Instant Reaction: Seahawks hold on to beat Cardinals

Seattle Sports voices share their instant reaction on the Seattle Seahawks' 23-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

Sep 25, 2025, 9:20 PM Updated: 11:06 pm

Watch: INSTANT REACTION: Seahawks vs. Cardinals Week 4 | 1 min

The Seattle Seahawks avoided disaster and cleared an early hurdle in their schedule Thursday night.

Seattle Seahawks win: Observations | Recap | Box score

Playing in a short week on the road against a division rival, the Seahawks let a 14-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter but won 23-20 on a last-second, 52-yard field goal from Jason Myers against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Seattle improved to 3-1 on the season and evened its record to 1-1 against division foes. It also extended its winning streak over the Cardinals to eight games. Arizona, which has now last both of its NFC West games, dropped to 2-2.

Check out the instant reactions to the game from the voices of Seattle Sports in this post, which includes Seahawks Radio Network analyst Dave Wyman’s thoughts in the video at the top.

Mike Salk – Brock and Salk (6-10 a.m. weekdays)

I’m starting to really like this Seahawks team. They aren’t perfect, and they showed some of those flaws in Arizona. But Thursday night games tend to be sloppy and it’s up to the players to will their way to victory, and that is exactly what they did. They were the better team, the better offense and the better defense. And while they shot themselves in the foot a few times (Kenneth Walker III’s taunting, Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s hold, and Riq Woolen’s general existence come to mind), they found a way to be better in the biggest moments.

I like that they are tough. They are physical. They have old-school elements. They generate real pressure largely without having to blitz. But for a team with those qualities, they also are explosive. We’ll see what that ultimately looks like as they make their way through this season. But at the moment, they are more fun to watch than any of their recent predecessors. And they are starting to build some confidence in themselves, which could pay real dividends down the stretch.

Brock Huard – Brock and Salk

A game really that Seattle dominated. For 3 1/2 quarters, they were the better team. Everything showed that. The explosives showed it, the yards showed it, the third-down conversions showed it.

But credit to Marvin Harrison Jr., who’s been really abysmal for the Cardinals, to step up and rise up and beat Witherspoon multiple times. Credit to attacking Woolen in some one-on-one situations to beat fourth-down blitzes and third-down blitzes and make things interesting.

But ultimately, I don’t know how you watch this game and not start thinking of Sam Darnold, of what he was for the majority of the Minnesota season a year ago. He was phenomenal. He was an MVP candidate for the Vikings for 15 weeks last year.

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And through four weeks of this season, he’s one of the five, ten best quarterbacks – certainly 10 best. The numbers will show you he’s one of the five best quarterbacks in the game. He’s not making mistakes. He’s throwing the ball incredibly accurately. He’s getting the ball out of his hands. He’s creating a sense of belief in everyone around him.

Sam leading that game-winning drive when it mattered, that’s what quarterback is all about in the league. And 3-1 for these guys is pretty darn good.

"Sam leading that game-winning drive when it mattered, that's what QB is all about in the NFL."@BrockHuard shares his instant reaction to the Seahawks 23-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals. pic.twitter.com/uOFifDHEvl

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) September 26, 2025

Mike Lefko – Wyman and Bob (2-7 p.m. weekdays)

Well…it was a win.

A rough fourth quarter undid what should have been a very impressive and suffocating performance by the defense. Little mistakes, like a holding penalty to undo a TD, a missed field goal and a fumble after an interception came back to almost haunt the Seahawks.

The Cardinals couldn’t do anything offensively for most of the night as the interior of the Seahawks defensive line continued to show why they have been one of the best groups in the league this season, but it almost felt like a collective relaxing and rare let down from that group after the Seahawks took a 20-6 lead in the fourth.

On the offensive side, it is incredibly encouraging to see the versatility in the passing game for the Seahawks on display. The Cardinals bracketed Jaxon Smith-Njigba all night and removed him as a receiving option, yet the play calling from Kubiak and poise from Darnold helped pivot into a balanced, collective effort. We’re starting to see the emergence of the tight ends in the offense and flashes of why Elijah Arroyo drew such acclaim in the draft. It is exciting to think about what’s possible through the air with this full arsenal of weapons.

It was also great to see Darnold lead two drives down the field in the fourth, including the big third-down throw to Smith-Njigba on the drive that preceded their game-winning field goal march. At some point in his Seahawks career, they will need him to do that again, and it felt like that erased a lot of pre-conceived doubts that may have hung over the start of his career here.

The run game is very much a work in progress. It feels like they are still trying to find their identity when it comes to utilizing both running backs and when they want to try and run out of the shotgun. That needs to be smoothed out and could become problematic down the road in situations like tonight where the Seahawks needed to put together a long drive to salt away the game after the Cardinals cut it to a one-possession game.

Ultimately, it’s a division win on a short week, and that’s all that matters.

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