A.J. Barner's 2 TDs lead Seattle Seahawks 17-3 over Cardinals
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: AJ Barner #88 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates a touchdown during the second quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field on November 08, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - A.J. Barner scored a pair of touchdowns – one rushing, one receiving – and the Seattle Seahawks defense shut down Gardner Minshew and the Arizona Cardinals in a 17-3 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Barner caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Drew Lock, and rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to carry the offensive scoring output as Seattle completed a series sweep of the Cardinals. Jaxon Smith-Njigba crossed the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the year with seven catches for 51 yards in the win.
Arizona kicked a 28-yard field goal on their opening drive before being held scoreless the rest of the afternoon. The Cardinals were held to 198 total yards, with Minshew held to 166 passing yards on 30 attempts with 21 completions.
Lock – playing in place of an injured Sam Darnold – beat the Cardinals for the second time this year, completing 19-of-28 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown in the victory.
The backstory:
The game was marred by questionable officiating decisions in both directions, but the Seahawks were on the wrong end of several of the problematic calls. Ultimately, it didn't matter.
After an opening Seattle punt, Reggie Virgil made an acrobatic catch along the Arizona sideline for a 25-yard gain and third down conversion. Head coach Mike Macdonald challenged the call as it appeared that Virgil didn't get his toe-tap down inside the field of play. However, the play was upheld on review and the Cardinals continued to match down the field.
A 17-yard completion to Michael Wilson on the next play, and an unnecessary roughness call against Ernest Jones IV for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Trey McBrdie moved Arizona into the Seattle red zone. But the drive stalled out there as Chad Ryland gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead on a 28-yard field goal.
Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet headlined the first scoring drive of the game for the Seahawks. The duo combined for 53 of the team's 55 offensive yards on the drive before a pair of ‘Barn Yard’ dives from Barner cracked into the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead.
Another iffy officiating call cost the Seattle defense a turnover. Jones punched the ball free from the grasp of McBride and recovered the loose ball for a would-be turnover. Instead, officials ruled that McBride’s forward progress had been stopped on the play, making the play dead and the fumble that followed irrelevant and unreviewable.
Arizona ended up punting two plays later anyway, and the Seahawks turned their final drive of the half into a two-score lead.
A tight-window strike to Jaxon Smith-Njigba went for 13 yards before a defensive pass interference call against Max Melton moved Seattle to the Arizona 25-yard line. Smith-Njigba picked up 18 more yards on a catch-and-run through and around the Cardinals' defense before Barner scored on a 7-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-3 before the break.
Like the Virgil play earlier, Barner's catch was reviewed and upheld despite some evidence to the contrary. The ball appeared to touch the turn in the end zone as Barner didn't have lock-tight control, but it wasn't enough to overturn the call, apparently.
The Seahawks extended the lead on their opening drive of the second half, though they did get a touch fortunate. A screen pass from Lock to Cooper Kupp was nearly picked off by linebacker Zaven Collins int he backfield. Instead, the ball glanced off Collins' hands, and Kupp still caught the pass and gained eight yards on the play. A slant to Kupp on third down then kept the drive alive. Ultimately, a trio of flags on the same play blunted the possession and Jason Myers converted a 45-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-3.
McBride tripped and fell down as Josh Jobe picked off Minshew for another potential big defensive turnover. However, the officials called pass interference against Jobe that wiped out the play and kept Arizona's offense on the field. McBride responded with a 15-yard toe-tap along the sidelines for a fourth down conversion.
Ultimately, the defense held with a fourth down stop at the goal line on a pass for McBride from Minshew for a turnover on downs.
Seattle killed the final 4:35 of the game with the ball in their hands to improve to 5-4 on the year.
The Source: Information in this story comes from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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