What the national media are saying about Seahawks’ ‘devastating’ loss to the Cardinals

Losing the game was tough enough for the Seahawks.

But it’s everything else that they lost that made Saturday’s 34-31 loss to the Cardinals particularly painful.

Wide receiver Tyler Lockett became the latest starter to be lost for the season, suffering a leg injury in the first half that required him to be carted off. Although the Seahawks rallied to tie the score late in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals eventually pulled the game out on a field goal as time expired.

The loss put Seattle (9-5-1) in a position in which it needs to win on Sunday against San Francisco (2-13) and then get some help in order to secure a first-round bye. If the Seahawks have to play in the wild-card round, the game would take place at home. But the way they’ve been playing of late, that doesn’t feel as much of a sure thing as it used to. FiveThirtyEight.com gives Seattle only a 6 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl.

As usual, there was plenty of national-media reaction to the Seahawks’ loss to the Cardinals. Below is a sampling:

Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com wondered if there are too many obstacles to overcome:

“The Seahawks pride themselves on being able to overcome obstacles, but there might be too many this season. Wilson has played through three different injuries. The offensive line has struggled. Seattle lost C.J. Prosise (and now potentially Lockett and Rawls) on offense. And the Seahawks are playing without Thomas for the first time.”

NFL.com’s Marc Sessler wondered about the Seahawks’ offensive line as one of his takeaways:

“The deeply concerning takeaway for Seattle is this: Beyond the injuries, the state of this leaky offensive line looms as a potential season-ending weakness for the ‘Hawks. I’m not sure how you get through January with Wilson taking this kind of a beating, but the magical passer has somehow traveled this far no matter who plays up front.”

Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough of CBSSports.com gave the Seahawks a D for their performance:

“Oh, where to begin. For three quarters, the offense was anemic. In the first half, they failed to punch the ball in during a goal-line series. They failed to run the ball throughout the entire game, averaging 2.9 yards per carry as a team. Defensively, they failed to stop anything. Their only turnover came when Johnson just dropped the ball entirely on his own. And let’s not forget about the botched extra-point, which would’ve given them a lead in the final minute. The Seahawks avoided an “F” because of their valiant fourth-quarter comeback. And Russell Wilson overcame a shaky start to throw four touchdowns. That’s good, but not good enough.”

CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson said the loss of Lockett will hurt the Seahawks deeply:

“It might go under the radar a little bit because of the quarterbacks who suffered injuries on Saturday, but the Tyler Lockett injury for the Seahawks might flip the entire NFC. Lockett, while going for a touchdown reception, was dealt a brutal blow when he likely broke something in his lower leg. … Without Lockett they won’t be as dynamic and they won’t be as dangerous deep.”

Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports’ Shutdown Corner took stock of how bad the loss was for Seattle:

“Needless to say, Saturday was a potentially devastating loss for Seattle. Had the Seahawks won their final two games, they would have needed to win one home game, as the No. 2 seed, to advance to the NFC championship game. Instead, the Seahawks could be on the road in the divisional round – assuming they win their first playoff game – unless they win next week and get some help. The Cardinals don’t have much to play for, but they put a big dent in Seattle’s championship hopes. And they might have changed the entire NFC playoff picture.”