Seahawks ride Jaxon Smith-Njigba for club-record 12th straight win
Published in Football
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Seattle Seahawks’ franchise-record 12th straight win Sunday featured each of the trademarks of the previous 11 victories in this streak.
Explosive offensive plays?
Yep, and beginning just two plays in when quarterback Drew Lock, indeed looking like the best backup in the NFL, hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for an 82-yard touchdown, the fifth-longest receiving TD play in franchise history, giving the Seahawks an early lead on Arizona in a game in which Seattle never trailed.
Dominating defense?
That, too, as the Seahawks held Arizona to just 150 yards and 3.2 yards per play, with the Cardinals gaining just 43 in the second half as they outscored the hosts 24-0 to turn the game into a rout.
A special-teams play to break the game open?
There was also one of those, even if somewhat fortuitously as backup linebacker Chazz Surratt outfought Arizona’s Jack Gibbens for a fumbled kickoff from teammate Rashid Shaheed and raced 35 yards to set up a touchdown that broke a 7-7 halftime lead and foreshadowed a second half of Seahawks dominance.
It all added up to a 31-7 win over Arizona at State Farm Stadium, the Seahawks’ 10th in a row against the Cardinals.
The Seahawks are 2-0 on the season, 16-2 on the road under coach Mike Macdonald and 25-5 in their last 30 games.
The franchise winning streak comes with an asterisk — it includes the three playoff games the Seahawks won last year en route to the Super Bowl. They have won 10 regular-season games in a row, tied for the second-longest streak in team history behind only an 11-game stretch by the 2005 team.
Consider that the Seahawks goal next Sunday when they travel to play a Washington team that may be without quarterback Jayden Daniels, who suffered an arm injury in the Commanders’ loss to Dallas.
The one sour note was the sight of first-round pick Jadarian Price heading to the locker room in the fourth quarter with what the team said was a chest injury. The running back was listed as questionable to return. Price walked back on the field and watched the rest of the game from the sideline.
Lock was almost flawless in making his first start since 2024 and first with the Seahawks since 2023 in place of an injured Geno Smith, completing 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns.
All three went to Smith-Njigba, who appeared to show that opponents have no better of an idea how to cover him this year than last season when he won AP Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Smith-Njigba finished with nine receptions for 155 yards.
They got their running game going in the second half and finished with 162 yards rushing on 40 attempts, 119 on 25 in the final two quarters.
The game was tied at 7 at halftime, the first 30 minutes defined by fourth-down successes and failures.
The Seahawks didn’t score on their last five possessions following the easy Lock to Smith-Njigba 82-yarder that began the game.
The Cardinals tied the game early in the second quarter when they drove from their own 39 to the Seattle 2, a key play being a defensive pass interference called against Seahawks safety Rodney Thomas II on a third-and-5.
Facing fourth-and-goal at the 2, Arizona went for it and got a favorable alignment with star tight end Trey McBride lined up wide in man coverage with Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe.
McBride ran a simple out route to get in front of Jobe and caught a pass from Jacoby Brissett in the corner of the end zone to tie the game.
The Seahawks had a golden chance to score and take the lead at the half when a Shaheed punt return and an Arizona penalty gave the Seahawks the ball at the Arizona 31 late in the second quarter.
The Seahawks drove to the 1 where they faced a fourth down.
They brought in a jumbo package featuring seven offensive linemen, including backup center Olu Oluwatimi lined up as a fullback ahead of running back Emanuel Wilson, who is the team’s primary short-yardage back.
The play backfired as Oluwatimi and the right side of the line got no push and Wilson was tackled for a 1-yard loss.
Still, that left Arizona with the ball at its own 2 and 1:12 left and Seattle time to get the ball back. Instead, Arizona got a first down to help run out the clock as the Seahawks were left with only 25 seconds left when it got the ball back at its own 25.
Lock was 9 of 14 for 163 yards and a TD in the first half but wasn’t helped much by a rushing attack that managed just 43 yards on 15 carries and included a lost Price.
The Cardinals had just 107 yards on 33 plays, just 3.2 per snap.
That foreshadowed a second half in which the Seahawks allowed the Cardinals just 20 yards on their first 12 plays of the second half as they blew the game open.
The second half began as optimistically as could be for the Seahawks.
Shaheed fumbled the kickoff at the 28.
But the Seahawks turned potential disaster into a big play as Surratt quickly reached down and snare the ball away from Gibbens and keep his feet and rumble 35 yards to the Arizona 37.
After an Arizona penalty, Price uncorked the longest gain of his NFL career, racing 25 yards to 7.
Facing a third-and-goal at the 7, the Seahawks turned to their steadiest offensive player — Smith-Njigba. Lined up across from cornerback Max Melton with Arizona bringing a five-man pressure, Smith-Njigba took one step and then cut inside to get open and catch a perfect pass from Lock for a TD to make it 14-7 with 12:27 to play in the third quarter.
On Arizona’s next series, Brissett overshot receiver Michael Wilson on a pass down the sideline. Safety Julian Love was able to race over and get his hands underneath and make a sliding interception at the Arizona 43 with 11:33 to play in the third quarter.
Lock hung in and took a hit on an Arizona blitz on third-and-7 to complete a pass to Smith-Njigba for nine yards that set up a 33-yard field goal by Jason Myers that put the Seahawks ahead 17-7.
Then came another defensive stop and Lock led a 10-play, 80-yard drive that he capped with another TD throw to Smith-Njigba, this one from 12 yards out on a third-and-six to make it 24-7 early in the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks tacked on one more score for fun, a 1-yard TD by tight end AJ Barner on a fourth-down with 1:11 remaining to make it 31-7.
____
©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.






Comments