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Week 7's edition of Sunday night football brought fans another down-to-the-wire shootout involving the Seattle Seahawks, who it seems find themselves in a nail-biter every week.
This time it was an overtime showdown with Seattle's NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals, and the Cardinals came out on top, 37-34. The Seahawks suffered their first loss of the season after a 5-0 start, while Arizona improved to 5-2.
Initially slated as a midday game, Seahawks vs. Cardinals was flexed to Sunday night due to COVID-19 concerns related to the originally-scheduled Raiders-Bucs game.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday night.
5. Russell Wilson showed (then didn't show) MVP form
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who has posted a passer rating of over 100 since the start of the season and widely been considered the front-runner for league MVP, had an 84.4 rating against the Cardinals.
Wilson completed 33 of 50 passes for 388 yards with three touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Two of Wilson's INTs were simply bad throws and poor decisions, including the pick by Arizona safety Budda Baker near the end zone that Baker almost took back for a touchdown.
Wilson throwing an interception around the goal line in Arizona gave Seattle fans flashbacks from Super Bowl XLIX, when he threw the game-ending pick against the Patriots.
4. The Seahawks' defense must improve
Currently, the Seahawks defense ranks last in the league in total net yards allowed per game. The defense is allowing, on average, 479.2 yards per game against opposing teams.
Another common theme from the Seattle defense is the number of points allowed. The Seahawks are ranked 23rd in that category, allowing on average 28.0 points to opposing teams. This can currently be noticed since the start of the season, as they have allowed too many points to teams that have not been performing well, such as the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.
3. Seattle doesn't need Antonio Brown
With free-agent wide receiver Antonio Browns' suspension coming to an end after Week 8, rumors began flying that the Seahawks were interested in signing him. With the team already having the likes of RB Chris Carson, WR Tyler Lockett, WR D.K. Metcalf, WR David Moore, and TE Greg Olsen on the offense, adding Brown would have bolstered this offense even more.
Nonetheless, Brown made the decision to sign with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers instead. But on Sunday night, Lockett showed why the Seahawks didn't need to sign another high-caliber receiver.
He had 15 receptions for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns, including an amazing toe-drag touchdown shown above.
2. Murray and Hopkins continue to be a deadly combo
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson certainly misses star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, but Arizona QB Kyler Murray has been taking advantage of his new teammate since the season started.
The combination of Murray and Hopkins has been performing well, as Hopkins currently leads the league with 704 receiving yards and is on track to have over 1,400 receiving yards for the season.
Against the Seahawks, Hopkins had 10 receptions with 103 yards and a touchdown. He has been one of the most reliable and accurate receivers in the game since his entrance into the league.
Murray has thrived since Hopkins was traded to the team, and he will certainly continue to rely on him for the foreseeable future.
1. The Seahawks can be beat easily
Looking back at past games, the Seahawks have had plenty of close games in which they could have easily lost, only to seemingly win by luck. They were not so lucky on Sunday night against the Cardinals.
As said earlier, this defense allowed the Cowboys to score 31 points, coming shy of a touchdown to tie the game and go into overtime (or even win with a 2-point conversion). If it were not for the Vikings to choke in the second half of the game, the Seahawks would have lost to a 1-3 team, but seemingly came out and won 27-26.
Against the New England Patriots, if it were not for a wrong play call by offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on the 1-yard line, Cam Newton and the Patriots would have come out as the winners.
We will see whether this is true in this two weeks, as the Seahawks will face another division rival, the San Francisco 49ers. The following week they will then face the Buffalo Bills.
