Tight end AJ Barner ran for one touchdown and caught another, backup Drew Lock played through an oblique injury, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-3 on Sunday, November 8, at Lumen Field without starting quarterback Sam Darnold.
Seattle improves to 5-4 after a 34-17 Monday night loss at home to Chicago. Arizona falls to 3-6 and has now lost 11 straight games to the Seahawks. The Cardinals did not score after their opening drive.
Barner’s breakout
Gardner Minshew, in his first start since replacing Jacoby Brissett, who was then traded to Baltimore, led Arizona deep into Seattle territory on the first series with help from an unnecessary roughness penalty, and Chad Ryland kicked a 28-yard field goal. That was the Cardinals’ only points.
Barner dove in from the 1 early in the second quarter for his third career rushing touchdown. On Seattle’s final drive of the half, a pass interference penalty and an 18-yard catch by Jaxon Smith-Njigba moved the ball inside the 10, and Lock found Barner for a 7-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left. The catch was upheld on replay. “They called it a catch on the field. They reviewed them. They called it a catch. So it’ll live on as a catch forever,” Barner said. They were his first two touchdowns of the season.
Lock gutted it out
Jason Myers kicked a 45-yard field goal in the third quarter for a 17-3 lead. On that drive Lock grabbed his side after a throw and moved gingerly, visiting the sideline medical tent, but he never left the game, with Jalen Milroe ready behind him. Lock, who had also been limited in practice this week with elbow tendinitis, called the oblique injury “not too bad.” Seattle’s defense delivered the key stop in the fourth quarter, breaking up Minshew’s fourth-and-goal pass to Trey McBride from the 2.
The numbers
- Drew Lock: 19 of 28 for 175 yards and a touchdown, no interceptions and no sacks.
- AJ Barner: three carries for 3 yards and a touchdown, two catches for 7 yards and a touchdown.
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba: seven catches for 51 yards. He has 1,036 yards this season, the first receiver in the league to reach 1,000 this year, and joins Steve Largent and Tyler Lockett as the only Seahawks with three straight 1,000-yard seasons.
- Zach Charbonnet: 16 carries for 77 yards. Rookie Jadarian Price added four catches for 54 yards.
- Gardner Minshew II: 21 of 30 for 166 yards, sacked three times. McBride had seven catches for 54 yards and Michael Wilson six for 60.
- Team totals: Seattle 295 yards to 198. Arizona went 0 for 2 in the red zone, ran for 50 yards and was penalized nine times for 97 yards.
What it means
Darnold, who led Seattle to the Super Bowl title last season without missing a game, was ruled out with a quad injury from the Chicago loss, and coach Mike Macdonald said he also cracked a rib in that game. With Lock now banged up as well, Seattle’s quarterback situation for Week 10 is uncertain; see our Week 9 injury roundup for the latest. “I just want us to go let it loose and go be us and feel like us,” Macdonald said. “That’s a positive step for us.” Minshew said the Cardinals were “a little bit off one way or another on a lot of our plays.”
Seattle was also without defensive tackle Leonard Williams (stinger), receiver Rashid Shaheed (knee) and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (ankle). Arizona defensive lineman Roy Lopez hurt a toe early in the second quarter and did not return.
What comes next
Seattle visits the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, November 15. Arizona hosts the Los Angeles Rams the same day.
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