their secondary and the Bucs completed multiple downfield passes that were a very high degree of difficulty. This should force the Cardinals passing game to keep things to the short and intermediate areas, with McBride likely the engine of the offense and at the heart of any successful drives. This matchup may be tougher for Harrison, while Brissett will also be willing to spread things around to ancillary receivers in the short areas against Seattle’s zone coverage schemes.
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