At 4-1 and atop the NFC West, the Seattle Seahawks are right where they want to be despite absorbing a substantial amount of bumps and bruises through the first six weeks of the NFL season.
Coming off of their Week 5 Bye, the Seahawks were working towards a refreshed and healthier roster, which has featured key starters dealing with early season injuries. So far, the likes of stars such as SS Chancellor, TE Graham, RB Rawls, and QB Russell Wilson.
In Sunday’s controversial 26-24 win over the visiting Atlanta Falcons, they kept mounting. DE Michael Bennett, TE Luke Willson, and backup LB Kevin Pierre-Louis all suffered from injuries which rendered them inactive for the rest of the game.
That contest which pitted division leading one-loss teams came down to last, disputed call. Trailing by 2-points on 4th down, Atlanta’s Matt Ryan let loose one last bomb to WR Julio Jones which fell harmlessly to the turf after tight coverage by CB Richard Sherman on the play.
However, Atlanta’s bench erupted in protest believing Sherman had interfered with Jones on the pass, a penalty which would have put the Falcons in position to kick a game winning field goal.
“If you watched every offensive snap of the line play in slow motion, it would look like a hold of some sort or a hands-to the face,” Sherman said when asked of his coverage of Jones and reviewable penalties. “It’s just football. If you replay everything, then it’s going to be on every play.”
The no-call resulted in a turnover on downs for Atlanta, and three kneels later Russell Wilson sent the Falcons flying home with their second loss of the season.
Despite the win, things don’t get any easier this week as the Hawks travel to Glendale, AZ for a matchup with their divisional foes– the 2nd place Cardinals.
Both teams feature top-10 running games and overall offenses lead by steely-eyed veteran quarterbacks that can still burn secondaries. While Atlanta was riding high until they came to Seattle last week, the Cardinals are looking for redemption against the visiting Seahawks after stumbling to a 3-3 start.
“We did not play well in September, surprising to me,” Arians said, “But we did play very well the last two weeks, and hopefully we can continue that.” While recent matchups between the divisional rivals have been a tit-for-tat display of two equally matched and rostered teams, Arizona has struggled to secure wins against the Seahawks in front of a home crowd. When asked if there was a common trait running though those losses, a grizzly and irritated Cardinals coach responded.
“Yeah,” Arians said. “They beat the [expletive] out of us.”
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