Battle of the Birds: Seahawks vs. Cardinals — NFL Expert Picks & Predictions (9/20)
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Sat Sep 19, 2026, 5:53 pm ET
Read Time: 5 minutes
nfl
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-3.5
-110
41
-110u
-195
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+4.0
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40
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+175
Big time battle in the NFC West this week as the Seattle Seahawks travel to the desert to take on the 'undefeated' Arizona Cardinals.
With Drew Lock set to start for the Seahawks, there's plenty to discuss. Let's jump right into this one.
For additional information on picks, props, moneylines, and more on today's slate, take a look at our NFL Picks Page or our NFL Odds Page.
Game Information
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Matchup Information
- Location: State Farm Stadium; Glendale, Arizona
- Date: Sunday, September 20th, 2026
- Kickoff: 4:25 PM EST
Quarterback Matchup
- Seattle Seahawks: Drew Lock (2025: n/a)
- Arizona Cardinals: Jacoby Brissett (2025: 2-12; 280.5 YPG | 23 TD | 8 INT)
Betting Odds
Odds via Lucky Rebel, an industry leader in the sports betting world.
Analysis & Breakdown
Slingin' in the Desert
The Arizona Cardinals are undefeated and after you take a look at who they beat (LAC), it gets that much more impressive. The Cardinals went into SoFi, put up 26 points on the Los Angeles Chargers and just looked like the better team.
Arizona finished with 393 total yards of offense, 277 yards coming via Brissett and that new Mike LaFleur aerial attack.
Trey McBride dominated the Cardinals' target share, reeling in 9 of his 13 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown. Outside of McBride, we saw both Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne have a day for the Cards.
Boutte caught all 8 of his targets for 75 yards in his Cardinals debut, while Wilson brought in 5 of his 7 targets for 57 yards. Out of the backfield, it was Tyler Allgeier dominating the touches.
Allgeier ran the ball 17 times for 61 yards (3.6YPC) and caught both of his targets for 9 yards. Rookie Jeremiyah Love ran the ball 11 times for 41 yards in his debut, but he did out-target Allgeier; catching 2 of his 4 targets for 9 yards.
More impressive than this offense, however was the defense. The Cardinals sacked Justn Herbert 3 times, held him to just 209 yards passing, 1 touchdown and even forced an interception.
The Cardinals ability to apply pressure is what made Herbert uncomfortable and if they can do that again this week against Locke; Seattle could be in trouble.
Sleepless in Seattle
If your losing sleep in Seattle, I don't blame you. You lost your Super Bowl winning QB in Week 1 and your backup is an unproven QB that lost the starting job elsewhere.
Good news is that Darnold's injury isn't as serious as first speculated and he should miss just a few weeks with a hip injury. Bad news is the Seahawks go on the road for their next two games and the offense did struggle with Locke under center.
Seattle's been off since Wednesday night last week and the added time, rest and practice couldn't have come at a better time. Lock came out after Darnold went down, completed 72% of his passes and threw for 187 yards and 1 touchdown.
Jaxson Smith-Njigba dominated the targets, bringing in 8 of his 11 targets for 122 yards and a touchdown. Jadarian Price was good in his debut for the Hawks, carrying the ball 10 times for 52 yards and reeling in both of his targets for 6 yards through the air.
The Seahawks defense looks like it hasn't lost a step. The defense held the Patriots to just 10 points, forced Drake Maye into 3 interceptions and sacked the kid 3 times. The defense is as advertised and with Mike Macdonald at the helm; it's not really a surprise.
Sunday's Best Bets
Can JSN pop in the NFC Championship Game?
Jaxon Smith-Njigba o79.5 Receiving Yards (-120) | Lucky Rebel
This is a line that we saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba clear in 15 of his 20 games last year, including the postseason. Yes, all those games came with Sam Darnold under center but that doesn't scare me off.
Last week we saw Darnold complete just 1 pass before going down with the hip injury and once Lock got into the game it felt like he was looking at Smith-Njigba almost every single time.
JSN finished with 8 catches, 11 targets, 122 yards and a touchdown. He's been great after the catch and he's been great against Arizona. In his last 4 games against the Cardinals he's averaging 82.8 receiving yards and he's caught a touchdown in 3 of 4.
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