Seahawks derail hottest team in NFC

I’m guessing the Cardinals feel the same way.

The Seattle Seahawks are already in the playoffs but it remains to be seen on what seed they will get. The Cardinals (13-3) have a first-round bye and will open the divisional round of the playoff at home in two more weeks. Tight end Luke Willson also missed the game with a concussion.

Most of the offense – though there wasn’t much of it – went through Larry Fitzgerald, who finished with 55 yards and his ninth touchdown of the season. None of them have been close and the Seahawks have scored more than 30 points in each. When his Cardinals were even worse a day later, the Arizona coach envisioned what might unfold Sunday.

Turns out it was in fact a meaningful game in Glendale, Ariz.

In a 36-6 route against the Arizona Cardinals, rookie returner/receiver Tyler Lockett didn’t need to prove his Pro Bowl selection for the Seattle Seahawks running on all cylinders, but his performance instilled new confidence for this injury-plagued playoff team.

The big difference, however, would be that with the fifth seed, Seattle would face the Washington Redskins in the Wild Card round, rather than the Green Bay Packers.

The matchup to keep an eye on will be Wilson and the Seahawks offense against the stingy Cardinals defense.

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after taunting the Cardinals sideline near the end of the third quarter.

Wilson has rushed for 540 yards from the pocket, and he has three runs for 20 yards or greater, while having helped the Seahawks attain 31 first downs. The Hawks’ running backs struggled against the Rams, managing 59 total rushing yards.

Tarvaris Jackson took over in the fourth Quarter.

Things were just as rosy on the other side of the ball, where the defense managed to allow the fewest points in the National Football League for the fourth consecutive season. Knowing the Cardinals’ chances were virtually nil to improve upon the No. 2 seed, coach Bruce Arians elected to sit starting quarterback Carson Palmer the entire second half, letting backup Drew Stanton play. “Lane returns to site of Super Bowl injuriesCan’t blame Jeremy Lane if he’d rather not have a playoff rematch inside University of Phoenix Stadium this month, which is a Seahawks-Cardinals possibility”.

Before that, Palmer surpassed Neil Lomax’s single-season team mark for yards passing. It was the first 100-yard game of Michael’s three-year career.

The only way the Seahawks and Cardinals meet again would be in the NFC championship game.

In addition, he broke Matt Hasselbeck’s franchise record for most passing yards in one season, per Danny O’Neil of 710 ESPN Seattle, and claimed the team’s passing-TDs record from Dave Krieg after throwing for three in Week 17.

The argument that makes the most sense is the last one – the Vikings should be better defensively with linebacker Anthony Barr and safeties Andrew Sendejo and Harrison Smith back at relatively full strength.