Cardinals Lose Second Straight Game at the Last Second, as Seahawks Win on Game-Winning Field Goal

In a short week for both teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals faced off in a Week Four Thursday Night Football showdown from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The NFC West Division rivals each looked to notch a win over the other, while trying to avoid falling to .500 early on. Additionally, Arizona debuted its new look as part of the “Rivalries” series, which gave the Cardinals a new uniform, midfield logo, and end zone look on primetime. However, Arizona’s flashy look wasn’t enough to obtain its first division win, as it fell yet again to another game-winning, walk-off field goal, this time by Seattle kicker Jason Myers, to give the Seahawks the 23-20 win Thursday night. 

Short Kickoff Gives Seattle Prime Position to Kick Game Winner

After coming all the way back from as much as a 17-3 deficit early in the third quarter, the Cardinals found a way to tie the game at 20 with just under 30 seconds left remaining in the fourth quarter, as Arizona looked to send this game into overtime with momentum. However, the Cardinals would immediately put themselves at a disadvantage, as kicker Chad Ryland failed to kick the ball within the landing zone, giving Seattle possession of the ball at its own 40-yard line. With the new kickoff rules, the kickoff player must kick the ball inside the opposing team's 20-yard line, or it would be penalized just like if the ball were to go out of bounds on the kickoff. Unfortunately for Arizona, Ryland’s kick fell just short of the landing zone, leaving the Cardinals' defense with less leeway to work with. 

Following the kickoff, it only took two plays for Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold to get his team in field goal position to win the game, potentially, as he found wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 22-yard gain on his second throw to get into Arizona territory. Then, Seattle running back Zach Charbonnet rushed for a four-yard gain, in which the Seahawks would take the clock all the way down to four seconds before calling their final timeout, sending their kicker in to potentially win the game on the road. However, this 52-yard attempt by Myers wasn’t a for sure thing, as he missed a 53-yard field goal wide right the drive before, which eventually allowed the Cardinals to tie the game at 20. Nevertheless, Myers did not let his past mistake affect this chance, as he nailed the 52-yarder to give Seattle not only its first division win of the year, but also keep its winning streak alive by extending it to three games, keeping the Seahawks above .500 with a 3-1 record. Following the kick, Arizona fell once again to another game-winning field goal within five days, to yet another division opponent, dropping its record to 2-2 on the season. 

Late Cardinals Surge Wasn’t Enough to Excuse Poor First-Half Offense 

While the Cardinals found a way to tie the game late, their poor offensive first-half performance prevented them from comfortably being up in crunch time. Heading into this short week, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray looked to help rebound his offense after a lackluster performance in Week Three against the San Francisco 49ers, where the Cardinals were only able to muster up one touchdown late and 15 points total. While the blame wasn’t all on Murray, Arizona’s offense faltered most when needed late, eventually giving San Francisco the win at the buzzer in Santa Clara. In this game against Seattle, more of the same occurred, this time with more turnovers. In the first half, the Cardinals could only put up three points on a 33-yard Ryland field goal, while also turning the ball over twice and punting a handful of times. On the drives, Arizona turned the ball over; Murray was looking for wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. in both instances. 

The first turnover came with Murray firing a dart across the middle looking for Harrison Jr., but it ended up being intercepted by Seattle cornerback Coby Bryant, who eventually ran into his own teammate and fumbled the ball, in which Cardinals running back Trey Benson was able to fall on it and help Arizona avoid a disaster by keeping possession for what turned to be a gain of 15 yards. On this play, it looked as if Harrison Jr. stopped running his planned route, eventually leading Murray to think he was still running it and finding out that the pass was picked off by the Seahawks. This crazy turn of events resulted in the Cardinals getting their lone points of the half. However, the next turnover would not result in such luck, as Murray was able to connect with Harrison Jr. at first, before he bobbled the ball, eventually landing in Seattle linebacker Ernest Jones IV’s arms, where he was able to return the ball 29 yards to give the Seahawks possession late in the second quarter. Despite Seattle not getting any points from the drive following the interception, the connection of Murray to Harrison Jr. was malfunctioning at maximum capacity, leaving fans wondering if this connection would end up working for the future. While the miscues would highlight Arizona’s first-half offense, it still was not able to find a lot of success moving the ball down the field against a stout Seahawks defense.

Coming out of halftime, it was evident that a change was needed if the Cardinals wanted to somehow turn this game on its head. While Arizona’s first offensive drive resulted in more of the same from the first half with a punt, things would soon then begin to click. The drive following a punt by Seattle would get things moving in the right direction for Murray and the Cardinals, as he connected with three different receivers to get into Seahawks territory early. One of the connections would be a 16-yard catch by Harrison Jr., who desperately needed the confidence after only hauling in one catch for eight yards in the first half, along with the mistakes he made. This drive would eventually result in a 57-yard field goal by Ryland to bring the game within 11, before Seattle would go down to bring the game within 14 after adding a field goal of its own. 

On Arizona’s first drive of the fourth quarter, Murray would lead his team on an eight-play, 73-yard scoring drive, where he would connect with Harrison Jr. on a 16-yard touchdown. Despite having a rocky first half, the duo was able to connect for a score, boosting not only the confidence in each other but the entire team. While the Cardinals' defense let the Seahawks get into range to go up by double digits once again, Arizona got a little luck as Myers missed the aforementioned 53-yard field goal. This left Murray and the Cardinals' offense a prime opportunity to go down the field and tie the game with hopes of sending it into overtime. While the overtime aspect did not come to fruition, Arizona was able to drive down the field on a 12-play, 57-yard scoring drive, where Murray would find running back Emari Demercado on a seven-yard touchdown. After all that had happened in the first half, the Cardinals found a way to put themselves in position to take the game into overtime, but were unable to stop Darnold and the Seahawks' offense in the end, as Arizona left with another close loss.