Cardinals vs. Seahawks: Full Arizona Game Preview

It was a bit of a wait for itchy fans, but the Arizona Cardinals begin the second half of their season in Seattle against the Seahawks on Sunday night.

The two division rivals will both enter the contest refreshed following Week 9 byes, giving each coaching staff plenty of time to get their teams on track entering Week 10. 

Arizona took control of the NFC West in the first half of the season with a 6-2 record. While the Cardinals play was at times uneven, they nonetheless performed well enough to make their intentions fully clear to the rest of the league.

Seattle, meanwhile, has sputtered to a 4-4 record after back-to-back trips to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks have yet to fire on all cylinders in 2015, and they'll have to make their move sooner than later if they're going to return to the playoffs. 

Click ahead for the full midweek preview.

Date: Sunday, Nov. 15

Location: CenturyLink Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: NBC

Arizona's Story Thus Far

David Richard/Associated Press

With half the season gone and the bye week in the rearview mirror, it might be prudent to reestablish scene and setting for Arizona. In fact, the Cardinals' first half rather neatly breaks down into three parts.

Act I - An Explosive Open

Arizona sent notice to the rest of the NFL that a healthy Cardinals team was a force to be reckoned with. Arizona won its first three games over the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers by a combined score of 126-49, with both offense and defense providing their fair share of pyrotechnics.

Act II - Self-Destruction

Thanks to turnovers, general sloppiness and inefficient red zone play, the Cardinals would lose two of their next three. A win against Detroit was sandwiched between a home loss to the St. Louis Rams and a defeat at the hands of Landry Jones on the road in Pittsburgh. 

The question of just how good are the Cardinals was fairly asked.

Act III - A Return to Steady Football

After six all-or-nothing games, Arizona ground out two solid victories over AFC North opponents in Weeks 7 and 8. The games might not have had the aesthetic quality Arizona enjoyed in the first three weeks of the season, but they proved the Cardinals were not only learning from their mistakes, but they were capable of doing the little things that lead to victories.

The Second Half

Arizona enters Week 9 with a two-game lead in the NFC West over St. Louis and Seattle. They're also tied with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings for the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff race, two games behind undefeated the Carolina Panthers.

Unfortunately, the schedule is about to get bumpy.

Three of Arizona's next four games are on the road against NFC West rivals, with only a home date with the unbeaten Cincinnati Bengals breaking up the travel. And speaking of Green Bay and Minnesota, they're both on the second-half schedule.

What it All Means

The Cardinals are in good shape to make the playoffs, but they'll have to earn anything more than that over the next eight weeks. That's either a blessing or a curse.

Two games with Seattle—Sunday and Week 17—could determine the fate of the NFC West, while matchups with the Vikings and Packers will have a major impact on playoff seeding. 

Arizona wants to be considered Super Bowl contenders. Now is the time to convince the league they're ready.

Latest Arizona Injury News

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Cardinals released the below injury report on their official website following Wednesday's practice.

WR John Brown	Hamstring
TE Darren Fells	Shoulder
WR Larry Fitzgerald	Ankle
WR Brittan Golden	Groin
LB Alex Okafor	Calf
CB Jerraud Powers	Hamstring
C Lyle Sendlein	Shoulder

Brown, Golden, Powers and Sendlein were limited on Wednesday, while the rest were full participants. 

The bye week came at the right time for the Cardinals, as the team was a little banged up following their Week 8 win over Cleveland. It looks like they'll be getting some guys back this week.

The two big names to keep an eye on are Brown and Sendlein. Brown didn't play against Cleveland, although he told Darren Urban of the team's official site that he's "feeling good." Hamstring injuries tend to linger, and Brown's nursing two of them.

Sendlein, meanwhile, is battling the lineman's version of a hamstring injury with a shoulder problem. He seems the most likely to miss out on Sunday's game, although nothing's been decided. A.Q. Shipley would start if Sendlein can't go.

Everyone else should be considered "fine" until otherwise noted. 

Key Matchup

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Arizona's Offensive Line vs. Seattle's Defensive Line

The greater Phoenix metropolitan area is, as we know, a premier golfing destination. Golfers must be wary of reverting back to old, bad habits after taking time away from the game.

I bring this up because it's exactly the thing the Cardinals must avoid coming out of the bye week.

In a surprising turn of events, Arizona's run game was more good than bad in the first half of the season, ranking No. 9 in the NFL in yards per game. Even the offensive line was pretty solid, a major upgrade from 2014's unit, which some Cardinals fans refused to believe even existed. 

It is imperative that the Cardinals offensive line continues their reasonably good play on Sunday against Seattle. Despite the team's struggles, the Seahawks defense remains stout, ranking No. 2 in the league in yardage allowed. Much of that starts up front with Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril.

The line of scrimmage will be a major point of emphasis on both sides of the ball, but the spotlight will shine brightest on Arizona's offensive line. They've got to get the team off to a steady start to the second half of the season. 

3 Things to Watch

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

Arizona's running backs

Despite the overall success of the running game, Bruce Arians struggled to stick with consistent roles for his backs beyond using Chris Johnson as the lead dog. And that was before Johnson fumbled twice against Cleveland in Week 8.

Will Andre Ellington, now fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him earlier in the season, start to eat into Johnson's carries? And what of the other Johnson, David? The rookie is the most talented back on the team, could he see a larger role in the second half of the season? 

Tyler Lockett and David Johnson

Each team boasts an explosive rookie return man, both of whom have already found the end zone on returns this season. Lockett, in fact, has returned both a punt and a kickoff for a score.

While part of the appeal of this battle is cosmetic, the return game could have a major impact on who wins this game. Can either rookie make a game-breaking play on special teams? 

Arizona's safeties and linebackers vs. Russell Wilson

Despite the team's official site focusing on the problem of containing Jimmy Graham, Seattle's passing game shouldn't worry Arizona. Frankly, the Cardinals secondary can handle the Seahawks limited options at receiver.

But that actually opens up another, altogether more troubling, door.

Should Arizona indeed limit Russell Wilson's ability to throw the ball, it'll have to keep the Seahawks quarterback from carving them up on the ground. Wilson will run the ball as often as he can with his receivers covered, and he's more than capable of inflicting just as much damage with his legs. 

Prediction: Seattle 21, Arizona 17

Nils Nilsen/Getty Images

No, the Seattle Seahawks have not played brilliant football since they got the ball down to the goal-line in the dying moments of Super Bowl 49. They've earned their four losses this season.

Arizona, meanwhile, has played pretty good football since last year's Super Bowl. With Carson Palmer healthy, it has certainly been the best team in the NFC West, and one of the few teams capable of earning a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Still, the truth of Week 10 is simply this: Pete Carroll has had two weeks to motivate his team ahead of a must-win home game against a division rival. If the Seahawks are going to make a legitimate run at the playoffs, it's going to start on Sunday.

Those aren't friendly odds for any opponent, and it's twice as harsh when you're a team, like Arizona, trying to settle back in after a bye week. 

This game will be close, physical, hard-fought and all the other cliches, but Arizona will come up just short.

Final prediction: Seattle 21, Arizona 17