Arizona Cardinals vs. Seattle Seahawks: Full Report Card Grades for Arizona
Not all games are going to turn out the way we, as fans, want. Those of us who have followed the Arizona Cardinals for years know these games happen. But when they happen against division rivals, the sting feels more like a sucker-punch than an ant bite.
The Cardinals (9-2) faced the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on Sunday. If not for great defense throughout, the Seahawks (7-4) may have duplicated the 58-0 shellacking they put on Arizona in 2012.
Regardless, the 19-3 defeat felt that bad at times—at least offensively. You have to feel bad for the entire defense, which played its tail off for 60 minutes, because quarterback Drew Stanton and the offense could do nothing right in this one.
"#azcardinals 204 net yards today was lowest in Bruce Arians' two years as HC.
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) November 24, 2014"
It wasn't all bad for head coach Bruce Arians' offense. Rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro missed a field goal, and receiver Jaron Brown dropped a sure touchdown at the goal line, forcing the Cardinals to settle for a short field goal. If not for those two plays, the score could have been much closer down the stretch, and Arizona likely would have had a lead most of the second half.
Anything is possible then. With the way the defense played, you can't rule out anything if Todd Bowles' unit had played with a late lead.
How did each Cardinals positional unit fare in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks? Let’s find out.
Quarterback
1 of 10
A week after an efficient game in which he completed over 65 percent of his passes, Stanton was back to his old self against the Seahawks. He completed 14 of 26 passes (53.8 percent) for 149 yards and an interception for a 54.8 passer rating.
He was sacked three times, at least one of which he could have avoided by getting rid of the ball in a timely manner.
The veteran looked rattled and out of sync with his receivers early despite fantastic protection from the offensive line. His interception early in the second quarter came about because (1) he stared down rookie receiver John Brown, his intended receiver, and (2) cornerback Byron Maxwell held Brown back as the pass was thrown, keeping the receiver from getting to the pass at all.
Of course the penalty went uncalled. It's Seattle. It gets away with things like that.
Nonetheless, Stanton was unimpressive on Sunday. Drops hurt matters on a couple of occasions, but ball placement was not good from the Cardinals leader.
Grade: D
Running Back
2 of 10
A season low in carries (10) and total touches (15) underlines the type of day Andre Ellington had in Seattle. Ten carries for just 24 yards (2.4 yards per carry) and 63 total yards from the back are disappointing numbers.
The fact he missed open running lanes and dropped a key third-down pass makes it worse.
Seattle was ready to stop Ellington, and that's exactly what it did. Arizona's run blocking wasn't as bad as his numbers would suggest. Offensive guard Jonathan Cooper was in on at least four plays, and Ellington ran off his backside three times for decent gains (more on Cooper in a minute).
But missing open running lanes is really bad. On one occasion, Ellington ran directly into a mass of humanity with his head down, completely missing a gaping hole to his left. That will hurt his grade significantly, as will his dropped pass.
Grade: D-
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Ellington was the most-used receiving target by Stanton, leading the team with eight targets. But Jaron Brown was second, seeing six balls thrown his way. He had three receptions for 24 yards but could have had a five-yard touchdown reception—though, as mentioned at the outset, he inexplicably dropped it.
Not a good start to the grade.
To make matters worse, Michael Floyd was virtually invisible against the Seahawks. Stanton targeted him twice, officially, though he did have a reception wiped off the board because of an offensive penalty.
Stanton had a lot of time to throw, but his receivers did not do him any favors. He ended up scrambling four times—and was very nearly the team's leading rusher, with 23 yards on the ground—because protection broke down after no receivers could find an opening.
The Seahawks have one of the best secondaries in the NFL, and the absence of Larry Fitzgerald made it easy for them to key on receivers.
The lone bright spot in the receiving corps was John Brown. He made two fantastic grabs on the sideline to extend drives and finished with three receptions for a game-high 61 yards—all three of his receptions resulted in first downs.
Drops were not an epidemic against Seattle, but the few that happened cost the team first downs and a touchdown. That hurts.
Grade: D
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
As noted, not all three sacks were the fault of the offensive line. Stanton stepped right into one after holding the ball too long, and another was the result of great coverage downfield by the Seahawks.
The only one likely to be pinned on the line came when defensive end Cliff Avril beat right tackle Bobby Massie around the edge with a speed rush and got to Stanton.
In all, the guys up front did a nice job protecting Stanton. They also did a decent job of opening lanes for Ellington in the running game—especially Cooper.
The second-year former top-10 pick played only a handful of snaps, most of which called for him to provide a running lane for Ellington. Of his handful of run-blocking snaps, he demolished his man three times, giving his running back room to maneuver through the defense.
