Takeaways from Seahawks 19-9 victory over Cardinals

SEATTLE - The Seattle Seahawks defense stepped up on a day when the offense didn't have its best stuff to author their best performance of the season, by far, in a 19-9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

The defense allowed just three points in the game, held Arizona running backs to just 44 yards on 17 carries, and sacked Kyler Murray six times in the victory. With a shaky backup kicker in Matt Ammendola, the Cardinals also chose to go for it on fourth down five times in the game. They only managed to convert one as Seattle's defense kept points off the board.

"Really happy with the whole group on defense," head coach Pete Carroll said. "They've been fighting their tails off to get it done and to try to get to a point where they really feel like they're doing something. And the pass rush came to life today. And the guys were all over the quarterback. So really rewarding in that regard."

Additionally, the group came up with a pair of turnovers as rookies Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen each forced turnovers from Murray. Bryant punched a ball out of Murray's grasp that was recovered by Woolen and Woolen picked off Murray for his fourth interception in as many games.

Rookie running back Ken Walker III nearly hit the century mark with 97 yards and a touchdown in his first start as well in place of an injured Rashaad Penny.

With the win, the Seahawks are now tied atop the NFC West with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers at 3-3. 

Here are the takeaways from the victory over Arizona:

– Seahawks rookie class looks like a special group.

Seattle started six rookies in Sunday's win over Arizona: Woolen, Bryant, Walker, Charles Cross, Abe Lucas and Boye Mafe.

Woolen, Bryant, Walker and Mafe all played really strong games in Sunday's win. While it's only six games into their careers, it seems as though the Seahawks might have really killed it in this year's NFL Draft.

"I told Pete congratulations because he did a hell of a job drafting this year," wide receiver DK Metcalf said. "Especially with those two tackles, Coby Bryant, Tariq, Ken Walker III, Boye. They all come in, keep their head down and just work. You can tell how much they really love the game."

Bryant has forced a fumble in four of the last five games for Seattle while Woolen has intercepted a pass in four straight games. Two of Bryant's forced fumbles have found their way to Woolen for recoveries.

Walker then added his performance on the ground with three runs of over 15 yards. He also scored on an 11-yard touchdown, which was Seattle's only touchdown of the game.

And while not as flashy as Bryant, Woolen or Walker, Mafe did a really nice job on several plays of keeping the edge contained to prevent an Arizona rusher from getting outside to bottle up a play.

"Probably one of the best classes of rookies I've ever seen," defensive end Shelby Harris said. "Just from their professionalism to the way they approach every day and the way they go out there and make plays, you don't see that from rookies. You know, so let's just keep it coming."

While it may not have been the best outing of the season for the offensive line against the Cardinals, Cross and Lucas have already looked like solid pieces for the long haul through the first six weeks of the season.

"This is what we hope for," Carroll said of the rookie class. "You hope when you draft a guy you can picture what he's going to do. And you hope he's going to fit in and be a factor for us. … But those guys, they're just coming through."

– Tariq Woolen especially looks like something really special.

You get a sense for just how special Woolen can be from the way his teammates speak about him.

"That boy's the truth. That's all I got to say," defensive tackle Poona Ford said.

"It's like watching a Rottweiler pup run around the house and he's just bumping into s--- cause he don't know how big he is. It's like that," safety Ryan Neal said last week. "I mean just watching him just do what he do, he just doesn't even understand like you are so damn special and you don't even know it."

"I don’t understand why you would try a 6’4" corner who runs a 4.2 on a go-ball," safety Quandre Diggs said. "It’s like, even if you try to throw a perfect ball, he’s going to be right there because he’s so tall, his arms are so long. He’s phenomenal."

Woolen only had two interceptions in two seasons as a full-time cornerback at the University of Texas-San Antonio. Woolen has now picked off Marcus Mariota, Jared Goff, Andy Dalton and Murray in consecutive weeks as he's tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with four.

"In college, teams really didn’t try me as much, but also I didn’t really have as much confidence as I do now in myself," Woolen said.

No cornerback in the NFL has the physical tools that Woolen has. The combination of size and speed makes him a true outlier in the sport. 

Woolen intercepted Murray on a deep pass to Marquise Brown up the left sideline on fourth-and-11 late in the fourth quarter. The interception was a textbook Richard Sherman-esque pick as he tracked Brown stride for stride and looked as though he was the intended target of the pass all along.

