Seahawks Defense Puts On Another Strong Performance In 23-20 Win Over Cardinals

Seattle’s defense sacked Kyler Murray six times in Thursday night’s win and made the Cardinals offense fight for every yard.

Sep 26, 2025 at 12:44 AM

Ari Horton

Seahawks.com Writer

GLENDALE—If Coby Bryant and Ernest Jones IV both having an interception against the Arizona Cardinals in State Farm Stadium feels familiar, that's because it is. Yes, they both picked off quarterback Kyler Murray in Thursday night's win, but they also both picked off the quarterback last season. On the road. In State Farm Stadium.

Bryant said, "[I] seen the middle of the field, he stepped up, threw the ball. Catch the ones that come to you, just have to hold onto the ball better."

While Bryant was able to come up with the interception, he did fumble it and turn it back over to the Cardinals.

"They made the plays that came to them," Devon Witherspoon said on the two interceptions. "Shout out to them boys. They throw us free picks, and we take them. We appreciate those. Next time we just have to get to the house. We have to go to the crib, get to that six and add some more points on the board."

On both interceptions, the Seahawks were not able to convert them into any points.

"We do have to take care of the ball," head coach Mike Macdonald said.

Despite that, the Seahawks' defense overall had a strong showing. They picked off quarterback Kyler Murray twice, sacked him six times, had eight passes defensed, seven quarterback hits, held Arizona's rushing attack to just 89 yards and kept the Cardinals offense out of the endzone until the final six minutes of the game.

And though the numbers are impressive, Leonard Williams said, "It's tough," sacking Murray as much as they did.

"You definitely don't want to rush scared. At the same time, you have to understand that you can't give him big pockets. You can't give him outside lanes to run. He obviously is going to make his plays on the ground, which he did today. Overall, I think we did a good job getting to him, a good job containing him and I think it just comes down to rushing as one like I said throughout the week. This is one of those weeks where you really have to rush as one. We talk about it all the time in the defensive line room and it has to show up in these type of games."

Witherspoon said, "We take what we do seriously. "We watch film. We study guys all the way down to what they like to do, what they don't like to do. And then we go out there and execute. I think that's one of the greatest things that we do on defense. Then we have our head coach, he lays out a great game plan and we just go out there and execute. It takes 12 as one."

Playing in his second game this season, after coming back from injury, Uchenna Nwosu came up with two sacks. His first since Week 17 of the 2024 season. Nwosu said there is "a lot of confidence," on defense.

"We take a lot of pride over there," he said. "We practice very hard and it's a standard we set for ourselves. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. We know if we the offense a chance and they're going to win us the game like they just showed tonight. It's what we've always prepared for. We always knew."

For offensive players, they have full confidence in the way the defense performed in Thursday's win.

"(It) feels great going out there with those guys on defense," Jaxon Smith-Njigba said. "I know they're going to hold it down. We're very confident in them. (We) feel like they're the best in the world. We know we're going to get opportunities to win the game no matter what spot we're in. That's our mentality. Love those guys, and they played great tonight."