Cardinals offense off-kilter against the Seahawks must ‘change and adapt’

GLENDALE — Not. Good. Enough.

That’s about the only way to describe what the Arizona Cardinals put on the field in Thursday night’s 23-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Don’t let the one-score game fool you.

Once again, the Cardinals offense was the liability and deserves the brunt of the blame.

Not even Calais Campbell and Josh Sweat’s continued successes, or a late Seahawks field goal miss could save this one.

“We’re not doing enough to win the game right now. Point blank. … We got to find some solutions.”

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon on the offensive issues plaguing the team. pic.twitter.com/lG6dBo6LNd

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 26, 2025

“We’re not doing enough to win the game right now. Point blank. Our run efficiency is not where it needs to be,” Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said postgame. “Generating explosives not where it needs to be. Penalties are killing drives. Sacks are killing drives.

“It’s everybody and it starts with me. We’ve got to find some solutions and play a little better, because when we get it rolling, we can put points on the board.”

Failing to look like a cohesive unit through four quarters of work yet again, Arizona did itself zero favors on the national stage.

Totaling a putrid 107 yards of total offense and a 3-for-9 third-down mark in the first half while letting the once-anemic Seahawks run game get going, Thursday Night Football felt over before the sun even set.

By the game’s end, those numbers turned into 253 yards and 6-of-15, respectively.

The failed-to-reach-300-yards streak lives on for another week. Marvin Harrison Jr. continued to look lost through most of the night, save for his resurgence late.

Had it not been for his incredibly tough touchdown snag in the fourth quarter and a couple of other critical catches late, the chatter surrounding his play was going to reach another echelon.

So much of the talk this offseason surrounded Harrison’s bulked up frame and the benefits that came with it. Four games in, we’ve yet to see that materialize on a consistent basis.

The problems go beyond that, though.

The offensive line has looked nothing like it once did the past two years despite the continuity throughout. Jonah Williams and Isaiah Adams continue to struggle at their respective positions, and it feels like more than time to make some changes.

Will Hernandez has got to be close to a return and should be immediately reinserted into the starting lineup. The six sacks Thursday night were glaring. But even he might not be able to save this sinking ship given what offensive coordinator Drew Petzing has put on tape.

Thursday’s debacle was the latest example, with a failed and ill-timed flea flicker in the third quarter paired with the dink-and-dunk barrage fans have come to hate just adding to the mess that is this Cardinals offense four weeks in.

And with a run game that looks nothing like it has in recent years, with or without James Conner, the crater the Cardinals offense is in feels meteoric.

“It’s not clicking. … We gotta show up and be ready to go. It’s like $#!%’s loading. It’s taking too long.”

Cardinals QB Kyler Murray on the continued offensive struggles.

The quarterback added he remains optimistic. pic.twitter.com/IbIoHPrJJU

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 26, 2025

“It was not clicking. Pretty much getting physically dominated the whole first half,” Murray said postgame. “It’s frustrating because you watch the defense go out there and get stop after stop after stop and offensively, we just couldn’t get it going.

“Credit to their defense, but we just got to make more plays. We got to show and be ready to go. It’s like (expletive’s). It’s taking too long.”

Cardinals making that uphill climb even steeper with loss to Seahawks

The last thing the Cardinals could afford to do is lose back-to-back divisional tilts to fall to 0-2 in NFC West battles.

Since the NFL realigned divisions, teams that start 0-2 in those matchups have less than a 10% chance of making the playoffs.

And with an offense that hasn’t instilled much of any confidence — outside of glimpses like what was seen late on Thursday — whether it be on the ground or through the air, those odds seem even worse.

The Cardinals defense can’t do it all. And that’s felt like the case four weeks in.

“We start with we got to coach better,” Gannon said. “But we do have to take a good hard look at what’s going on and adapt, because if we keep doing the same thing in my mind — when you’ve been in the NFL long enough, you got these stretches where you feel like you’re letting some games slip away.

“If you keep just doing the same thing and hoping, that’s not good coaching. So, we will change and adapt some things. There’s no doubt.”

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