Can the Seahawks regain momentum to claim their 3rd road win of the season against the Cardinals?

Similar to Will Smith in the Bad Boys movie, I am putting this past Sunday’s game firmly inside a little box, throwing away the key and vowing never to think about it ever again. My health insurance simply doesn’t cover sports induced heart conditions.

This Thursday see’s the Seahawks travel south to Arizona to take on the 4-4 Cardinals in what will no doubt be a tough road game with bitterness still in the mouths of all the players. Let’s hope they turn that bitterness into positive football play and get on the road to recovering from their many mistakes.

Seattle has the opportunity to go .500 in their all-time record against the Cardinals. The current record is 18-17-1 so there’s no time like the present to bring up an even record and an all-important division road win. The team has their issues, the question is can they correct them in time? Typically, I can gauge how a game is going to go, I’m not always correct but I always have a feeling however this game is different. What team are we going to see on Thursday night? Are we going to see the team that put on a show against legitimate teams like the Rams and Texans or are we going to see the team that scraped by the (still) winless 49ers?

I have a big question mark over this game however with a gun to my head, I’d say the Hawks take the road win as they are the better team in all facets of the game. Arizona will be without starting quarterback Carson Palmer so the defense shouldn’t be in for too much of a tough time but if Earl Thomas and Sheldon Richardson are still unavailable due to injury that takes some of the pressure off the Cardinals. Initial feelings are Sheldon will play and Earl will sit for one more week. Backup Free-Safety Bradley McDougald can slot into his place with relative ease and shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

You should expect relative low scoring and certainly a defensive shootout with turnovers and time of possession being the two keys to a victory. Russell Wilson will surely be more careful with the ball after throwing two interceptions last week, coach Pete Carroll said his whole game was a little off so I’d expect a strong performance from him. He will no doubt be looking to correct his mistakes and there’s no reason to not feel optimistic, Wilson rarely has back-to-back weak performances. You can bet your last dollar he will be working non-stop this week to identify and address the issues, it’s just what he does.

If Dwight Freeney continues his surge of pressures and sacks (3 in the last two weeks) QB Drew Stanton could well be in for a rough evening. Considering his contract, Freeney is the steal of the NFL given his production to date, he’s showing no signs of slowing down, either.

Stopping the run and forcing Stanton to beat Seattle through the air also heavily stacks in Seattle’s favor, Adrian Peterson ran for 159 yards on 37 carries in their win over the 49ers on Sunday however the 49ers are in last place in run defense so should expect a much tougher time against the Hawks D, who are much better than their 15th in the NFL position would have you believe. Take away the couple of big yardage runs Seattle gave up early in the season on miscommunication errors and Seattle is firmly in the top 5.

Ultimately Seattle is far stronger than the Cardinals roster like for like and I expect that to show on Thursday night. Seattle knows how important division games are and that Arizona will no-doubt be playing to win, they’re still very much in the mix this year but in a battle of the quarterbacks, Russell Wilson wins hands down over Drew Stanton.

It’ll be a tough test but Seattle grabs everything they have and comes away with their 3rd road win of the season.