Cardinals humiliated by Seahawks in egregious 44-22 loss

That assessment was immediately killed within the first five minutes of Sunday’s Week 10 game. The Cardinals were embarrassed, beaten and made to look inferior to their NFC West division rival. Before many fans could sit down with their beers or snacks, Arizona was down two touchdowns, which ballooned to five touchdowns in 21 in-game minutes.

A bunch of meaningless touchdowns off careless Seahawks turnovers in the second half made the final score of 44-22 more digestible for the Cardinals and their fans, but it doesn’t removing the humiliating nature of Sunday’s game.

Cardinals bludgeon in first half:

Not many professional sports team get a beating like Arizona in the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s game vs. Seattle. The fireworks started early, as an injury-riddled Cardinals defense were no match for wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Without the secondary’s top two defensive backs in Will Johnson and Max Melton, Smith-Njigba had one of the easiest touchdowns of his career with a 43-yard score, with cornerback Garrett Williams having his face in the grass.

Smith-Njigba would have 82 receiving yards in the first half, which led the way for the Seahawks offense to have 244 total yards in the first two quarters. Even with that level of production, it was Seattle’s defense that embarrassed Arizona.

The one hiccup in quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s game in this latest stretch is him holding onto the ball for too long in the pocket, and against one of the best pass rushes in the NFL, it was no shock it led to trouble. On 2nd-and-11 Brissett was hammered by Tyrice Knight for the strip sack, which allowed Demarcus Lawrence to scoop the ball up and score.

The play was so nice, Knight and Lawrence decided to do it twice. As on a 3rd-and-12 in the 2nd quarter, Brissett was once again decapitated by Knight, only for Lawrence to score his second touchdown of the game. The 33-year-old defensive end had two total touchdowns in his 12-year career, and doubled that total on Sunday.

Seattle had five sacks in the first half, two defensive touchdowns and had an impressive four-down goal line stop against Arizona. If a muffed snap by Darnold didn’t give the ball back to Cardinals immediate on the one-yard line, the first-half could’ve been a skunk for the Seahawks.

A direct snap to wide receiver Greg Dortch on subsequent possession gave the Cardinals first score of the game, to cut the deficit to 35-7. The franchise was on pace to face a similar face to a 2012 game vs. Seattle, where it was down 38-0 in the first half, on rout to losing 58-0. Luckily, the Dortch touchdown only made it 38-7 entering the locker room.

Turnovers by Darnold make it interesting:

The bar was low for the Cardinals to outperform its first half performance, but still, they had an encouraging start. Brissett would lead a 17-play drive, filled with sensational catches by tight end Trey McBride prowess, that put his team on Seattle’s two-yard line on fourth-and-goal. Similar to the rest of the game, Arizona couldn’t finish, as an incomplete pass to running back Bam Knight ended the drive.

Despite the turnover on downs, the Cardinals defense would generate opportunities for their offense. Pressure from safety Budda Baker on a blitz caused Darnold to underthrow the ball right into the hands of rookie Denzel Burke for the turnover. Similar to the first half, the offense took advantage of the extra chance and good field position with a 15-yard touchdown catch by McBride to cut the lead.

Darnold’s mishaps continued to give Arizona life, as on the next drive, the ball would slip out of the Pro Bowler’s hands because of edge Josh Sweat. The fumble was recovered by Sweat on the Seahawks 24-yard-line, and again, was setting up to be another touchdown score for the Cardinals.

However, third time wasn’t the charm for the offense on drives following turnovers, as Brissett couldn’t connect with Marvin Harrison Jr. on a 4th-and-five inside the Seahawks redzone. The slim glimpse of hope of a miraculous comeback was killed immediately after the third turnover on downs by Arizona.

The Cardinals took advantage of the Seahawks not running its offense and just wasting the clock by scoring some pointless touchdowns, including nine-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. to cut the deficit to 41-22.

A failed onside kick by Arizona forced Seattle to put points on the board because of field position with the field goal. The Cardinals waved the white flag by putting in backup quarterback Kedon Slovis to hand the ball off three times before putting the Cardinals out of their misery in the 44-22 loss.