Seahawks Halftime Observations: Ken Walker III, Run Game Fuel 13-6 Lead Over Cardinals
Leaning on their rushing attack and playing bend but don't break defense, the Seattle Seahawks took a slim 13-6 lead over the Arizona Cardinals into halftime in their season finale in Glendale.
Here are three quick observations from the first half at State Farm Stadium:
1. Darting sideline-to-sideline, Ken Walker III has plenty of bounce in his step against a porous run defense.
In a battle between two of the two worst run defenses in the NFL, the Seahawks smartly came out prioritizing the ground game feeding Walker early and often. Much to the frustration of Cardinals defenders, he picked up most of his yardage cutting back against the grain, turning short gains into long runs maximizing on his burst to evade tacklers horizontally. Setting up their first points of the afternoon midway through the first quarter on a Jason Myers field goal, the second-year back looked to be stuffed on an off-tackle run to the right, only to bounce back to his left and out-run a host of pursuing defenders to the other sideline for a scintillating 16-yard gain.
Regularly making something out of nothing, Walker produced at least three runs of 11 or more yards, including wiggling his way through the teeth of the defense on an 11-yard run before Smith's touchdown pass to Dissly. For the half, he rushed 10 times for 55 yards, while rookie Zach Charbonnet added 32 yards on five carries and Smith's 21-yard scramble late in the half set up a second Myers field goal to push the lead back to seven points.
2. When given time to throw, Geno Smith has been efficient with downfield passing game.
Statistically, Smith has completed less than 50 percent of his passes, but that has been more about Arizona's execution bringing extra pressure and questionable protection calls than the quarterback struggling. With nothing to lose, the Cardinals have sent the house numerous times and found success turning up the heat on the veteran quarterback, including forcing him to uncork a couple throws out of bounds on the final drive of the half. But when extra pressure hasn't worked and pass protection has held up, he has been far better than his overall numbers suggest.
Turning his eight completions into 111 passing yards, Smith completed three explosive throws in the half, starting with a 21-yard hook up off his back foot to tight end Will Dissly to move Seattle into scoring position before Myers' first field goal. Two series later, after Arizona had tied the game at three apiece, he took advantage of rare time in the pocket to hit Tyler Lockett in stride over the middle for a 37-yard touchdown and connected with Dissly two plays later for a 19-yard score to reclaim the lead. Tacking on a marvelous scramble evading pressure for a 21-yard gain on the final drive, his theatrics led to another field goal to extend the lead.
3. Explosives undermined an otherwise solid defensive effort against Kyler Murray and James Conner.
In another example of how stats can be deceiving, the Seahawks allowed the Cardinals to run for 86 yards and north of six yards per carry in the first half, which indicates the defense has struggled to defend the run once again. However, those numbers have been inflated by two busted plays in the second quarter that turned into 20-plus yard explosives, as Murray darted out of the pocket and sprinted upfield for a 33-yard run and Conner followed up on the next snap breaking multiple tackles to get outside for a 20-yard gain. But those two runs led to a field goal instead of a touchdown as Seattle's defense held firm at the goal line, including a three-yard tackle for loss on Murray by safety Quandre Diggs.
As has been the case too many times this year, Seattle also was hurt by explosives in the passing game, including a pair of screens to Conner and tight end Trey McBride that went for 20 and 25 yards respectively. Adding in a flea flicker from Murray to receiver Michael Wilson that went for 28 yards, Arizona hasn't had any issues generating chunk plays. But to the credit of the visiting defense, allowing six explosive plays total has only resulted in a pair of field goals to this stage.
