The line score tells the whole story of how this one flipped. Arizona's only points came on a second-quarter touchdown that briefly tied things at 7, and from there Seattle's offense and defense both took over — 10 points in the third, 14 more in the fourth, with the Cardinals managing nothing on either side of the ball after halftime.
It also got uglier for Arizona off the field. Defensive tackle Brandon Pili left Seattle's side with a possible concussion, while on the other sideline Cardinals linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. battled through a thumb injury to return to the game — a small mid-game swing that mattered little once Seattle's second-half surge was underway.
The preview flagged Arizona's questionable interior line — both starting guards, Isaac Seumalo and Isaiah Adams, carried tags into Sunday — and a shutout second half suggests that unit didn't hold up when it mattered most. Trey McBride and the passing game that had rolled through Los Angeles a week earlier never got the offense untracked once Seattle's defense started teeing off.
For Seattle, this looked like exactly the kind of game Mike Macdonald needed with Sam Darnold out for roughly a month — a defense-first win that doesn't ask Lock to be a hero. Cooper Kupp being full-go at practice all week gave Lock a security blanket, and whatever the box score shows him doing, the fact that Seattle won by 24 with a backup at quarterback says the supporting cast did its job.