Seahawks vs. Cardinals: Defensive grades for Seattle in week four

The Cardinals scored 17 points against the Seahawks on Sunday, Arizona’s most all season. But the defense still played well enough to win.

Seahawks fans all know the real story of the defense from Sunday’s win over the Cardinals. That is, Earl Thomas is lost for season with a broken leg. And Thomas will probably never play another snap with Seattle.

But life and grades must go on and the rest of the Seattle defense was pretty good on Sunday. The Cardinals had only 263 yards of total offense. How good was Seattle’s defense? Here are the grades.

Defensive line

Frank Clark had an offsides called on him and for the first time all season did not record a sack in a game. Clark still had two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss. Clark’s tackle for loss was one of four by the defensive line.

Jarran Reed continues to be a greater factor along the line. Reed had a sack and two tackles for loss along with five tackles total. Should Reed continue to play this well he could easily make the Pro Bowl.

Of the seven quarterback hits against Arizona, the defensive line had six of them. That’s really good.

Grade: A

Linebacker

Bobby Wagner led the Seahawks in tackles with seven. He also had a quarterback hit and a pass defended. No surprise Wagner was great.

Mychal Kendricks to be a nice acquisition as he had six tackles with two for loss. Next week, Seattle hopes to get K.J. Wright back. But Kendricks has been playing at a high level himself.

Barkevious Mingo and Jacob Martin both had a tackle for loss.

Grade: B

Secondary

Josh Rosen was able to have a decent rookie debut against Seattle. But he was completing passes in tight coverage so that says a lot for his ability. Justin Coleman did have a bad pass interference call go against him which set Arizona up for a one-yard touchdown run, though.

For the first time this season Seattle had no interceptions. Coleman, Thomas and Bradley McDougald all had passes defended. And Tre Flowers tied for second on the team with six tackles. Overall, the secondary was good enough to win if not as good as in the first three games.

Otherwise, the loss of Thomas was the biggest story of the secondary.

Grade: B-