The Arizona Cardinals had a lot of heart but mistakes and injuries hurt in first half
Neither team looked particularly sharp in the first half. The Arizona Cardinals lost two players to injury, the Seattle Seahawks one.
The Seahawks brought Christmas with them early with penalties. Four of them gave the Cardinals a first down in the first half. The Cardinals had a few themselves.
The Cardinals lost left tackle D.J. Humphries to a knee injury and safety Tyvon Branch the same. How many more can this team take?
One guy who looked pretty good was quarterback Drew Stanton. He threw a 14-yard touchdown to tight end Jermaine Gresham. It was the second week in a row those two made a connection for a score.
That followed up Seattle’s initial touchdown pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to tight end Jimmy Graham. That was set up by a short field.
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The Cardinals did a very good job of containing Wilson in the first half. They sacked Wilson twice and came close a couple of other times.
The Seahawks took a 9-7 lead just four minutes into the second quarter. Kerwynn Williams fielded a punt at the Cardinals two-yard-line. The unadvised play, combined with a penalty, put the Cardinals on the one.
A play later Cardinals running back Adrian Peterson was stopped in the end zone for a Seahawks safety. The defense though came up big after the free kick.
The Cardinals held the Seahawks to a field goal on their final offensive drive of the first half. The Cardinals were left with one offensive drive.
The final Cardinals offensive drive started with a 20-yard pass from Stanton to Gresham. Then a 16-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald. However the drive ended with what appeared to be an Andre Ellington fumble but it was overturned.
After the Cardinals gave up the ball on downs, it only took the Seahawks one play to get into scoring range with a pass from Wilson to receiver Paul Richardson. Seahawks kicker Blair Walsh hit his second field goal of the night to give them a 15-7 advantage at halftime.
The Cardinals will get the ball to start the second half. Enjoy it, that’s a rarity these days.