Jason Myers made a 52-yard field goal as time expired, Sam Darnold threw for 242 yards and a touchdown, and the Seattle Seahawks withstood a late rally by Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to beat Arizona 23-20 on Thursday night.
The Seahawks blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead but still won their eighth straight over their NFC West rivals.
The Cardinals trailed 20-6 midway through the fourth. Murray then threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr that cut the deficit to 20-13 with 5:50 left. After Myers missed a 53-yard field-goal attempt, Murray put together another drive and found Emari Demercado for a seven-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left.
But the Seahawks (3-1) weren’t done. A penalty on the ensuing kickoff – Chad Ryland’s kick landed short of the landing zone — gave Seattle good field position at the 40. Darnold then hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 22-yard gain that moved Seattle into field-goal range. A few plays later, Myers calmly knocked the 52-yarder through, making up for his miss just a few minutes before.
“We started off hot [but] we let them climb back when it mattered,” said Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams. “We gotta do a better job of closing out the game.”
Darnold had another efficient outing, completing 18 of 26 passes. Kenneth Walker III ran for 81 yards and Zach Charbonnet added his second rushing touchdown of the season. The Seahawks’ defense sacked Kyler Murray six times.
Charbonnet scored on a one-yard run late in the second quarter, using a second effort to fall into the end zone and give the Seahawks a 14-3 lead heading into halftime. The Cardinals (2-2) jogged to the locker room amid scattered boos from the home crowd. Arizona have struggled on offense most of the season and Thursday was a slog until the fourth quarter. The Cardinals have now dropped two straight.
Murray completed 27 of 41 passes for 200 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, though at least one wasn’t his fault. Harrison had a rough start to the game before making his touchdown grab in the fourth quarter. Last year’s No 4 overall pick bobbled a ball on a slant route in the second quarter, essentially tossing it to Seattle’s Ernest Jones IV, who grabbed it for an interception.
The Seahawks took a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter on Darnold’s 16-yard touchdown pass to AJ Barner after Arizona had opened the scoring on Ryland’s 33-yard field goal.
The Cardinals grabbed the early advantage partially because of a strange play a few minutes earlier that included turnovers by both teams. Murray threw a ball that was intercepted by Seattle’s Coby Bryant, but Bryant fumbled a few seconds later and the ball was recovered by Arizona’s Trey Benson at essentially the same spot where the play started.
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