If you had told me before the season started that Seattle and Arizona would be fighting it out for NFC West supremacy at this point in the season, I would have checked your temperature and maybe given you some coffee to sober up. Yes, I’m a Seahawks homer but for the last couple of years, Arizona has swept the Seahawks. You can understand my trepidation.
It wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t expect it to be given the gray rain-filled skies above Seattle's Qwest Field on Sunday. The Cardinals brought in their Kurt Warner wannabe heir apparent, Max Hall, who, in case you didn’t hear it, beat the defending Super Bowl Champs New Orleans Saints in the last game. No one seemed to mention that the Cardinals beat the Saints thanks to Drew Brees gifting some interceptions and the Cardinals defense scoring two touchdowns. No, the story line was all about the BYU quarterback who wasn’t drafted taking down the all-powerful Saints.
Watching Hall drop back and badly miss his targets, it’s easy to see why he wasn’t drafted. His interception to Seahawks safety Earl Thomas was so badly thrown that I thought at first Thomas must have been the intended receiver.
When Hall left the game in the third quarter after getting crushed on the blind side by defensive end Chris Clemons, he was 4-for-16, threw for a total of 36 yards and had a rating of 13.5. Hall had said before the game that he was excited to make his first road start at a place like Qwest Field. He’s not the first opposing quarterback to leave the field nauseous and dizzy, and he won’t be the last.
For my money, the Play of the Game was the three field goals that Olindo Mare made in a row. Only one of them counted though. The first one was from 31 yards out but got wiped off the board because of a holding call on Cameron Morrah. So, Mare hit the retry from 41 yards, but Morrah got another holding penalty. No problem, as Mare nailed the 51-yarder on the third try.
The Good:
1. Olindo Mare – Mare is a bad ass, no question. Since getting thrown under the bus by Jim Mora last season, Mare has hit 26 field goals in a row, 28 if you count the two that Morrah was called for holding on. Mare regularly hits the end zone on kickoffs; he is without a doubt the best free agent signing Tim Ruskell ever made.
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