Seahawks avoid disaster in desert with late win over Arizona
Published 10:30 am Friday, September 26, 2025
There’s the three straight wins.
There’s their record, now 3-1.
There’s a defense that has dominated much of this early NFL season — except for malfunctioning late Thursday night in the desert.
Yet it’s two other traits are emerging with these Seahawks that suggest this September surge may last:
Sam Darnold’s constant poise.
And this Seahawks team’s togetherness.
“It’s more than the record. That’s the biggest thing that I see in this team,” 11th-year, Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Williams said after his latest standout game against the run and pass rushing.
“There’s talent on every team. There’s first-rounders, All-Pros, Pro Bowlers that you are going to see on every team. The teams that make it far, the teams that do well, when they are going through hard times, close games like this, the connected teams are the ones that pull through.”
Darnold’s steadiness led Seattle throughout a game they dominated into a two-score lead before letting the Arizona Cardinals back in it late Thursday. Then the quarterback’s ice-cold show onto Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s back shoulder for 22 yards with 18 seconds remaining set up Jason Myers’ 52-yard field goal as time expired.
That’s how these tightly bonded Seahawks won for the third consecutive time, and a team-record eighth consecutive time on the road, 23-20 at stunned State Farm Stadium.
As Myers set up for his final kick minutes after he’d missed one from 53 yards, coach Mike Macdonald on the sideline turned away from the field. He faced 90 degrees to his left, to the giant video board, to watch Myers’ kick.
When it went through, Macdonald simply raised his right arm and fist to the stadium roof.
And that’s how Macdonald’s RoadHawks won away from Seattle yet again
“I’m proud of our team, of how hard we’re playing and how we’re sticking together,” the second-year head coach said, over bass booming from the locker room in the next room.
“The positivity. The fight. Just a really great win. A short week. We’re on the road…
“We didn’t play our best game. We had opportunities to put the game away in the second half. …
“We figured out a way to win the game. After week one (a 17-13 home loss to San Francisco in which they lost the lead late), we felt like we had an opportunity to win that game, and we didn’t figure it out.
“So we feel like our team is growing.”
Darnold continued his efficient start to his Seahawks career with another efficient game. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown. His best throws came with the game on the line, two aggressive shots deep down the field he completed along each sideline to Smith-Njigba (four catches on five targets, 79 yards) that took guts and well as skill.
“Sam’s playing out of mind right now,” Macdonald said.
Kenneth Walker ran 19 times for 81 yards. Fellow running back Zach Charbonnet scored a touchdown because left tackle Charles Cross carried him across the goal line. And the Seahawks (3-1) extended Macdonald’s road record to 9-1 to begin his Seahawks coaching tenure.
“To me, a great start to the season. The record is great,” Williams said.
“But also, for me, what stands out the most is the connection, the type of mindset, the play style we have as a team. That stands out to me more than the record right now.
“So to me, the foundation is right. The growth of the team and the direction we’re heading is right and the record is obviously great to have.
“But, to me, that’s the big picture.”
Seahawks love new kickoff rules
The Seahawks made out hugely with the NFL’s new kickoff rules. Again.
The Cardinals, inert against Seattle’s defense all night, inexplicably tied the game at 20 with two Kyler Murray touchdown passes in the final 6 minutes. The reaction on the Seahawks sideline as Arizona prepared to kickoff in a suddenly tied game with 28 seconds left?
“It was, ‘All right. Here we go,’” Darnold said.
“Treat it like practice. … All I can do is be me.”
Macdonald said: “I’ve been on teams where it’s, like, the sky is falling” when games go wrong.
Not this one.
“We just knew we were going to score,” Charbonnet said.
Smith-Njigba said: “I had no doubt we were going to go down there and score, honestly.”
Then the Seahawks got a massive break via the NFL’s new kickoff rule. It was decisive in a Seattle win for the second time in three games.
Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland has one job in that situation: Kick the ball between the Seahawks 20-yard line and the goal line. That mandates a return. To do anything else would give Seattle an advantageous drive start closer to midfield, per the new rules.
Ryland kicked the ball well short of the 20-yard line.
By rule, that meant the Seahawks got the ball at the 40-yard line, with no time elapsing. A huge advantage, with no time elapsing.
Asked about the new kickoff rule one month into this season, Macdonald said, “I love it right now.”
The no-nonsense coach smiled.
Darnold laughed at the same question.
“Yeah, it was good starting field position,” the QB said. “So that was nice.”
One Darnold completion, the back-shoulder throw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, put the Seahawks in field-goal range for Myers with 18 seconds left.
Darnold talked about how comfortable Smith-Ngjiba, in his third NFL season, is in those late, tense situations. The wide receiver talked about how cool, how perfect, his eighth-year veteran QB was with the crowd roaring in the final seconds of a tie game.
“Sam made a perfect throw, honestly,” Smith-Njigba said. “Back-shoulder throw. The corner was on top of me, so he just placed it perfectly. It was an easy grab.”
That gave Myers his redemptive chance. He had missed from 53 yards earlier in the final quarter. This time, he boomed a 52-yarder through the uprights.
