The Arizona Cardinals suffered a brutal 31-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Their inability to stop reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba was front and center. The Seahawks receiver tallied nine catches for 155 yards and three touchdowns on 11 targets.
“He’s a dang good receiver,” said Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur. “He’s arguably the best one.
“I see the strain, I see all of those kind of things. You see the splash plays if you will. But I’m more focused on getting our series together. Making sure the fluidity of what’s going on there on defense, but I got to watch the tape on that a little more.”
The Cardinals will have to go back to the drawing board and see what went wrong in this game.
Mike LaFleur on Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Big Day vs. Cardinals
Facing a backup quarterback in Drew Lock, the Cardinals needed to find a way to limit Jaxon Smith-Njigba and make someone else beat them. That ultimately didn’t happen, as the fourth-year receiver had very little trouble navigating Arizona’s secondary.
The second play of the game ended up setting the tone for how well the Cardinals would guard the NFL’s top receiver. Smith-Njigba broke free from Will Johnson on a double move and outran Budda Baker for an 82-yard touchdown.
“Second play of the game, that’s one you want back,” said Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur. “Because it doesn’t matter who that is. We can be better on that, just from an execution standpoint.”
Smith-Njigba scored the Seahawks’ first three touchdowns of the day. Another one came right after half. Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis called a Cover Zero blitz.
Cornerback Max Melton was in position to defend the pass, but slipped after undercutting the route. That allowed it to sail over his outstretched reach and into Smith-Njigba’s hands to give Seattle a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“He’s going to get his at times, you got to limit it and help our guys out. I don’t think that was the case. I think we were playing good defense until the last 20 minutes.”
Given his numbers, it would not be a surprise if Smith-Njigba is named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week for Week 2.
What’s Next for the Cardinals?
The Cardinals (1-1) have another tough intradivision game for Week 3. They’ll take on the 2-0 San Francisco 49ers, who have steamrolled the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins in back-to-back blowout wins.
LaFleur is very familiar with how tough the 49ers are, both as a former assistant there and a coordinator on the Rams.
“It doesn’t get any easier next week,” said Mike LaFleur. “This team we’re about to play next week is going to be dang good. They’re rolling right now; they’re healthy. You guys see when they’re healthy how good that team can be.”
LaFleur stated that they can’t let this loss linger into the next week and let Seattle beat them twice. He expressed confidence in their ability to bounce back and turn the page.
How they handle that first loss will say a lot about LaFleur’s abilities as a head coach.
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