Thursday Night Football, NFC West rivals, Kristin Freakin’ Chenoweth.
Thursday’s matchup between the Cardinals and Seahawks had all the makings for a good one.
We came away with a injury-filled, penalty-filled, grind-em-out style game with Seattle winning 22-16. Here are five things we learned:
Injuries
Peter King spoke to Brad Cesmat about the concept of Thursday Night Football, and he said he wanted to see that aspect be phased out.
After this list of players who left with injuries in Thursday night’s game, it’s a compelling argument with both teams playing just four days taking the field:
CJ Promise – SEA
Richard Sherman – SEA
Ifeanyi Momah – AZ
Shaquille Griffin – SEA
Duane Brown – SEA
Tyvon Branch – AZ
Darren Reed – SEA
DJ Humphries – AZ
Now, it’s unfair to say these injuries wouldn’t have happened on a Sunday. This is a physical game, but it seemed like every 15 minutes, a player was being walked off the field, and recovery time has to play a factor.
Stanton In
It was clear that the Seahawks were going to make Drew Stanton beat them. They limited to Adrian Peterson to 29 yards on 21 carries with a long of nine yards. Stanton went from 24/47 for 273 yards and a touchdown. It’s a fine stat line, and could have been better if the receivers could limit their drops (there were more than a few). He couldn’t connect on the deep ball, but did a good job against a good defense.
Golden Graham
Jimmy Graham made six catches for 27 yards, but his value was shown with two catches inside the ten yard line for two touchdowns. He also got tangled up with Tyvon Branch on the first touchdown that led to Branch’s departure. In the past five games, Graham has six touchdowns.
What the hell did I just see?
The Cardinals had done a great job limiting the Seahawks offense, sacking Russell Wilson five times. Early in the fourth quarter, Wilson pulls off an incredible improvised play to connect with Doug Baldwin, who evades a tackle and takes the ball to the five-yard-line, which led to Jimmy Graham’s second touchdown. It was a momentum killer for the Cardinals.
On To The Next One
The Cardinals head to Houston to take on the Texans on November 19th, who have had their own injury issues with Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt. The Cardinals now sit at 4-5 and the Texans are 3-5 and play the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
