AJ Barner scores twice as Seahawks beat Cardinals 17-3 at Lumen Field

The Story

The Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-3 on Sunday at Lumen Field, with Seattle’s defence controlling the game and its offence doing enough to pull out the victory.

Seattle entered the matchup missing several key players, including quarterback Sam Darnold, defensive tackle Leonard Williams, outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, receiver Rashid Shaheed, guard Quenton Nelson and tackle Charles Cross, all ruled out due to injury. Even with those absences, Seattle improved to 5-4, and coach Mike Macdonald said beforehand, "This is a 70-man roster week," adding that the club builds for the opportunity for other players to step in.

Arizona’s first drive started inside its own territory after a Michael Dickson punt pinned the Cardinals at their own 1-yard line, but the Seahawks held when it mattered. After the Cardinals converted that early threat into an initial lead, Seattle tightened up after that sequence and held Arizona to a field goal, with the Cardinals managing just one additional scoring drive in the rest of the game.

After gaining 89 yards on their opening drive, the Cardinals finished with 198 total yards. The Arizona offence managed just five first downs after the early push and punted on five straight possessions. Seattle’s defence also produced stops on key downs, including a fourth-quarter goal-line stand that was extended after a debatable pass-interference call; the series ended when Nick Emmanwori broke up a fourth-and-goal pass to Trey McBride in the end zone.

Seattle’s front and secondary combined for pressure throughout, with three sacks—credited to Byron Murphy II, DeMarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler Jr.—as well as eight tackles for loss. Derick Hall recorded three tackles for loss, Lawrence and Murphy each had two, and Devon Witherspoon added one, including a tackle for loss credited to Murphy.

In the Seahawks’ running game, Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet had returned from injury earlier in the week, and both played prominent roles again on Sunday. Price led Seattle’s receiving with 54 yards on four catches and also added 24 rushing yards on nine carries, while Charbonnet rushed for 77 yards on 16 carries in just his second game back from a torn ACL.

With Darnold out, Drew Lock filled in and led the offence efficiently enough to keep control. Limited in practice for the previous three weeks, Lock went 11-of-28 for 175 yards and a touchdown, recorded a passer rating of 96.6 and also picked up a third-down conversion with a scramble. The Seahawks benefited from Lock protecting the ball, as he threw turnover-free football for the third time in as many games.

AJ Barner made a major difference in the red zone. The tight end handled short-yardage runs under centre, including a second-and-1 sneak at the 2-yard line followed by a 1-yard touchdown run on the next play. Barner also caught a touchdown pass from Lock later in the second quarter, becoming the first Seahawk since Chris Carson in 2019 to score rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same quarter.

On defence, Emmanwori played a decisive role in key moments. He had a crucial fourth-down pass breakup in the end zone late in the game, knocking the ball away from McBride, and he also covered McBride on multiple third-down situations. The Seahawks’ pressure included a sack that helped push Arizona out of field-goal range, and Emmanwori was credited with additional third-down pressures, one of which led to an intentional grounding call.

Overall, Seattle’s win featured a defence that held Arizona to 10 total points across two matchups this season, and an offence that benefited from timely contributions in the red zone to finish with a 17-3 final score.