The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 and now Seattle is 4-2. The game wasn't exactly beautiful, and while the score was relatively close - 20-10 - it never really felt like the Cardinals were going to win. That's how a fan wants a game.
Seattle still has a lot to work on. Mostly, Seattle needs to figure out what's going on with its quarterback play. (More on that in a minute.)
Still, there were more positives than negatives. Seattle had 4 more sacks and 8 quarterback hits. Plus, running back Kenneth Walker III went over 100 yards rushing for the first time in 2023. Here are three quick takeaways.
Seattle Seahawks got huge moments from Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo
Jaxon Smith-Njigba did have a drop on a potential first down pass near the end of the game, but otherwise he was very good. He had the best game of his career, including catching the first touchdown pass of his career. He found the holes in the middle of the field early and that helped sustain Seattle's early drives.
JAKE BOBO HAS JUST MADE THE MOST INSANE TOUCHDOWN CATCH YOU'LL SEE TODAY!
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 22, 2023
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/lZaGVNieAE
Jake Bobo continues to be a gift for the Seahawks. After being undrafted, Bobo was fantastic in training camp, and every chance he's gotten in the regular season he has made the most of. He caught 4 of his 5 targets against Arizona for 61 yards and one of the best touchdowns you will see this year. He caught the ball one-handed, including landing his right toe to complete the catch. Without the play of JSN and Bobo, Seattle might not have won in Week 7.
What's up with Geno?
Geno Smith started off the game extremely well as if he knew he wasn't good in Week 6 and that that was a one-off. Then he got really bad. He threw a horrible second half interception in the direction of Bobo but Bobo wasn't even close to being open and Smith threw the ball directly to a defender. Then Smith bumbled a snap later in the half and set Arizona up at the 30-yard line of Seattle.
Neither the interception nor the fumble should have happened and were simply mental lapses by Geno Smith. He had turnover issues in the second half of 2022, but through the first four games of 2023, he was fine again. The last two games? Not so much. And if he continues to have moments of mindlessness, Seattle will lose games because of it.
The defense was better as the game went on...again
Except for one bad play when Cardinals quarterback Josh Dobbs ran 25 yards for a touchdown, the defense was excellent yet again and seemed to get better as the game wore on. Arizona was just 5 for 15 on third down attempts and only got 249 total yards.
Seattle didn't force any turnovers but they did have an interception by Devon Witherspoon negated because of a penalty. Witherspoon also had a sack taken away by a penalty. But when Seattle needed to apply pressure near the end of the game on obvious Cardinals passing downs, they were able to. Darrell Taylor and Jarran Reed both got home on the Cardinals last futile drive.