The Seahawks should demolish the Cardinals today. I think for once that they will.
The Seahawks have really struggled with the Cardinals in the past few years. That struggle should end Sunday with a blowout win for the home team.
The Seahawks have a lot to play for in the final game of the regular season. Momentum may be an overblown concept in the NFL, but confidence certainly isn’t. Nothing would build Seattle’s confidence more than exorcizing some Arizona demons this Sunday in front of a roaring mass of 12s.
Seattle has something concrete to play for as well. A win Sunday gives them the fifth seed. We’ll see how the playoffs sort out, but that likely gets them a rematch versus Dallas in a dome. That sounds a lot better to me than a trip to face the Bears in Chicago. A gentle reminder, the Bears play outdoors. And it will be January. In Chicago. Outdoors. We’ll take the fifth seed, please!
While Seattle has better seeding to play for, the Cardinals have their own reasons to give their best effort. Oops, no they don’t! If Arizona loses this game, they lock up the number one pick in the NFL Draft. Considering the number of games they’ve already played this season that showed, oh, let’s say suboptimal effort, I don’t expect them to put up much of a fight.
Seattle Seahawks
Then again, they have given the Seahawks their best effort in every game. Thinking of that horrible Debacle in the Desert, maybe not their best effort, but at least as good an effort as Seattle gives.
This year though the Cardinals are truly awful. They’ve had a ton of injuries, as our friend Scott Allen at Raising Zona points out. Regardless, they just stink. Sorry Scott, but…wow.
Arizona has scored just 201 points this season. That’s so last in the league, it’s almost in Division II. There are only so other teams that have scored less than 300 points. That is a bad, bad offense.
The defense isn’t much better. Arizona has allowed 398 points, 27th in the league. Only five teams have given up more than 400. The moment Seattle scores, Arizona joins the club. That too is pretty atrocious.
Only two other teams have more than a hundred point negative scoring differential, those being the Buffalo Bills (who got the number closer to 100 today) and the dismal Oakland-maybe-Las-Vegas Raiders. Basically, if the Seahawks win today, even in a close game, Arizona will have allowed more than twice as many points as they’ve scored.
The Cardinals have played the Hawks very tough for the past few years, including their first meeting this season. I expect Seattle to come out inspired. I expect them to send a message to their future playoff opponents. And I expect the Seahawks to dominate this game.