The Seattle Seahawks simply could not give the 12th Man back-to-back stress-free wins. After demolishing the New Orleans Saints 44-13 in Week 3, the Seahawks appeared to be well on their way to another easy victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Well… not so fast. The nation watched in shock (and in the Pacific Northwest, horror) as a 20-6 lead that felt much larger than only two-scores quickly evaporated into a 20-20 tie with only 0:28 left in the game.

However, the Seahawks (aided by a disastrous Cardinals special teams mistake) had enough left in the tank for some late-game heroics. Seattle managed to escape the Valley of the Sun behind the leg of kicker Jason Myers, as he connected from 52-yards away to give the Seahawks the 23-20 win as time expired. Seattle now improves to 3-1 on the year and avoided the dreaded 0-2 start in the NFC West.

If you somehow missed the game, first off, that’s probably much better for your heart health. But you’re probably wondering “how did we get here?” Well, we’re not entirely sure either, but we’re going to do the best we can to figure it out together!

Sam Darnold found tight end AJ Barner in the first quarter and a touchdown from Zach Charbonnet late in the second gave the Seahawks a 14-3 lead at halftime. Despite it being only an 11-point game, it felt considerably more lopsided than the score would suggest. Seattle’s defense had Kyler Murray and Arizona’s offense in misery, as evidenced by a pair of interceptions thrown to Coby Bryant and Ernest Jones IV. The Seahawks then managed another field goal on their opening drive of the third quarter. Following punts from both teams and a Cardinals field goal of their own, Seattle was leading 17-6 going into the final frame.

Unfortunately, this is where things started to take a turn for the worse for the Seahawks. The Seattle offense made it as far as the Arizona 7-yard line early in the fourth, and looked like they were going to deliver the knockout blow with another Charbonnet touchdown run. Instead, the score was called back due to a questionable holding call on Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks eventually had to settle for a field goal. Still, they were up 20-6, but the field goal kept it a two-score game.

The Cardinals turned on the jets at this point and quickly scored their first touchdown of the game, marching 73 yards in only eight plays. Kyler Murray found Marvin Harrison Jr., who had been struggling all night long, for the touchdown to bring it within seven points.

Seattle’s offense, now leading by only a 20-13 margin, had the ball with under six minutes to go. An eternity of time. Sam Darnold, as efficient as ever, did manage to maneuver the Hawks’ offense within field goal range following this strike to JSN on third down.

The Darnold to JSN connection is a thing of beauty pic.twitter.com/UaPhsOZmPv

— The Seahawks Wire (@TheSeahawksWire) September 26, 2025

Unfortunately, this effort was ultimately fruitless. The Seahawks were held to a 53-yard field goal attempt, which sailed wide-right. Seattle had come away with no points and they did not milk enough time off the clock. A disastrous combination at this point in the game! With momentum fully on their side, the Cardinals took full advantage and made the collective jaws of the audience drop by engineering a 12-play, 57 yard scoring drive.

Now here we are, back where we started this article. The game was now tied 20-20 and the Seahawks were staring down the barrel of a truly catastrophic loss. But it was the Cardinals who made the final catastrophe that proved to be fatal. On the ensuing kick off, Arizona’s kicker Chad Ryland was a yard short of the landing zone. This was a penalty, which moved the ball to Seattle’s own 40-yard line. The Seahawks suddenly had outstanding field position!

Through four weeks, the new dynamic kick off rules have directly contributed to two Seattle victories.

The Seahawks, emboldened by a second chance due to the Cardinals’ special teams mistake, advanced the ball 26 yards to get in Jason Myers’ range. The play of the game was Darnold connecting with JSN for 22-yards on second down. Originally, JSN was called in bounds and Seattle had to burn a timeout. But upon further review, it was revealed he did get out of bounds to stop the clock. The Seahawks received more time on the clock and their timeout back. It was all they needed to get Myers a shot at redemption… which was earned as his 52-yarder sailed through the uprights.

Seattle now improves to 3-1 on the year and will return to the friendly confines of Lumen Field for a Week 5 home game against the undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Cardinals: Seattle survives with thrilling 23-20 win