Enemy Reaction 2022: Cardinals, 49ers, and Broncos!

The Seattle Seahawks embraced the grind and gutted out a 19-9 win over an Arizona Cardinals team that hadn’t lost a regular season road game since the 2020 season. This puts Seattle at .500 and given that only four NFC teams have winning records, I’d say there’s a good chance that the Seahawks are going to be playing meaningful football with playoff implications well into November.

Our game was pretty boring, such that I had no reactions worth publishing for the opening half. Things got a little more chaotic in the 2nd half and that will be the entirety of the Cardinals portion of Enemy Reaction. I deliberately held off until Tuesday in case the Denver Broncos lost (which they did), which means to spice things up we’re getting meltdowns from Denver fans and of course 49ers fans after San Francisco lost to Atlanta.

It’s a special Enemy Reaction tripleheader! Let’s go! We start with Revenge of the Birds, continue with Niners Nation, and end with Mile High Report.

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Cardinals go for it on 4th down, Kyler Murray overthrows AJ Green (9-3 SEA)

Coby Bryant forces Kyler Murray fumble, Tariq Woolen recovers (12-3 SEA)

Cardinals take advantage of poor Seahawks special teams, end up with fumble recovery touchdown (12-9 SEA)

Kenneth Walker III scores Seattle’s only touchdown (19-9 SEA)

Quinton Jefferson sacks Kyler Murray, forcing another turnover on downs (19-9 SEA)

Kyler Murray picked off by Tariq Woolen (19-9 SEA FINAL)

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Post-Game: The Arizona Cardinals need to seriously consider firing Kliff Kingsbury (Sion Fawkes, Raising Zona)

Yeah, I know, Kingsbury signed a contract extension and that. Hey, it doesn’t mean a coach can’t be fired as the Cardinals would still have to honor that contract regardless of who is standing on the sideline and calling a better game. Jason Garrett? Vance Joseph? Right now, I would take just about anyone besides Kingsbury.

Sure, he will get DeAndre Hopkins back next week and the offense should be much better. Then again, they should have been better today, and they couldn’t even find the end zone. Even if Hopkins saves the situation and the Cardinals start averaging 28-plus points per game, you still need to wonder whether Kingsbury should stay on the sidelines.

He has an outstanding tight end in Zach Ertz, and a great receiver in Marquise Brown. Yet his offense can’t find a way to the end zone? This is a combo of poor playcalling, bad clock management, and simply failing to learn from past mistakes.

While I don’t expect Kingsbury to go anywhere, Arizona Cardinals brass is once again responsible for making its fans suffer from the lack of productivity Kingsbury has failed to conjure offensively. Remember, this is a man who couldn’t win in college with Patrick Mahomes playing quarterback. Whatever made Steve Keim and Michael Bidwill think he’d win in the NFL is beyond me.

Post-Game Video: Ineptitude of epic proportions (Burns and Gambo, Arizona Sports)

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Bonus Enemy Reaction: Falcons 28, 49ers 14

Post-Game: What happened to Kyle Shanahan’s genius? (Dieter Kurtenbach, Chico Enterprise-Record)

As an offensive coordinator, Shanahan took Washington to the playoffs, made the Cleveland Browns respectable for a season, and turned the 2016 Falcons into an all-time great offense with Matt Ryan winning NFL MVP.

But in six years as the 49ers’ head coach and offensive play-caller, Shanahan has had only one top-10 scoring offense. It came in 2019, when the 49ers went to the Super Bowl, and then collapsed.

After Sunday’s embarrassing 28-14 loss to the Falcons, it’s tough to see this being a Top 10 scoring offense.

Shanahan has retained his reputation as an “offensive genius” despite offenses that sputter more than drive, Perhaps it’s because so many former Shanahan assistants have taken over other teams and authored big organizational turnarounds with his outside-zone offensive system.

But that only means Shanahan’s on-time advantage over the rest of the league is dwindling.

And right now, it’s impossible to ignore the peeling at the edges of that “genius” label.

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Bonus Enemy Reaction: Chargers 19, Broncos 16 (OT)

More melting down

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Post-Game Video: Even local Denver news is trolling the Broncos

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Enemy Preaction: Los Angeles Chargers

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I gotta admit, Mile High Report has overtaken Niners Nation for game thread meltdowns. We’re getting some Hall of Fame material and the season isn’t even halfway over.

Many thanks to the Chargers for doing the Seahawks a solid, but now the next part is Seattle beating them for the first time since 2010. That would put the Seahawks back above .500 and potentially in sole possession of first place in the wide open NFC West. Isn’t that we all envisioned prior to Week 1?

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!