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The Arizona Cardinals had a chance to secure a huge victory in Week 12 if they could beat the Seattle Seahawks. Arizona entered Week 12 with a one-game lead in the division with the chance to gain significant ground with a victory. Unfortunately, the Cardinals sputtered on offense and failed to score a touchdown against the Seahawks in a brutal 16-6 loss.
Most Cardinals fans would probably place blame on the offense, and for good reason. Arizona only managed 298 total yards on offense, which they only turned into two field goals.
The defense had to play well, and did their best effort to slow down the Seahawks. In fact, Seattle only gained 285 yards of offense themselves. However, their increased efficiency ended up being a huge factor in this game.
But where exactly did things go wrong? Is there one player or coach who is the most to blame?
Below we will explore the three Cardinals players who are most to blame for Week 12's embarrassing loss to the Seahawks.
Kyler Murray had subpar passing performance, never established himself as a runner
You always have to look at the quarterback first when an NFL offense is struggling.
Kyler Murray has had some excellent games throughout the 2024 season. He's shown enough coming off of injury that Murray truly is still the guy that Arizona drafted with the first overall pick several years ago. However, that player was absent on Sunday.
Murray went 24-of-37 for 285 passing yards and one interceptions against the Seahawks. He did a solid job of keeping the chains moving during stretches in the game, but he did not do a lot to attack Seattle's secondary. Case in point — Trey McBride led the Cardinals in receiving with 12 receptions for 133 yards. Nobody came close to his reception volume or yardage.
Simply put, there was far too much dinking and dunking going on for the Cardinals.
Murray was also a non-factor in the running game. He only had two carries for nine yards on the game, which is far too low for an athlete like Murray.
When the quarterback struggles, the rest of the team tends to suffer. That appears to be the case for the next two players.
James Conner was completely shut down in the running game
The performance of James Conner can be a good indication of how well the Cardinals played in any given game. This is especially true this season.
On Sunday, Conner had one of his worst rushing performances in a long time. He only managed seven carries for eight yards on Sunday, averaging just barely over one yard per carry. We can't place the blame squarely on Conner though, as the Cardinals as a team were held to 14 attempts for 49 yards.
Seattle utterly shut down Arizona's attempts to run the football, and this had a huge impact on the game. It made things more difficult for Kyler Murray and made playcalling quite easy for Seattle.
Conner's box score was saved by the fact that he hauled in five receptions for 41 receiving yards. Otherwise, it was a very rough day for James Conner.
Marvin Harrison Jr. has not been as good as the Cardinals hoped he'd be in 2024
If you had to choose one Cardinals player who has not necessarily played up to expectations in 2024, the pick has to be Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Cardinals expected big things out of Harrison Jr. after spending the fourth overall pick on him in the 2024 NFL Draft. This is partially due to his lineage as the son of Marvin Harrison. The other reason is because Harrison Jr. was a dominant receiver at Ohio State.
As a result, expectations were sky high for Harrison Jr.'s rookie season. In retrospect, there was a very high likelihood that he would not match the generational expectations placed upon him.
Harrison Jr. has hauled in 36 receptions for 546 yards and six touchdowns so far this season. He has had his moments, including a coming out party against the Rams where he had over 125 yards and two touchdowns. However, Harrison Jr. has no-showed in a few games and also suffered with some injuries along the way.
He did not have one of his better performances on Sunday. Harrison Jr. only managed three receptions for 47 yards against the Seahawks and was not a significant factor in the game.
However, there are two things that should be noted.
First, Harrison Jr. is still adjusting to the NFL game and will likely only get better with time.
Second, the Seahawks have a great secondary with talented cornerbacks who possess excellent size. That is a difficult matchup for any NFL wide receiver.
That doesn't let him off the hook, but it is important context.
