NFL Week #7 – Seahawks vs. Cardinals

Seattle travels to Arizona to play the Cardinals this week. It will be Seattle’s first divisional opponent this season and also their most formidable opponent so far. Seattle is a slight favorite to win this game, but Arizona needs the win much more than Seattle at this point in the season. A Seattle win would propel the Seahawks to a 6-0 record and drop the Cardinals to 4-3 with the rematch in Seattle just a few weeks away in week eleven.

For Arizona, like Seattle, the offense revolves around their quarterback Kyler Murray. The second year, twenty-three-year-old former first-round pick is having another good season for the Cardinals. One statistic that jumps off the page is the improvement from last year in the number of times he is sacked. Last year Murray was sacked forty-eight times for an average of three per game. So far this year, he has cut that number in half with only nine sacks through his first six games for an average of 1.5 sacks per game.

Murray is also a threat to run the ball. He currently leads the Cardinals in yards per carry with 7.3 and rushing touchdowns with six. The only concerning part of his performance has been the interception. He’s averaged one per game so far, which puts him among the league leaders.

DeAndre Hopkins leads Arizona’s receiving core. Hopkins leads the league in receiving yards per game with 100.2.

Hopkins is the best but not the only target for Murray’s passes. The Cardinals have four other players, each with at least one receiving touchdown this season. Surprisingly veteran Larry Fitzgerald is not one of them. Larry Fitzgerald is having a slow start to his season. Easily a future NFL Football Hall of Famer, he has yet scored a touchdown this season and isn’t a top option at the receiver position anymore. At age 37, he is signed to a one-year contract this season. Fitzgerald is currently ranked as the fifth-best wide receiver of all time in rankings by football-reference.com (fbref.com). That puts him between Terrell Owens and former Seahawk Steve Largent.

If the Seahawks defense can’t contain Kyler Murray, it will be up to Russell Wilson to once again attempt to outscore the opponent. Expect another high scoring game this week.