Seahawks shut down Cards in 19-3 win

SEATTLE – With the game, the NFC West race and the season all in a nervous balance for the Seahawks – when they absolutely had to have someone step up – Russell Wilson did. Again. With 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Seattle led first-place Arizona just 12-3 after it had mostly squandered four golden chances for a more comfortable lead. The unflappable quarterback stepped into his huddle. “This is a big drive right here. This is a momentum-getter,” Wilson told them amid the din of CenturyLink Field. “We have to seal the deal.” Deal sealed. By Wilson. Again. Wilson was perfect passing on the 75-yard march. He was Houdini-like running. He was gritty leading the Seahawks to the game-clinching touchdown pass to Cooper Helfet with a minute left in the third quarter. Returning middle linebacker Bobby Wagner tied strong safety Kam Chancellor with a team-high eight tackles while playing every snap in his first game in six weeks. They and the defense shut down Arizona to finish off a 19-3 victory Sunday that revived the Seahawks’ late-season push for the playoffs. It leaves Seattle 7-4 and tied with the 49ers at two games behind Arizona (9-2) in the NFC West entering a Thanksgiving-night showdown at San Francisco (7-4). “Definitely, I saw this as a must-win,” Chancellor said. “This was critical.” Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin, Marshawn Lynch and Wilson were among 10 core veterans who met with coach Pete Carroll a few days ago. The consensus emanating from that meeting following last weekend’s loss at Kansas City: These Seahawks needed more unity. They needed to check egos at the locker room door before taking the field Sunday. They needed to play more together. United they rose. Cliff Avril had two sacks and three of Seattle’s eight hits on Drew Stanton. The revitalized defense held Arizona to its fewest points (three) since Seattle shut out the Cardinals 58-0 here on Dec. 9, 2012. The defense had 10 of 11 starters healthy and available for the first time in six weeks – with only out-for-the-season nose tackle Brandon Mebane missing. Then Kevin Williams, the 11-year veteran who got pushed around with the rest of the unit when the Chiefs rolled to 190 yards rushing last weekend, stood stout with his finest game since Seattle signed the five-time All-Pro last spring. Arizona had just 64 yards on 20 carries. The Seahawks allowed just 204 yards in all, their fewest surrendered since the 2013 regular-season finale against St. Louis. “This,” Chancellor said, “is the best we’ve been all season.” “Magic,” is what Carroll called Wilson’s latest excellence. “Under extreme duress (he) showed great poise, and kept coming back.” Wilson was 17 for 22 passing for 211 yards and the touchdown for a passer rating of 121.6 – remarkable any day but extraordinary considering the Cardinals sacked him seven times. They blitzed him 33 times in 58 plays. He also ran 10 times for a game-high 73 yards while scrambling away from six more would-be sacks. Seattle’s season-long problems of pass protection continued along its offensive line that was missing starters Max Unger at center and James Carpenter at left guard again. Lynch was limited by Arizona’s run blitzes, a sore back and what Carroll said was nausea that had him sitting on an exercise bike without moving the pedals during a two-drive absence during the first half. The NFL’s No. 4 rusher finished with just 39 yards on 15 carries, after 264 yards in the previous two games. So the offense – and much of the game – was in Wilson’s hands. And feet. The Seahawks had a nervous, 12-3 lead after getting to Arizona’s 20 or beyond four times in the first 2½ quarters yet managing only field goals each time. Then Wilson turned exquisite. He was 6 for 6 passing on the drive that made it 19-3 late in third quarter. He escaped two sacks. He spun from right to left away from one and found Lynch drifting alone in the left flat for 23 yards. On third-and-11 at the Arizona 30, Wilson looked to throw, got forced by two charging defenders on each flank to run and took off up the middle. He pumped-faked a linebacker into the air – despite having no intention to throw 3 yards past the line of scrimmage. That freed him for the final 10 or so yards of his 15-yard dash. “That was a huge moment,” he said of the drive, and the running. “I just tried to be in the ebb and flow of the game. I don’t try to do anything extra. I just try to trust myself.” After a false-start penalty pushed the ball back to the 20, Wilson rolled right toward Helfet and fellow tight end Tony Moeaki. Helfet was on right wing, Moeaki tight at right end. Helfet, the No. 3 tight end with starter Zach Miller out for the season, said it was “honestly, a little bit of a broken play.” Moeaki had no one to block inside, so he drifted to the right flat. The Cardinals blitzed linebacker Sam Acho outside Helfet. Helfet chipped Acho, then slipped behind him into open field in the flat, 3 yards behind Moeaki, who was now an accidental lead blocker. Wilson flicked a pass Helfet caught at the 21. The former lacrosse player at Johns Hopkins bulled down the right sideline inside Moeaki’s block of Cardinals star but overmatched cornerback Patrick Peterson. Helfet deftly stepped inside safety Tony Jefferson, dived head-and-shoulder-pads first from the 3 and landed just across the goal line for his second career TD. “Oh, glued in. Glued in,” Helfet said when asked if his vision and determination for the goal-line pylon. “Pretty psyched.”