Seahawks muck up the game
The Seahawks out-gained Arizona 384 to 253, and controlled most it.
Yet they made a mess of this.
Coby Bryant fumbled away an interception. Julian Love dropped another interception deep in Arizona’s end. Walker threw a football at a Cardinal for an unsportsmanlike penalty that ruined a Seattle drive to points.
Yet Macdonald’s stingy defense made Kyler Murray and the Cardinals inert. Until late.
Myers’ missed field goal from 53 yards wide right with 3:15 left would have given Seattle a two-score lead.
The Cardinals got the ball back near midfield down only 20-13. They converted a fourth-down pass versus a blitz, to move into Seattle territory. New starting linebacker Drake Thomas, replacing Tyrice Knight, got the Seahawks’ sixth sack of Murray to make it third and 9 from the Seattle 45 with 2 minutes to go.
An inside screen pass to Greg Dortch gained 15 yards, to the Seattle 30. With a minute left, Murray threw to the 7-yard line to Marvin Harrison Jr., over cornerback Devon Witherspoon down the sideline.
On second and goal, Murray threw in the open, left flat to Emari Demercado. The running back beat Witherspoon to the goal line at the sideline. The extra point tied the game at 20 with 28 seconds left.
Walker ran well early. Charbonnet returned from one game out injured and scored on a 1-yard run on third down in the second quarter. Cross basically fireman-threw the running back across the goal line after the Cardinals had stood Charbonnet up.
Macdonald told Cross after the game it was his favorite play of this season.
That TD gave the Seahawks a two-score lead, 14-3, that the defense didn’t give up until 5:50 left in the game. That was after Seattle cornerback Riq Woolen had his third penalty of the game, second for pass interference, to send Arizona to Murray’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Jr.
Suddenly, a game the Seahawks dominated and should have been leading by three scores beginning in the second quarter was 20-13.
Yet thanks to Myers’ redemptive kick as time expired, Seattle is now 11-1-1 in regular-season games at State Farm Stadium since 2013.
Sloppy Seahawks
The Seahawks gained 209 of this game’s first 303 yards. The total yards by the fourth quarter were Seattle 315, Arizona 138.
Seattle intercepted Murray twice. The Seahawks marched into Cardinals territory on six of their first eight offensive possessions.
Yet they malfunctioned multiple times in the red zone, failing to extend their lead beyond two scores.
The most egregious, avoidable failure to score a touchdown came in the second quarter. Ernest Jones intercepted Murray and returned the ball to midfield. Darnold completed a 19-yard pass over the middle to Jake Bobo. Then Walker, following a run, threw the ball at a Cardinals defender. The resulting unsportsmanlike penalty of 15 yards ruined the drive.
A failed screen pass to Charbonnet lost 4 yards. And the Seahawks punted instead of scoring a touchdown. It remained only a 7-3 lead for Seattle.
Devon Witherspoon returns, impacts
Witherspoon returned from missing two games with a bruised medial collateral ligament in his knee. Love, Seattle’s Pro Bowl safety, was back after missing last weekend with a hamstring injury.
Witherspoon missed a couple tackles early. But he and Macdonald partnered with Josh Jobe for a key call and play late in the third quarter.
Arizona’s offense was marching for one of the only times of the night, threatening to cut a 17-3 Seahawks lead to 17-10. On first down from the Seattle 32-yard line, Macdonald called for a rare double-cornerback blitz. Witherspoon from the left edge and Jobe from the right trapped Murray almost as soon as he got the shotgun snap.
Jobe’s 7-yard sack plus a 0-yard sack by linebacker Ernest Jones on the next play ruined Arizona’s momentum and drive. The Cardinals settled for a 57-yard field goal. Seattle stayed in control, leading 17-6.
Witherspoon had tight coverage on Harrison’s touchdown with 5:50 left. Harrison made a brilliant, leaping catch for the score that made the end of this game far closer than the rest of it.
Tougher go for O-line
The Seahawks entered the night having allowed only three sacks of Darnold in three games. They were among the league leaders in protecting their quarterback.
So much for that.
The Cardinals swarmed Darnold with outside, edge rushes. They sacked him three times in the game’s first 35 minutes. Two of those sacks came on one drive, to begin the second half. Darnold lost a fumble on the first of those second-half sacks, when Arizona’s Josh Sweat forced the ball out from behind.
Seahawks tight end Eric Saubert, in to block, alertly jumped on that fumble to save Seattle from a turnover deep in its own end that would have put the Cardinals back in the game. It was 14-3 Seattle at the time. DeMarcus Lawrence injured
Veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence left the game in the first quarter with a thigh injury. He got that while chasing Murray off the edge on a third-down scramble.
After that, Mike Morris played on the defensive line far more than he had in the first three games. After the win, Macdonald said he had no update on Lawrence’s status. “No,” the coach said, “just wasn’t able to finish the game.” Lawrence and the Seahawks have 10 days until they play again, at home against Tampa Bay Oct. 5.
