The Arizona Cardinals pummeled, hammered, and dominated the Seattle Seahawks in every facet, to pull themselves into a tie with San Francisco atop the NFC West divisional race. The 27-3 drubbing was by far their most complete game this season.

The Arizona defense came into the matchup ranked first against the run and last against the pass. Afterwards, you’d have thought they were first in both.

Previewing this game I had said, ‘the Cardinals seem to prosper when no one expects them to, so maybe this is the game that they play up to their potential in defending the pass. If the secondary plays well, the real Cardinals defense will rise.‘ I had no idea it would come true almost to a tee.

The Cardinals held Seattle to their lowest single game output on the ground in team history, a meager 14 yards. Matt Hasselbeck, fresh from raining four touchdowns on the Jaguars, was held to 112 yards on 10 of 29 passing, for a 32.5 QB rating.

You knew it was over when…huh? The Seahawks never got started. Seattle was down 14-0 before Hasselbeck even touched the ball. When he did touch it, the Cardinals laid five sacks, an interception, seven deflections, and a fumble recovery on him in only 17 futile minutes of Seattle possession. Their only score was a field goal that was set up by their longest play of the day- a fake punt pass to John Carlson for 42 yards.

In the 42 minutes that Arizona owned ball, Kurt Warner played like a future Hall of Famer, Larry Fitzgerald tied his single game reception high with 13 catches, and Steve Breaston did his best Fitzgerald impersonation on an acrobatic all-hands-team touchdown reception.

Most importantly, Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells split 25 carries, their combined season high, for 61 yards and a TD. While not immense totals, it bodes well for striking the balance that Ken Whisenhunt wants to attain. It has been proven how lethal this team can be when they do achieve that desired balance.