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Rapid Reactions: A Second Straight Dominant Seahawks Victory

For The Second Week In A Row, The Seahawks Jumped To A Huge First Half Lead, Resulting In A 44-22 Win Over The Arizona Cardinals

Nov 09, 2025 at 04:30 PM

John Boyle

Seahawks.com Senior Reporter

Three plays after Jaxon Smith-Njigba hauled in a 43-yard touchdown to cap the Seahawks' opening drive of the game, a blitzing Tyrice Knight hit Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett, forcing a fumble that DeMarcus Lawrence returned for a touchdown. And for the second week in a row, the Seahawks were able to take control of a game early on their way to big win, this time a 44-22 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

Here are seven rapid reactions to Sunday's win, which improved the Seahawks' record to 7-2 heading into a big Week 11 showdown with the Los Angeles Rams:

1. Tyrice Knight and DeMarcus Lawrence doubled up on big plays.

It has been an eventful eight days for linebacker Tyrice Knight, who lost his starting job to Drake Thomas earlier this season, then found himself back in the middle of the defense last week after Ernest Jones IV went down with a knee injury.

Knight finished that game with a team-high 10 tackles in just over a half of action, and with Jones out on Sunday, he was back in the starting lineup alongside Thomas.

And given an opportunity to start, Knight took advantage in a big, big way. After starting out his day with the big sack and forced fumble to set up Lawrence's 34-yard return for a score, Knight did it again in the second quarter, knocking the ball out of Brissett's hand just before he threw, and Lawrence was there again, smoothly scooping the loose ball up on his way to a 22-yard touchdown, his second of the game and fourth of his decorated career.

With those two touchdowns, Lawrence became just the fourth player in NFL history to have two fumble return touchdowns, joining Jeremy Chinn (2020), Fred Evans (1948) and Al Nesser (1920).

Both players had productive games beyond those two plays, with Knight recording eight tackles, 2.0 sacks, three tackles for loss and the two forced fumbles, while Lawrence added four tackles, a tackle for loss, half a sack and three quarterback hits.

2. Sam Darnold and the offense had another great first half, though turnovers became a bit of an issue later on.

As was the case last week in Washington when Darnold went 16 for 16 with four touchdown in the first half, Seattle's quarterback, and the offense as a whole, got off to a great start.

Darnold hit Smith-Njigba for a 43-yard score on the opening drive of the game, and was sharp throughout the half, completing 9 of 10 passes for 167 yards, giving him a first-half stat line over the past two games of 25 for 26 for 349 yards and five touchdowns, good for a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

The one hiccup for the Seahawks on their way to a 38-7 first-half lead was a turnover late in the second half that set up Arizona's first score of the game. After the defense made a goal line stand, giving the offense the ball backed up near the end zone, Darnold and center Olu Oluwatmi, who had just come in for an injured Jalen Sundell, had a miscue on a snap, leading to a fumble that Arizona recovered.

Then, in the second half, there were two more turnovers, one of which led to another Cardinals touchdown. The first came after another defensive stop in the red zone, with Darnold's pass attempt hitting AJ Barner in the helmet, leading to an interception. Later in the quarter, Darnold was hit attempting to throw and fumbled, with the Cardinals.

Fortunately for the Seahawks, they did more than enough to overcome those turnovers, and they were all a little fluky in their own way, but that's something they'll still want to clean up moving forward.

3. The Seahawks got the run game going, especially in the second half.

For all the Seahawks have done well this season, their run game hasn't been as consistent as they'd have liked, but they showed a lot of progress on the ground in this win. With Zach Charbonnet leading the way with 83 yards on 14 carries, the Seahawks had a season-high 198 rushing yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Kenneth Walker III added 67 yards on 14 carries, while George Holani contributed 31 yards and his first career rushing touchdown.

The Seahawks would have had over 200 yards rushing yards if not for the yardage they lost taking a knee three times to end the game.

4. Jaxon Smith-Njigba's 100-yard streak ended, but he still made more history.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba got off to a great start, catching four passes for 82 yards in the first half, including a 43-yard touchdown. But with the Seahawks barely throwing the ball in the second half thanks to their big lead—they attempted only two passes after the break—Smith-Njigba finished with five catches for 93 yards.

That meant his streak of 100-yard games came to an end at five, a franchise record, but Smith-Njigba was still able to make some history as he eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season. Smith-Njigba not only became the eighth player in team history with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, he also became the 26th player in league history to reach that mark in the first nine games of the year.

5. Rookie Nick Emmanwori continues to shine.

Rookie safety Nick Emmanwori has been outstanding since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of three games, and Sunday was yet another strong performance for the second round pick.

In addition to recording a team-high 9 tackles, Emmanwori also had half a sack, his first in the NFL, and a team-leading four passes defensed.

6. Jason Myers broke a franchise record.

With three field goals made on Sunday, Jason Myers is up to 176 in his Seahawks career, which began in 2019. And with that third make on Sunday, Myers moved past Stephen Hauschka for the most field goals made in franchise history.

Jason Myers good from 34 yards to give the Seahawks a 44-22 lead. That's his 176th field goal as a Seahawk, moving him past Stephen Hauschka for the most in franchise history.

7. Rashid Shaheed had an active Seahawks debut.

Five days after being traded to the Seahawks, receiver Rashid Shaheed played a significant role for his new team. Like most of the Seahawks pass catchers, he didn't do as much in the second half thanks to a big lead, but he did have two first-half carries for 20 yards while also having one catch for three yards. Shaheed also handled kickoff and punt return duties, gaining 67 yards on three kick returns and fair catching all four punt returns.