Cardinals needed their offense to carry them in Seattle, and it did — to a defeat

It was an improbable task for the Cardinals, no question. Beating the Seahawks twice in a month, including in Seattle on a short week. Seizing a bit of control of the NFC West. Confirming that they were more than young upstarts, contenders in the conference.

But it was possible. And it was the most reliable part of the Cardinals that let them down: their offense.

The Cardinals, who led the league in rushing and had scored at least 30 points in five consecutive games, a franchise record, could neither run successfully nor score enough Thursday night in Seattle.

The result was a 28-21 loss that dropped the Cardinals to 6-4, a game behind the Seahawks in the division.

The Cardinals offense can place most of the blame for the loss on itself. There were eight accepted penalties against the offense, including four false starts, three holds and an intentional grounding.

The intentional grounding by quarterback Kyler Murray midway through the fourth quarter backed the Cardinals up to the 2-yard line. On the next play, guard J.R. Sweezy was called for holding in the end zone, giving Seattle a safety and a 25-21 lead.

“We started off slow and kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Murray said. “Obviously, they won the game but we can play a lot better.”

Yes, they can. They have before. And, most likely, they will again.

Their track record says so.

The Cardinals, which led the league in rushing, ran for only 57 Thursday night. The Cardinals, who led the league in yards, finished with only 314, more than 100 less than their average. And the Cardinals, sixth in the NFL in scoring, accounted for only three touchdowns.

All of that came against one the NFL’s worst defenses, one they scored 37 points against on Oct. 25.

“We hurt ourselves a bunch,” coach Kliff Kingsbury said, “which stopped some drives and put us in second-and-longs and third-and-longs, which we were able to stay out of the first game.

“But you have to give them (the Seahawks) credit. I thought they flew around and tackled us when we had the ball in space. As far as schematics, not a lot changed (from Oct. 25).”

But Seattle made a concentrated effort to keep Murray as one-dimensional as possible and not let him get loose on designed runs or scrambles.

They also pressured Murray more than they did a month ago. After a sack in the first quarter, Murray favored his right shoulder, and athletic trainers applied heat to it on the sideline.

Afterward, Kingsbury and Murray said he was fine.

If he is, the Cardinals offense will be fine, too.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t work ahead. The theme in post-game interviews was the Cardinals spent a good portion of the evening shooting themselves in the feet.

The Cardinals haven’t led after the first quarter of the last five games, and scored only a touchdown in that period on Sunday.

Asked if he had reasons for the slow starts, Kingsbury simply said, “no.”

Penalties have been a problem all season, although not as much of late. That changed Thursday.

Kingsbury didn’t have much of an explanation for that, either, saying it’s something the team had to “clean up.”

On Thursday, the Cardinals needed to be crisp, because it was unlikely the defense was going to carry them to victory. Four defensive linemen are on injured reserve, and the guys starting now weren’t with the team at the beginning of the season.

That side of the ball was far from perfect, either. Cornerback Patrick Peterson gave up at least one touchdown, possibly two, and was called for a pass interference penalty that led to a Seattle field goal just before halftime.

The other starting cornerback, Dre Kirkpatrick, got involved in a tiff with receiver D.K. Metcalf in the third quarter that ended with Kirkpatrick being penalized for taunting.

Instead of fourth-and-2, Seattle had a first down at the Cardinals 17-yard line and scored on the next play to take a 23-14 lead.

“It wasn’t a clean game by any means,” Murray said in his typical understated fashion.

Despite the foot wounds, the Cardinals were down just 7 points when they started their final possession with 2:15  and two timeouts left.

Plenty of time for Murray to work his magic again. But there was none. Hail Marys are fun because they are rare, and it was too much to ask for it to happen a second consecutive week.

It’s much more common for a game to end on three incomplete passes and a sack, as this one did.

The loss wasn’t the end of the world, or the season. Even the best teams in the NFC have flaws that seem to pop up like pimples every couple weeks or so.

That’s what happened Thursday to the Cardinals. Now they have 10 days to clear things up before facing the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick, a master at finding your weaknesses and showing them to the world.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers.Hear Somers every Monday and Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM.

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