5 things we learned from Seahawks’ 22-16 win over Cardinals on Thursday night

This week’s Thursday Night Football was mostly a miserable affair, with the Seattle Seahawks grinding out a 22-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale. This game will be remembered for the injuries, most notably Richard Sherman suffering a potentially serious Achilles injury. The actual football was forgettable otherwise.

Seattle moves to 6-3 and solidifies its position in second place in the NFC West, while the Cardinals fall to 4-5 and third place.

The Seahawks got on the board first with Jimmy Graham’s 6-yard touchdown catch, but the Cardinals got into scoring position thanks to a glut of Seattle defensive penalties, tying it up on a Jermaine Gresham score. The Seahawks got a safety and two field goals to take a 15-7 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was an absolute nightmare with the injuries piling up and penalties grinding the pace to a halt. There was a brief moment of excitement early in the fourth quarter when Wilson pulled off one of his vintage miracle plays, setting up Graham’s second touchdown of the game.

After that, the result was mostly academic with Drew Stanton missing throws left and right as the Cardinals’ offense constantly stalled. They managed a garbage-time touchdown in the final seconds to make the final score look respectable, but the game was well in hand by then.

Just four days after committing 16 penalties in a home loss to Washington, the Seahawks had eight in the first half alone. Multiple defensive fouls happened on third downs, keeping the Cardinals’ drives alive and directly leading to their first touchdown. In total, Seattle had 12 penalties for 108 yards, and this has blown up into a real problem. Pete Carroll and his coaches have talked about cleaning up the penalties, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

Talk about a Pyrrhic victory. Seattle lost so many starters to injury in this game, which could have long-term ramifications for the rest of their season. The Seahawks were already without Earl Thomas, who’s still out with a pulled hamstring, but they lost another crucial Legion of Boom member Thursday.

Richard Sherman went down with an Achilles injury, indicating that he might have torn it, even though he stayed on the sideline. It’s a massive blow to the Seahawks, and quarterbacks better than Stanton will be sure to exploit his absence. They also lost Shaq Griffin, leaving them without both starting cornerbacks, while defensive tackle Jarran Reed picked up a hamstring knock. Late in the game, Kam Chancellor left as well.

On the offensive side, Duane Brown exited with an ankle injury, so the Seahawks got to enjoy their prized trade acquisition for about 1 ¹⁄₂ games. C.J. Prosise hurt his ankle once again, which is par for the course these days. Despite getting the win, the Seahawks’ depth is about to get a major test going forward.

Besides the awesome play above, Wilson was once again the only reliable piece on a scuffling offense. He finished with 238 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-32 passing, making the most of the talent deficiencies around him. Wilson is getting next-to-no help from the offensive line or running game — Thomas Rawls was invisible with 27 yards on 10 carries — but the Seahawks are 6-3 partly thanks to his heroic efforts. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be in the MVP conversation right now.

We knew the Cardinals would be in trouble without Carson Palmer, but Stanton just torpedoes the offense with his bad accuracy. He completed only 24 of 47 attempts for 273, with most of his intermediate and deep passes going badly off target. A lot of his yardage came on the final meaningless possession with an injury-depleted Seahawks defense just trying to hang on. With no reason to respect the pass game, the Seahawks stacked the box and bottled up Adrian Peterson for 29 yards on 21 carries.

Now down to 4-5, the Cardinals are still on the fringes of playoff contention, but with no functional passing game, it’s hard to see them hanging around for much longer. Palmer and David Johnson aren’t expected to be healthy until late December, and it might be too late to make a run by then.

This was something of a must-win game for the Seahawks after last week’s letdown against Washington. Despite the injuries, they took care of business and and can take back first place in the division if the 6-2 Los Angeles Rams fall on Sunday. At the moment, they hold the No. 5 seed in the NFC Wild Card race, with the Carolina Panthers (6-3) and Dallas Cowboys (5-3) right behind.

This game was ugly on nearly every level, but at least Seattle got the win and can now do some scoreboard-watching over the weekend.