Holding true to being one of the most surprising NFL teams this season, the Seattle Seahawks earned a divisional home win over the Arizona Cardinals to get back to .500 on the year. With rookie Kenneth Walker III earning his first career start, the offense was going to be under the microscope.

The Cardinals have been struggling so far this season, and Sunday was more of the same. Going up against one of the league’s worst defensive units was not enough to get them out of a funk, as they struggled to put up nine points in Seattle's 19-9 win.

Seattle was able to put up points in every quarter of their Week 6 win, helping slowly put the Cardinals away in a day that did not see a lot of sustained offensive success.

Week 6 Takeaways for the Seahawks

3. Geno Smith can be effective without TDs

After having been named the team’s starter for the season, Geno Smith has surprised pretty much everyone (except himself) with just how well he has played. While Sunday’s game did not see Smith throw or run for a touchdown for the second time this year, he was still able to help lead this team to victory.

Passing yardage outputs have not been super high for Smith so far this year, and Smith has thrown for less than 200 yards in half of Seattle’s games so far this season. Yet, he has been able to remain effective because he has limited the turnovers and played the role of game manager perfectly.

The Cardinals do not have a superb defense, but Smith was able to pick his spots and make throws when the team needed him to. As long as he continues to play within the realm of what this offense needs from him, Smith will be more than adequate in leading this team.

2. Genuine shot at winning the division – at least for now

There seems to be no team that has stood out so far through the first six weeks of the NFL season. Four teams with no real desire to pull away from the crowd have made this divisional race one of the tightest so far in the league.

The Rams are undergoing a severe championship hangover, and everyone besides Cooper Kupp looks to be following that subpar path so far. With Matthew Stafford struggling to be efficient, the ongoing situation involving Cam Akers putting the team in the tabloids, and the failed integration of Allen Robinson into the passing attack has reduced any sort of progress fro last year to just a memory.

The division-leading 49ers have been able to roll with the punches, even after losing Trey Lance to a season-ending injury. Jimmy Garoppolo has been an adequate QB so far this year, and he looks very comfortable at the head of the table for San Francisco. With Kyle Shanahan still needing to capitalize on certain offensive players (especially Deebo Samuel), this team has the potential to win the division but has had its fair share of struggles too.

The Cardinals have struggled to a two-win start across the first six games of this year’s slate, and Kyler Murray has failed to improve at all this year. If the Cardinals continue to struggle, then even the return of DeAndre Hopkins won’t be enough to stop their slide.

Seattle has nothing to lose – with Denver’s picks in tow that could turn into high selections in next year’s draft, this team can push all of their current chips to the middle of the table without sacrificing their future. And that’s exactly what they should do.

1. Kenneth Walker III is the real deal

Granted, the backfield situation has been quite murky in Seattle over the past few seasons, but when the Seahawks selected Walker in this past year’s draft, the writing was on the wall for their next lottery ticket at that position.

With Rashaad Penny’s unfortunate season-ending injury, it now falls on the shoulders of Walker to help lead this team on the ground. Sunday’s game was everyone’s first real chance to see what the Michigan State rookie looked like with the offense relying on him, and he definitely delivered.

Averaging a healthy 4.6 yards per carry, Walker turned 21 carries (23 total touches) into 97 rushing yards (110 total yards) and a score. He regularly looked confident in his running style, seeking contact and hitting the running lanes strong, but he also remained balanced and did not look like he was letting the moment get to him.

The Seahawks may have just found their starting RB of the future – in the present, however, Walker looks to be the right fit (even if a bit raw) to help this offense succeed.