"I hope they keep trying him," linebacker Jordyn Brooks said. "The guy is just naturally gifted. He don't have no limitations, man. He don't even know what he's doing half the time yet. He's just playing on raw talent right now. It's exciting to see."

"He's a baller, man, and he's continuously getting better," Bryant said. "He's still learning so that's what makes it even crazier. But I'm extremely excited for him and the sky's the limit."

– Run defense makes big improvements, fuels better defensive effort overall.

A week after allowing two separate rushers to go over 100 yards rushing in a loss to the New Orleans Saints, the rush defense of the Seahawks made a big step forward in the win over Arizona.

And while Murray did reach 100 yards rushing, much of that came on scrambles and not designed runs. Also, 42 of those yards came on one run on a quarterback power on the opening drive.

The really big deal was holding Arizona's two running backs – Eno Benjamin and Keaontay Ingram – to just 44 combined yards on 17 carries.

"Our guys did a great job of keeping them corralled," Carroll said. "It was a big week of discipline, understanding what their game was like so that we would be available to make those plays. And really nice job by the defensive coaches to get that across to the guys because we played a little bit different today to take care of that. And the guys really took to the game plan.

"Their running backs averaged 2.5 yards a carry. And it's all of those guys working inside and setting the thing in motion. We made a couple of adjustments this week that worked out great. And I think they're going to pay off as we move forward."

Seattle had allowed 170 rushing yards on the ground through the first five games of the season with new Orleans rushing for 235 last week. Because teams were so regularly gashing Seattle up front, the defense became even more vulnerable to passing attacks due to a need to devote more resources to stopping the run.

Because the running game couldn't get going, Arizona ended up in longer third down situations and managed to convert just 4-of-16 chances. That then allowed Seattle's pass rush to get more aggressive to go after Murray, which resulted in six sacks on the day.

 "It just felt like us, honestly," Brooks said. "Felt like that's what we should have been doing. And so I'm proud of the way that our defense played today. I think it's a great momentum shift for us, and a great building block to keep going and progressing during the season."

Carroll said that defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt changed the focus of some of the team's plans up front to better suit the players they have at their disposal. Even without Al Woods able to play at nose tackle due to injury, Seattle's front delivered their best performance of the year.

"I think Clint did a great job to take a step back and take a look at some things and fix some things up to suit our players and take advantage of what our guys can do. And it worked out. And I know those guys, they'll feel it too. They're going to -- it's going to make a difference as we move ahead."

Brooks said the defense took it upon themselves to own their failures through the first five weeks and really lock in on getting it corrected.

"I think the biggest thing that we did was just we kind of just all owned up to what the problem was," Brooks said. "Guys took it personal today, especially the D-line, and so you see why they ate the way they did today. So I'm just proud of the way that they played. They play like that, they make life easier for everybody else on the back end."

Added Harris: "When you play a divisional game and you're in the position where we are right now, you got to take all this s--- personal. You got to take every game of these personal because these are the games that come back at the end of the year - when you're talking about seedings and stuff - these are the games that come back and it's like 'oh, we should've had that one.' So we got to stop with the should have had that one and go out there and take it. And so I think you saw that from the defense today."

– Special teams error costly for second week in a row.

The only touchdown scored by Arizona in the game came on a failed punt in the third quarter.

A missed protection call on the punt team led to linebacker Ezekiel Turner coming in unblocked on Michael Dickson. Dickson made the smart decision to abort the punt attempt, but Turner stripped Dickson with Chris Banjo recovering for the touchdown.

Special teams captain Nick Bellore took the blame for the mistake.

"It was a look we had seen before, and the call is based on what I do, I set the protection, and that is why ultimately, they were able to block it," Bellore said, via John Boyle of Seahawks.com. "It was one of those things where I figured we’d be OK if we blocked it that way, and their rush was schemed for it. Ultimately, if I get us into the call we’re supposed to be in, it should be blocked up fine. I saw it a way I shouldn’t have, and it worked against us. I don’t want anyone else taking the heat for that."

The play came a week after Dickson decided not to kick on a rugby-style attempt against the Saints. That led to an 8-yard loss and a turnover that quickly turned into a New Orleans touchdown as Taysom Hill scored two plays later.

When Seattle has made mistakes on special teams, it has definitely come back to bite them.

Tyler Lockett was run into by cornerback Xavier Crawford, which led to a muffed punt in the team's 27-7 loss to the 49ers. The 49ers scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive as well with Kyle Juszczyk scoring on a 1-yard touchdown as well.

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