It’s been over a decade since the Seahawks last did this to the Cardinals

While the Seattle Seahawks have more fierce rivalries with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, it’s the games against the Arizona Cardinals that have arguably been the most consistently tough over the past two decades.

This Sunday’s clash at Lumen Field will be the 43rd between the Seahawks and Cardinals since the NFL re-aligned its divisions in 2002. The head-to-head is 24-17-1 (.583) in favor of the Seahawks. In comparison, the Seahawks are 28-16 (.636) against the 49ers (playoffs included) and .556 mark against the Rams. What differentiates the Cardinals rivalry from the 49ers and Rams is the lack of a dominant stretch for the Seahawks against Arizona.

Seahawks regular season sweeps vs. NFC West

Rams: 8 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2022)

49ers: 10 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021)

Cardinals: 6 (2003, 2005, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Why yes, Seattle has never swept the Cardinals in back-to-back seasons. In fact, the Seahawks haven’t even had consecutive home wins over Arizona since Pete Carroll’s first three seasons (2010-2012) against quarterback powerhouses Max Hall, Kevin Kolb, and a combo of Ryan Lindley/John Skelton. This Sunday is yet another opportunity to string two straight home wins together, having disastrously squandered the 2019 meeting and getting shredded by Colt McCoy in 2021. Arizona has the most wins at Lumen Field (9) of any Seahawks opponent, including the curtain raiser back in ‘02.

A Seahawks win would give them four straight wins over the Cardinals for the first time in the Pete Carroll era. You have to go back to the end of 2004 through the home win in 2006 to find Seattle’s only other four-game winning streak against Arizona, after which they didn’t sweep the Cards until 2010.

History shouldn’t be a guide and nothing from 2002 should have any bearing over what happens in 2023, but it’s kind of weird how the Cardinals have consistently been a thorn in the Seahawks’ side despite just five playoff appearances during that span.

This year’s Cardinals are 1-5 and have only put up a combined 41 points in three road games, but they’ve generally been a competitive bunch, so it’s imperative that Seattle doesn’t take this lightly and really have us all panicking by the end of Week 7.