Arizona looking to wrest control of NFC West from Seattle

RENTON, Wash. – If Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner ever finds himself on “Jeopardy” and the category comes up “2014 Arizona Cardinals quarterbacks,” he’s going to be in trouble.

“I don’t know who they had at quarterback,” Wagner said, recalling the Seahawks’ two games against the Cardinals in 2014. “They had so many different quarterbacks last year.”

The answer is Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley, both of whom had to play against the Seahawks after injuries sidelined starter Carson Palmer.

The Seahawks won both games, holding the Cardinals to three field goals in eight quarters as the Arizona offense sputtered without Palmer.

They were wins that allowed the Seahawks to overcome a sluggish start to the season and make up a three-game deficit on Arizona and win the NFC West and, ultimately, take the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

The scenario sets up similarly for the Seahawks this season. They are 4-4 at the midway point and host an Arizona team that at 6-2 stands in first place in the NFC West. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. at CenturyLink Field.

To many Seahawks players and coaches, though, that’s where the similarities end.

Though the way they ended last season and dominated the Cardinals might be comforting to fans who hope history will repeat itself, the Seahawks players say it might not be quite that simple.

“I just think it’s part of the story,” safety Earl Thomas said. “Every year is different.”

Palmer not only is back but is playing at a level Seahawks coach Pete Carroll – who coached Palmer when he won the Heisman Trophy at USC in 2002 – said is the best of his career.

“I’ve always thought he’s about as perfect of a thrower as you can find,” Carroll said. “He looks the best he’s ever been.”

Palmer has thrown 20 touchdown passes – four more than the Seahawks’ total – and is averaging almost 9.2 yards per attempt, the best in the NFL. He is throwing to what Pro Football Focus rates as the best receiving corps in the league led by veteran Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and John Brown.

As the Seahawks found out last year, it’s easier to beat the Cardinals without Palmer than with him – Arizona is 22-8 with Palmer as a starter since 2013 and 5-5 without him.

But Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright said that doesn’t mean the Seahawks wish they could again face Stanton or Lindley.

“I’m glad Carson is playing,” Wright said. “You like playing against the best. You don’t want to play against second- and third-string quarterbacks. That’s not really fun. So they’ve got their main guy out there, and it will present a challenge for us.”

Indeed it will, though Palmer is hardly all the Cardinals have. Arizona also features a much-improved running game led by 30-year-old Chris Johnson, whose 676 yards are third in the NFL. He has helped the Cardinals score 32 touchdowns.

They also again have an aggressive defense led by one of the better secondaries in the NFL, ranking third in yards allowed (312.8) and seventh in points (19.1).

It’s a game being billed by some as a chance for Arizona to show it is now the best team in the NFC West. A Cardinals win would give them a three-game lead with seven to play. The Cardinals host the Seahawks in the regular-season finale in Glendale, Arizona, on Jan. 3 and would be able to claim control of the division dominated the past two years by Seattle.

“We understand that they understand that they’ve got to take us off the top to beat us,” Wagner said. “So it’s not going to be an easy task coming into our home. We’re going to make sure we don’t let them do that.”

The Seahawks, though, mostly spent the week saying the game has no larger implications. To those looking at the standings, it might seem tough to figure that the Seahawks can win the NFC West without winning this game – ESPN calculated that Seattle has a 54 percent chance to make the playoffs with a win, only 26 with a loss.

But the Seahawks insist it’s just one game – one they need to win, to be sure – but no more or less than that.

“Nah, we don’t have to make no statement,” Wagner said. “I feel like the way we play out there on Sunday is going to be a big enough statement out there for us. We keep winning, keep putting these games together, I think at the end of the season our statement will be loud and clear.”