Seahawks 23, Cardinals 20. There’s a kind of almost heartbreaking chaos to a football team that can’t get out of its own way. We saw it on Thursday night when the Cardinals’ Coby Bryant picked off an errant Kyler Murray pass, a moment of pure defensive triumph, only to immediately collide with a teammate, Tyrice Knight, fumbling the ball right back to Arizona. One second, hope; the next, a grim, self-inflicted wound. The Cardinals’ offense was largely inert, a fact that was not lost on head coach Jonathan Gannon. As Coach summed it up “We just haven’t put it together but those are just words,” Gannon said. “It’s my job to put it together.”

The Cards’ O was largely inert, a fact that was not lost on Gannon. “I’m proud of the resiliency of the group,” Gannon said, “but everybody has to be better. Team needs to get better at playing football.” They’re a direct reference to a game where Murray’s night felt like a long, winding road to nowhere,

Cards managing only 253 total yds to Seattle’s 384, a jarring disparity that showed up on the scoreboard and in the way the game felt. With 6 sacks allowed, the O-line seemed to fold in on itself with Murray’s personal line of 2 TDs, 2 INTs, and just 200 passing yds on a 65.9% completion rate. It’s a line that screams struggle, along with a personal record that now includes his 8th straight loss against the Seahawks.

The irony is, for a moment, post-Simi’s exit, the Cardinals finally looked like the team they’re supposed to be. They had to. With the Hawks up 20-6 and only minutes left, something clicked. Suddenly, Marvin Harrison Jr. was making a magnificent, acrobatic TD grab over Seattle’s top corner, Devon Witherspoon, a play that instantly erased the memory of his earlier, brutal drop that had led to an INT.

Afterward, Murray, with a tone of utter conviction, insisted he had the “utmost confidence in Marv.” He’s seen Harrison Jr. make catches like that “a hundred times.” Yet, on this night, with the game hanging in the balance, it was one of the 2 INTs that would ultimately sink the ship.

Flashes of brilliance, followed by the same old collapse

Harrison came alive when it mattered most, showing a glimpse of the connection with Murray that the team so desperately needs. When asked about it, Gannon was unwavering: “Thought Marv’s response was fantastic. Made big time plays in the second half. I’m not worried about Marv at all,” via reporter Donnie Druin. The momentum was palpable. Emari Demercado’s TD pass to tie the game.

But then, as always seems to happen, the gears seized. A special teams mistake—a short kickoff—gave the Hawks the ball at the 40.

A few connections between Sam Darnold (more to his success) and Jaxon Smith-Njigba later, and the game was over. Gannon, for his part, put the blame where it belonged. “We’re just not doing enough,” he said of the offensive struggles. “When we get it rolling, we can put points on the board.” The rub, of course, is that they only got it rolling when their backs were against the wall.

“It was clicking,” he said, “We were pretty much getting physically dominated the whole first half.” He was frustrated by seeing the defense get “stop after stop after stop and offensively we just couldn’t get it going.” The QB continued, “It’s like s— is just loading and taking too long.” And while he loved the team’s “resilience,” the sentiment felt like a hollow victory because it was “just too late.” The HC doesn’t foresee major changes, but added, “we will make some changes no doubt.”

They’re trying to figure out if they can still be a team that can air things out, as Gannon put it, or if they’re a unit that’s constantly going to get stuffed in a “phone booth.”