Josh Alper ,
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The Seahawks didn’t leave anything in doubt against the Cardinals on Sunday.
They led 35-0 with less than 23 minutes off the clock in Seattle and put things in cruise control from there. The 44-22 win moved them to 7-2 on the season and sets up a showdown for first place in the NFC West next Sunday.
Week 11 will find the Seahawks in Los Angeles for a meeting with the Rams, who also improved to 7-2 with a win on Sunday. The two teams will meet again in Seattle in Week 16, so next Sunday’s game will put someone in the driver’s seat at the top of the stretch run.
If the Seahawks open that game the way they opened up on Sunday, they’ll likely be the team at the top. Sam Darnold’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Jaxson Smith-Njigba opened the scoring just over four minutes into the game and the Seahawks doubled their lead on DeMarcus Lawrence’s 34-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Running back George Holani extended the lead before the end of the first quarter and Lawrence’s second fumble return touchdown officially flipped the switch from competitive game to laugher.
The final score looks more respectable because three Seahawks turnovers helped the visiting team save a little bit of face, but the result was never in doubt once the Seahawks had extended their lead to 35 points on a Zach Charbonnet touchdown run. Charbonnet finished with 14 carries for 83 yards, Kenneth Walker had 14 carries for 67 yards and Smith-Njigba ended the night with five catches for 93 yards.
Wide receiver Rashid Shaheed ran twice for 20 yards, caught one pass for three yards and returned kickoffs in his Seahawks debut. Darnold was 10-of-12 for 178 yards and did little more than hand the ball off once the Seahawks raced out to their huge lead.
Center Jalen Sundell left the game with a knee injury and his status will be something to watch as the Seahawks move toward their big date with the Rams.
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