Enemy Reaction 2023: Arizona Cardinals (with bonus 49ers and Rams meltdowns!)

I pretty much knew that between the game itself and the lack of comments (less than 300) on Revenge of the Birds that this would be a pretty tame Enemy Reaction. Facing small-market teams with zero hope of contending end up being the hardest Enemy Reactions to conjure up. What usually doesn’t happen is when our own game thread almost feels more like the losing side than the team that actually lost. I suppose it’s not totally unwarranted given the turnovers and the continued red zone struggles, but there was plenty of cool stuff that happened! Am I fever-dreaming this 4-2 start? Have we not seen this team have similarly bumpy starts but winning records many times under Pete Carroll?

Anyway, here’s Enemy Reaction for the Seattle Seahawks’ 20-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals. To liven things up, you get bonus reactions from the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers fans after their teams took devastating losses.

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s first NFL touchdown (7-0 SEA)

DeeJay Dallas fumbles punt, Arizona recovers and gets a field goal (7-3 SEA)

After Devon Witherspoon interception is negated, Josh Dobbs scores on 25-yard touchdown run (10-7 AZ)

Jake Bobo keeps his toe-toes inbounds for a touchdown (14-10 SEA)

Geno Smith throws a terrible interception in the red zone to Garrett Williams (17-10 SEA)

Geno Smith fumbles in his own territory (17-10 SEA)

Laces out, next time! (17-10 SEA)

Cardinals run one of the worst fake punts ever, pretty much sealing a Seahawks win (17-10 SEA, 20-10 SEA Final)

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Post-Game: 2nd half woes continue (Jess Root, Cards Wire)

The Arizona Cardinals have been an awful second-half team so far this season, both offensively and defensively. That didn’t really change on Sunday in their 20-10 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 7, although there was some improvement.

In Seattle, instead of being awful on offense and defense, it was just on offense.

The defense did well enough, allowing only two second-half field goals.

The problem was that, going into halftime with a four-point deficit, those were the only points scored by either team in the second half.

For the second straight week, the Cardinals went scoreless in the second half.

Arizona has been outscored 104-30 in the second half of games this season, a munis-74 point differential.

Post-Game: This offense has lost all functionality (Dave Burns, Arizona Sports)

That game had all the vibes of one of those late December games, where the season is almost over and you’re just playing out the schedule waiting for the season to end. And we’re not even to Halloween yet.

The offense has lost all semblance of functionality. One touchdown drive in which the offense gained 80 yards. Every other drive combined for 169 yards. Three forced turnovers that generated three total points. It made for a virtually unwatchable brand of football. Whether the cause is the overexposure of Dobbs or the lack of James Conner, at this point all eyes have turned towards Kyler Murray. Not so much as a savior but as a curiosity.

I’m anxious to start getting the answers about Murray, his future, and their decision. Yes, that’s what this season was always about before it even started. But we’re here now. He’s practicing. Games like today only make me want to see him back even more so we can start getting the answers that will truly dictate the future of this franchise.

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Bonus Enemy Reaction: Los Angeles Rams

Bonus Enemy Reaction: San Francisco 49ers

Enemy Preaction: Cleveland Browns

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Hopefully a look at our more heated rivals got the juices flowing.

It’s throwback week for the Seahawks and unfortunately it feels like the offense has been in 1990s form a little too much over the past couple of games. I think these problems are correctible and they need to be corrected for Seattle to be a contender. This is not some foreign territory for the Seahawks under Pete Carroll.

The Cleveland Browns offense is a bit of a mystery given how poorly Deshaun Watson has played, and now PJ Walker has mustered up two game-winning drives in his brief time in Cleveland. With no Jerome Ford and no Nick Chubb, Cleveland will have Kareem Hunt as their main back. Oh yeah, and I hear that Myles Garrett fella is pretty good on defense. A win over them is a good win, full stop.

Programming note: There’s a chance that, should the Seahawks win against the Browns, I will not be doing Enemy Reaction that week. It’s all dependent on how I recover from some dental surgery, and the Seahawks’ performance may or may not have an impact the healing process. This is the benefit of working from home, though!

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!