Seahawks vs. Cardinals: Jaxon Smith-Njigba Scores Three Times as Drew Lock Rolls Arizona in Week 2

Jaxon Smith-Njigba's first catch on Sunday wasn't even supposed to be a go route. Then he sold Arizona cornerback Will Johnson a fake so nasty that safety Budda Baker bit on it too, and Drew Lock, starting in place of the injured Sam Darnold, dropped a deep ball into his arms for an 82-yard touchdown on Seattle's second offensive snap. Asked where that move came from, Smith-Njigba skipped the playbook talk entirely. "That's my hooping skills right there," he said.

That was the trailer. The feature film was a 31-7 Seattle rout of the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, with Smith-Njigba catching nine passes for 155 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, every one of them from Lock, as the defending Super Bowl champions moved to 2-0 and beat Arizona for the 10th straight time. It was 7-7 at halftime. The Seahawks won the second half 24-0.

Seven-All, Then the Walls Closed In

For a while this looked like a rock fight. After the opening bomb, Seattle's offense went sideways. Jadarian Price coughed up a fumble near midfield, and the Cardinals strung together their one real drive of the day, a 12-play, 61-yard march that ended with Jacoby Brissett hitting Trey McBride for a 2-yard score on fourth-and-goal on the first snap of the second quarter.

Seattle's best answer died at the doorstep. Facing fourth down at the 1 late in the half, the Seahawks got stuffed, and everybody went to the locker room tied.

Then the second half flipped in about three minutes of game clock. Rashid Shaheed fumbled the opening kickoff, Chazz Surratt scooped it up and rumbled 35 yards to the Arizona 37, and a few snaps later Lock beat a zero blitz with a 7-yard touchdown to Smith-Njigba on third-and-goal. On Arizona's next series, Julian Love slid under a Brissett throw for a ridiculous interception, and Jason Myers turned the short field into a 33-yard field goal and a 17-7 lead.

Early in the fourth, Lock and Smith-Njigba hooked up again, a 12-yarder on third-and-6 for 24-7. Then Seattle went full slow cooker: 16 plays, 70 yards and 10 minutes, 14 seconds of clock, capped by a direct snap to AJ Barner for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.

JSN Is Playing on a Different Difficulty Setting

Smith-Njigba, the reigning AP Offensive Player of the Year, turned 11 targets into nine catches, three scores and the longest touchdown of his career. According to the Seahawks, he is now the fifth player ever with at least eight catches, 120 yards and a touchdown in each of his team's first two games, joining a club that includes Stefon Diggs and Andre Rison.

His own defense watched it like paying customers. "We're sitting over there on the sideline, and when he catches the ball, we're just like, 'Man, this guy's a wizard,'" defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. Williams also logged a sack and two tackles for loss, so he earned his courtside seat.

Lock, in his first start since the final week of the 2024 season, was every bit the co-star: 19 of 26 for 235 yards, three touchdowns, no picks and a 139.1 passer rating. "That's the beauty of playing with him," Lock said of his top target. "He's going to find ways to get open."

Emanuel Wilson handled the grunt work, grinding out 92 yards on 21 carries and carrying the load on that closing march after Price left with a chest injury. On defense, Love paired the interception with two pass breakups, while Ernest Jones IV and Devon Witherspoon finished with eight tackles apiece.

Two Snaps That Broke Arizona

This game turned on a fumble that should have hurt Seattle. If that second-half kickoff bounces the other way, the Cardinals are sitting in plus territory with the building buzzing and a legit shot at their first lead. Instead, Surratt turned a disaster into a 35-yard gift, Seattle scored, and Love's interception on the very next possession slammed the door. Two plays, one massive momentum swing, and Arizona never got off the mat. After the McBride touchdown, the Cardinals' six full possessions produced five punts and an interception, per the Seahawks.

Numbers That Tell the Story

• 151: Total yards for Arizona at 3.2 yards per play. After halftime the Cardinals managed 44 yards and two first downs, according to the Seahawks.
• 12: Consecutive Seattle wins, postseason included, the longest streak in franchise history per the team.
• 36:33: Seattle's time of possession, fueled by 40 rushing attempts for 162 yards.
• 0: Catches for Marvin Harrison Jr., who was targeted exactly once.
• 8: Straight home losses for Arizona, a skid the AP noted has lasted 360 days.

What It Means in the NFC West

Seattle is 2-0, and the quarterback situation has become a luxury problem. Lock went 16 of 22 for 187 yards and a touchdown in relief during the opener, and now he has three scores in his first full start. Macdonald said Darnold is progressing and has at least a chance to start next week at Washington. Whoever takes the snaps, this defense is suffocating people: Arizona finished with 10 first downs.

"Really proud of Drew, really happy for him," Macdonald said. "We're on record about how we feel about him and he backed that up today."

For Arizona, this was the hangover after the party. A week after Mike LaFleur won his head coaching debut 26-14 against the Chargers, the Cardinals ran into the champs and got a reality check. Brissett threw for 95 yards, rookie Jeremiyah Love led the team with 29 rushing yards, and McBride's eight catches went for just 41. LaFleur kept it level. "We're not going to hit the panic button, but when we play the best defense in ball, you've got to do all the little things right," he said. "We did not today." Next up is a trip to San Francisco.

The Backup Plan Is Just the Plan Now

One Seahawks fan in the stands brought a poster insisting Seattle's backup quarterback is better than yours. Two weeks in, that reads less like trash talk and more like a scouting report. Macdonald summed up the 10-minute closing drive perfectly: "That's Seahawk football right there." When your wizard receiver owns the highlight package and your offensive line makes the clock vanish, you're not just defending a title. You're daring the rest of the league to come take it.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and Seahawks.com.