GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Last month, as the Seahawks were in the midst of preparing for the 2026 season, linebacker Ernest Jones IV made it clear that expectations were about as high as possible for a defense that a season ago allowed the fewest points in the NFL while helping lead Seattle to a Super Bowl title,
"Our standard is perfection," Jones said while the team was in Nashville for joint practices with the Titans. "When I say perfection, we don't want you to get a yard. We don't want none of that. When you do get that, it pisses us off."
So when the Cardinals scored a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter -- a fourth-and-goal conversion from the 2-yard line -- Jones and company were, well, pissed. But from that point on, the Seahawks defense came awfully close to perfection as the Seahawks pulled away for a dominant 31-7 victory, scoring 24 unanswered points after that Trey McBride touchdown reception tied the game.
Following that touchdown, the Cardinals had six more full possessions, not counting the two plays they ran in the final seconds of the game, and five of those ended in punts, while another ended on a Julian Love interception, the second in as many games for the veteran safety. And it wasn't just that the Seahawks were keeping the Cardinals from scoring, they were barely letting Arizona move the ball, allowing only three first downs on those last six possessions.
At halftime, head coach Mike Macdonald and his defense made sure they made necessary adjustments to respond to some unexpected things the Cardinals were doing, and the result was Seattle holding the Cardinals to just two first downs and 44 yards in the entire second half, with 24 of those yards and one first down coming on a couple of meaningless handoffs in the final seconds of the game.
"We came in at halftime, made our adjustments," said defensive tackle Jarran Reed, who had one of his team's two sacks. "I thought we started playing sound ball, everything we needed to do, fixing the little things."