Thursday Night Football Preview - Seattle at Arizona

Seattle Seahawks 

vs.

Arizona Cardinals 

Just a few weeks ago, I believed that the race in the NFC West would have already been down to two teams, the Rams and the Seahawks.

Last weekend, however, that seemed to change a bit. The Cardinals beat the 49ers on the road, returning back to 4-4. Yes, I know that the 49ers are not exactly the toughest team out there, but a win is a win, and that was a road win in a divisional contest, to boot. And it kept the Cardinals hopes alive, as a loss would have proved disastrous, I think.

Then, the Seahawks somehow lost to Washington in Seattle. I had predicted a solid Seattle win. Not necessarily a blowout, but a win, at least, to keep up with the Rams.

But Washington managed to pull off the road upset to keep their hopes alive, and frustrate the Seahawks. In fairness, Seattle had rallied to not only make a game of it, but take the lead late in the fourth quarter. But in the end, the "Legion of Boom" is not what it used to be, and they allowed Washington to get what proved to be the winning touchdown score right at the end to clinch the win, and Seattle dropped behind the surprising L.A. Rams in the NFC West race.

Those two results clearly raised the stakes for this game tonight. The Seahawks are behind against the Rams, but only by one game. However, they cannot afford to fall farther behind in the race at this point, and also, a loss to the Cardinals would get that team right back in the race, to boot.

Yes, that's right. Despite how poorly and inconsistently they have too frequently have played, Arizona actually has a chance to get right back into the tick of things with a win here tonight. For once, it would be a second straight divisional win. It would also give them a winning record to start the second half of the season, and obviously, they would have managed to essentially catch the Seahawks, which makes that race interesting, especially since the Rams, admittedly, are still an unproven team. It does not seem clear at all to me that the Rams would simply run away with this division, even if Seattle were to lose tonight.

So, what will happen? 

Well, here's the thing that troubles me about the possibility of the Cardinals jumping right back into relevance: I am not sure that they can do it. Seriously! They have a 4-4 record, but those four wins came against teams that have won a combined 5 games this season! That's right, Arizona has only beaten lowly teams thus far, having gotten past the Colts (the team that they beat which has the best record), the Bucs (who are surprisingly bad so far this season), and the 49ers (one of two winless teams thus far this season). In other words, the Cardinals have feasted on with against teams with a combined record of 5-21.

Against teams that are halfway decent, it's another story. They lost against Detroit, lost against Dallas, got blown out in Philadelphia, and were both blown out and shut out at the L.A. Rams. 

That does not exactly inspire confidence in this team.

The Seahawks have not been quite as impressive as they traditionally have been in recent seasons, although they have beaten some better opponents, including a very important road win against the division leading Rams. They have more valuable experience than does Arizona, and that is why I have to pick them to win tonight's game against the struggling Cardinals.

Yes, Arizona has a chance, but the Seahawks, I believe, will ultimately find a trademark scrappy way to win what could be an ugly, low-scoring affair here.

My pick: Seattle