The Seahawks have had trouble winning games at home at times under head coach Mike Macdonald, but they are having no trouble in their building on Sunday.
Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass to open the game, DeMarcus Lawrence returned a pair of fumbles for touchdowns and the Seahawks ran out to a 35-0 lead before the Cardinals were able to get on the board late in the second quarter. The Seahawks answered that Greg Dortch touchdown run with a drive for a field goal that put them ahead 38-7 at the break.
Darnold’s touchdown was a 43-yard hookup with wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is now up to 62 catches and 1,030 yards on the season. Smith-Njigba was taken into the blue tent for a concussion evaluation in the second quarter and he was cleared to return, but the Seahawks don’t figure to be throwing much the rest of the day.
Smith-Njigba joined Michael Irvin and Antonio Brown as the only players to ever have 75 receiving yards or more in each of their first nine games of a season.
Both of Lawrence’s scores were set up by strip sacks by linebacker Tyrice Knight and the Seahawks have dropped Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett five times overall on Sunday. Their defense also stuffed the Cardinals at the 1-yard-line on a fourth down, but Arizona recovered a fumbled snap a couple of plays later to set up their only score.
That snap came with Olu Oluwatimi at center in place of Jalen Sundell, who was ruled out with a knee injury. The Cardinals ruled wide receiver Zay Jones out with an Achilles injury and replays showed the telltale signs of a season-ending tear.
