Why Seahawks over Cardinals was NFL’s most significant win on Sunday

Two weeks ago, the Seahawks entered their bye week in last place. They woke up Monday atop their division. But Sunday’s 16-6 triumph over Arizona didn’t just vault the Seahawks into first place by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker. It also jumped their playoff hopes more than any NFL team.

Thanks to the win over the Cardinals (6-5), Seattle (6-5) saw its chances of the playoffs improve by 22.1 percent, according to Pro Football Network’s Playoff Predictor. Meanwhile, the NFC West team on the losing end, Arizona (12.0 percent), saw the NFL’s second-largest gash to its playoff hopes. Only Washington (19.7 percent) had a more significant loss.

After Sunday’s game, PFN ran the balance of the regular-season schedule through 10,000 simulations and determined Seattle’s postseason hopes are now 38.1 percent, up from 16.0 entering the day. Arizona, meanwhile, fell from 78.0 to 66.0. And if the NFL season were only 12 weeks, thanks to the Seahawks’ 3-1 division record and a Week 7 win at Atlanta, Seattle would own the No. 3 seed in the NFC and would be preparing to host Green Bay in a Wild Card game.

For now, the Seahawks can bask in the Puget Sound sunshine. They’ve earned consecutive NFC West wins in difficult fashion. Sunday’s verdict was in doubt until Coby Bryant returned a Kyler Murray interception 66 yards for a third-quarter touchdown, thanks to pressure from Devon Witherspoon. Leonard Williams bullied Murray for 2½ sacks and Geno Smith threw for 254 yards.

“That was a big win,” said Smith, who threw a go-ahead touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba late in the first half. “Felt like a playoff atmosphere. I thought the crowd was amazing. Just felt like our team was locked in and focused the entire game. Hard-fought game. I thought Arizona played really tough. You know, just overall our defense was outstanding. Leonard wrecking the game, the way ‘Spoon was flying around, Coby getting the pick-six. That was awesome. Really, really lit up the crowd.”

Arizona kept that crowd out of the game until Smith-Njigba turned a short pass into a 46-yard completion, setting up his touchdown three plays later. The second-year wideout, who posted six catches for 77 yards on Sunday, now has 367 yards and three touchdowns on 23 catches (16.0 avg.) over Seattle’s last three games.

After traveling to face the Jets (3-8) next week, Seattle gets the Cardinals for the second time in three weeks, this time at State Farm Stadium. Arizona faces a daunting trip to Minnesota (9-2) on Sunday.

For more information on the Seahawks and Cardinals, visit the Seattle and Arizona team pages at ProFootballPost.com.