The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 18 matchup between the Seahawks and Cardinals.
Find a breakdown of every Week 18 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Seattle | Rank | @ | Arizona | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -3.0 | Spread | 3.0 | ||
| 25.25 | Implied Total | 22.25 | ||
| 21.4 | 17 | Points/Gm | 19.4 | 24 |
| 23.9 | 24 | Points All./Gm | 27.1 | 31 |
| 58.9 | 32 | Plays/Gm | 62.4 | 20 |
| 67.4 | 31 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 62.9 | 12 |
| 5.5 | 10 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.0 | 23 |
| 5.4 | 22 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 28 |
| 37.90% | 28 | Rush% | 43.34% | 13 |
| 62.10% | 5 | Pass% | 56.66% | 20 |
| 44.25% | 23 | Opp. Rush % | 49.26% | 31 |
| 55.75% | 10 | Opp. Pass % | 50.74% | 2 |
Seahawks Playoff Scenarios: Seattle needs a win on Sunday paired with a Green Bay loss to make the playoffs.
They can get in with a tie paired with a Green Bay loss and either a Tampa Bay or New Orleans loss or tie if reaching into the realm of things that are unlikely but have non-zero probabilities.
Elimination Alert: The Cardinals have been eliminated from the postseason, but I am going to write up their offense as normal.
Quarterback
Kyler Murray: Murray had his best fantasy day on Sunday since returning to the lineup.
He closed the week as QB4 (23.7 points), completing a season-high 80.6% of his passes with three touchdowns.
He also added 24 yards rushing.
Murray has now made seven starts, hitting 20 fantasy points in four of those games.
He has finished as a QB1 scorer in five of those games.
Handling him as a QB1 for fantasy, Seattle has not allowed a passing touchdown in any of the past three weeks.
Jalen Hurts was on the front end of that sample, but the past two quarterbacks have been Ryan Tannehill and Mason Rudolph.
Rudolph also completed 75% of his passes for 11.4 yards per pass attempt.
Seattle’s success defensively comes from their ability to pressure the opposing passer.
When Seattle has applied pressure, they have allowed a 54.1% completion rate, 6.4 yards per pass attempt, six touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 73.9 rating.
Without pressure, they are allowing a 71.7% completion rate, 7.5 Y/A, 14 touchdowns, six interceptions, and a 98.9 rating.
Geno Smith (TRUST): Smith has played better football over his past three starts, ending those weeks as QB1 (29.9 points), QB15 (17.3 points), and QB13 (16. 9 points).
He still only has three QB1 scoring weeks this season, but Smith was averaging 12.9 points per game before that stretch with just three games reaching 15.0 fantasy points.
With the way Smith is playing paired with Arizona providing more potential push than when these teams played back in Week 7, Smith should be one of the better streamers and DFS options at cost this week.
He completed 75% of his passes for 9.1 Y/A when these teams played in Week 7, but Arizona only scored 10 points and had just 249 total yards in that game.
Smith threw nine total passes in the second half of that game.
Arizona did not have Kyler Murray or James Conner in that game while Zach Ertz was still their primary tight end.
With Murray, Conner, and Trey McBride on the field this season, Arizona is averaging 5.6 yards per play compared to 4.2 yards per play with those players off the field.
That is the difference from the team that is eighth in the NFL to one that is 31st in yards per play.
With some added pushback, Smith has a higher ceiling in this rematch.
Arizona is 28th in pressure rate (32.0%).
When these teams played in Week 7, Smith was pressured on 35.7% of his dropbacks. That was his fourth-lowest rate in a game this season.
That is big here because Smith has been one of the most sensitive quarterbacks to pressure this season.
When kept clean, Smith has completed 72.9% of his passes (10th) for 8.4 Y/A (fourth).
When pressured, he has completed 51.2% of his passes (10th) for 5.3 Y/A (24th).
Smith is averaging a league-low 6.3 air yards per attempt when pressured compared to 7.5 air yards per attempt when kept clean (10th).
When Arizona has not pressured the opposing passer, they are allowing a 75.0% completion rate (30th), 8.1 Y/A (27th) with 18 touchdowns and six interceptions for a 108.1 rating (29th).
Running Back
To continue reading this article
and gain access to The Worksheet and all of Rich's regular content, including positional rankings and chats, click below to purchase our NFL Postseason Package.
Purchase
