Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba, defense shine | Instant impressions

Three instant impressions after the Seahawks beat the Cardinals 31-7 to improve to 2-0:

The greatest?

Respecting the fact that Steve Largent has a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his number hangs from the rafters of Lumen Field, how long before we talk about Jaxon Smith-Njigba as the best wide receiver in franchise history?

read more seahawks 31, cardinals 7

More

There’s a level of longevity that is still needed from Smith-Njigba’s career before we start talk about him legitimately in that context. But considering the circumstances of Sunday’s game, it has to be viewed as one of the best performances in Smith-Njigba’s career and only goes to enhance his impressive résumé.

Smith-Njigba had the first three-touchdown game of his career. He had nine catches for 155 yards and if not for an unexpected drop would have had a 10^th reception. His 17.2 yards per catch was the fifth time the past two seasons he averaged more than 17 yards per catch.

Drew Lock played great and made sure the ball was delivered to Smith-Njigba when the opening was there. But it was a truly special performance by the guy in his fourth season and only seems to be getting better.

Welcome to the Dark Side

The Arizona Cardinals had one drive of longer than six plays. One. They had two drives where they picked up more than one first down. Take away the one touchdown drive by Arizona in the first half and the Cardinals were limited to four first downs for the rest of the game.

It looked a little shaky early, but this became another smothering performance by the Seahawks on the defensive side.

It’s the Cardinals. They’re supposed to be the dregs of the NFC West. They’re not supposed to scare anyone offensively even with what they did in Week 1 against the Chargers. But it’s still incumbent on the Seahawks to show up and do their part and that they did. The Cardinals had 43 yards and two first downs in the second half, although those numbers were certainty helped by Seattle’s offense putting together a demoralizing 10-minute drive that was capped by AJ Barner’s 1-yard touchdown plunge.

Arizona finished with exactly 150 yards of offense — the 13^th time in franchise history the Seahawks have held an opponent to 150 yards or less and the second time in the Mike Macdonald era.

When will it end?

This is probably premature to start considering, but the Seahawks have won nine straight regular season games and 12 straight games overall dating back to last season. They’re about to play at Washington next week, who lost starting quarterback Jayden Daniels to an elbow injury against Dallas on Sunday. After the cross-country trip, the Seahawks return home for consecutive games against the Chargers — who have looked unimpressive through two weeks — and the 49ers. By that point, Sam Darnold could — should? — be back from his injury.

The nine-game regular season win streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history and two off the record of 11 set during the 2005 season — although that mark was set in one season. But that 11-game regular season mark could be in jeopardy in just a couple of weeks.