A solid day for the line despite poor numbers for the running and passing game.
Grade: B-
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The defensive star for the Cardinals was end Calais Campbell, who lived in Seattle's backfield for four quarters. He finished with six tackles, all of which came behind the line of scrimmage.
He had three sacks of quarterback Russell Wilson and three stops in the run game—plus three hits as Wilson released the ball on top of that. How did Campbell play on Sunday?
"Very well" comes to mind.
No one else matched his play, but the rest of the defensive line had their share of good plays. Tommy Kelly notched a sack as well and hurried Wilson a couple of times.
In all, the Cardinals sacked Wilson seven times and hit him another 11. Most of that is thanks—either directly or indirectly—to the work of the line.
Running lanes were open late, but by the time Marshawn Lynch had room to run, the defense had been on the field too long. Everyone was gassed.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
For the most part, the linebacking corps played a solid game. Inside linebacker play was really good early but fizzled as the Seahawks began churning yards out in the run game late—again, Seattle held the ball for over 35 minutes and wore out Arizona's defense down the stretch.
Outside linebacker Alex Okafor notched another sack and nearly had a second if not for Wilson's elite elusiveness. He has six sacks in seven games this season, which, after Sunday, is tied with Campbell for the team lead.
Even Kevin Minter stepped up. He notched five total tackles, including two for a loss and a sack of Wilson. The Cardinals need him to be an enforcer right now, and he's been trending in that direction of late. It's good to see.
Grade: B-
Secondary
7 of 10
Wilson was efficient against the Cardinals defense, but he didn't exactly torch the secondary. The big highlight of the game, other than a nice catch-and-run touchdown by tight end Cooper Helfet, was a 48-yard pass play from Wilson to receiver Ricardo Lockette at the end of the first quarter.
On that play, Patrick Peterson had Lockette in coverage in the left slot. The receiver ran a post route to the middle of the field, and as Peterson entered free safety Rashad Johnson's zone, the cornerback passed him off to the safety.
Johnson read Wilson's eyes instead of watching who was running right by him, however, and the quarterback hit his receiver in stride for a big gain.
Everyone immediately jumped on Peterson for the reception, but that was on Johnson all the way.
It's quite possible Antonio Cromartie went untargeted, which is always a good thing. He didn't have his name called much, if at all.
Grade: B
Special Teams
8 of 10
Kicker Chandler Catanzaro missed a field goal; punter Drew Butler averaged 37.2 yards per punt and missed several opportunities to pin the Seahawks deep in their own territory; the team had 10 players on the field when Butler had a punt blocked; and Ted Ginn Jr. let go too many punts instead of fair-catching them and was horrible in returning kickoffs again.
All that completely drowns out the fact that Kelly blocked his second field goal of the season.
Grade: F
Coaching
9 of 10
Being out-coached by the opposition happens to most teams, but that doesn't happen to Arians. Not often. It happened on Sunday.
Arians is well on his way to winning the NFL Coach of the Year Award for the second time. He'll get there if he leads this injury-ravaged team to a division title with a backup quarterback. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who disagrees with that.
But he may have taken a step backward against the Seahawks.
With a struggling punter and still within striking distance on the scoreboard, Arians chose to punt too many times. Trailing 19-3 just into the fourth quarter with the ball at the Seattle 45-yard line, punting seemed out of the question on 4th-and-12.
But that's what Arians chose to do. Fail on fourth down, and your defense has to defend the Seahawks near midfield, as it had quite successfully done the entire first half. Punt on fourth down in that situation, and Butler drops one 26 yards to the 19—what's 26 extra yards when you're giving the ball back down by two scores?
We need to see more...cojones, if you will, from Arians in those situations.
Grade: C
Final Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | D |
| RB | D- |
| WR | D |
| OL | B- |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B+ |
| Secondary | B |
| Special Teams | F |
| Coaching | C |
| Cumulative Grade | C |
Step back from the ledge, Cardinals fans. While this game stings, there is plenty to be happy about heading into Week 13. For one, the team is 9-2 and still has a two-game lead in the NFC West.
The defense has 17 sacks over the past three weeks. Remember, it had just eight sacks through the first eight games. And even more important than that, the front seven is getting pressure on quarterbacks without the help of a blitz—something that did not happen at all during the first half of the season.
While the offense is a mess right now, things can turn around in a hurry. A bad Atlanta Falcons defense is up next, and it's especially susceptible to crumbling in big moments. Stanton should have an opportunity to make up for a poor couple of games in a row. Expect him to play much better in the Georgia Dome.
All stats gathered from ESPN.com
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