🏈 2020 NFL Season Week 11 Thursday Night Football Preview: Arizona at Seattle 🏈

  

  

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Well, now, here is a very interesting game here. Two of the better teams in the NFC, both in the same division, and tied (along with the Rams) for first in the NFC West.  

The Seahawks started this season off very fast, racing off to an impressive 5-0 start. But the Cardinals handed them their first loss (just barely), and the Seahawks have since dropped three out of four games. They have now lost two key divisional games at Arizona and, last week, at Los Angeles, so they are more compromised than it likely would have seemed possible just weeks ago, when they were still 5-0 and well ahead of everyone else in the division.  

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have been a streaky, inconsistent team. They looked great at times, and rather lame at other times. They stunned the 49ers in the season opener (remember, San Francisco was relatively healthy, and the defending NFC champions at the time), and beat the Seahawks and the Bills, but they also lost to the Lions and Panthers. So, they are kind of a difficult team to figure.  

Arizona is a greatly improved team, however, and that makes them dangerous. I do not know if they are quite ready yet to join the ranks of the elites, but they are solid on both offense and defense. They have scored at least 30 points in each of their last five games, and have held opponents to 15 points of fewer three times. So they are tough on both sides of the ball, and they seem to be a team on the rise.  

Seattle, however, seems to be lopsidedly good on offense, with their defense being more or less a liability. They scored 30 points or more in seven of their first eight games, before the Rams held them to just 16 last weekend. On defense, however, they failed to hold even one opponent to less than 23 points. So if their offense is contained by a solid defense, like it was last week, they can be quite vulnerable.  

So, I expect a high-scoring game. The Seahawks should benefit by this one being in Seattle, where they remain unbeaten so far this year, and they also have the revenge factor on their side. The Cardinals have actually been quite good on the road, but their defense has looked a little leaky in recent weeks. With such explosive offenses, this one should be a shootout, and I like the Seahawks winning it in the second half, possibly late in the fourth quarter.  

My pick: Seattle