Seahawks optimistic, face Cardinals for NFC West lead

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks were struggling a week ago, coming off their bye having lost five of their last six games.

That included a gut-punch overtime defeat at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 3. The outlook for the last-place Seahawks (5-5) was beginning to look grim.

They suddenly have renewed optimism this week after an uplifting victory over the San Francisco 49ers that snapped a six-game losing streak against their arch-rival that dated to 2021. Seattle will play the first-place Arizona Cardinals (6-4) on Sunday for a share of the NFC West lead.

How quickly things change in the NFL.

“We’ve earned the opportunity to be fighting for the lead in the division going into the home stretch,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “So that’s the way we’re treating it. It’s very much like a playoff mindset for us at this point.”

The win over the 49ers, which was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run by quarterback Geno Smith with 18 seconds left, put the Seahawks in a much better place mentally than they’d been in over the previous six weeks. They're hoping it's just the start of something even bigger.

“It can just spark something that you’ve been looking for this whole year,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “I know we started off very hot with the first three games, but, you know, when adversity hit, it’s all about how you respond. I think we responded the right way, and it’s going to carry us throughout the rest of the season.”

While the Seahawks are feeling better this week, the Cardinals have plenty of reason to feel optimistic, too. After starting the season 2-4, Arizona has won four straight to put itself in first place in the NFC West.

The Cardinals have a defense that is making big strides under the leadership of veteran safety Budda Baker and a top-five running game behind the dual threat of running back James Conner, who has 697 yards rushing, and quarterback Kyler Murray, who seems to be hitting his stride in his sixth NFL season.

Murray has 2,058 yards passing with 12 touchdowns, and has rushed for 371 yards and four scores. Second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon has been impressed with Murray’s improved decision-making as Murray has thrown just three interceptions through 10 games.

“There’s times that he probably wants to try to thread it a little bit, but understands when to pick and choose his spots,” Gannon said. “I think he’s done a phenomenal job with that and there are a lot of times throughout the game where you could say we like to put it in the quarterback’s hands, and you trust him to make the right decision for that point in the game.”

Reunited
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba will see a familiar face on the other sideline Sunday in rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., who was Smith-Njigba’s college teammate at Ohio State in 2021 and 2022.

The pair each caught three touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ wild win over Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl, with Smith-Njigba having 347 yards receiving on what was a 573-passing yard day for C.J. Stroud, now the quarterback of the Houston Texans.

“Late his freshman year, he really just stood out,” Smith-Njigba said of Harrison. “You could just see the growth and kind of who he is becoming. … He’s passed a lot of people’s expectations, of course, but I knew he was going to be elite later on freshman year.”

MVP-level Murray
Murray is coming off one of the best games of his career after completing 22 of 24 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown against the Jets two weeks ago. He also ran for 21 yards and two TDs.

Murray currently ranks No. 3 in the NFL in quarterback rating behind Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Baltimore's Lamar Jackson. That has put him in the MVP conversation, particularly since Arizona has won four straight games.

“I don’t play the game for the validation of others," Murray said. "But as a player, of course, sometimes the recognition and the words being said feel good. But it doesn’t satisfy me.”

Defensive improvement
The most surprising part of Arizona’s four-game winning streak is the rapid improvement of the defense, which has allowed just 9 and 6 points, respectively, over the past two games. No touchdowns have been allowed – just five field goals.

It’s just the second time over the past 30 years that the franchise has allowed 10 points or less over back-to-back games.

Baker, a Bellevue native and former University of Washington football star, is the unquestioned leader of the bunch – he already has 100 tackles over 10 games - but the team also has a strong core of linebackers in Kyzir White, Mack Wilson and Zaven Collins.

Metcalf and Baker have gone up against each other many times before, most famously when Metcalf ran Baker down on an interception return in 2020.

“You really can’t prepare for a guy like that because his engine never stops,” Metcalf said. “He’s always going to be around the ball. He’s always going to affect the game with just his play effort and play style. … Just got to try to minimize his playmaking ability as much as we can on offense.”

AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix, Arizona, contributed to this report.