Seahawks to face Cardinals without six starters, including Darnold and Quenton Nelson

The Seattle Seahawks will play Sunday's home game against the Arizona Cardinals without six starters. That leaves Drew Lock at quarterback and a reshuffled offensive line in front of him. Coach Mike Macdonald ruled out quarterback Sam Darnold (quad), left guard Quenton Nelson (knee), left tackle Charles Cross (ankle), defensive tackle Leonard Williams (stinger), outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (ankle) and receiver and returner Rashid Shaheed (knee), ESPN reported.

The most surprising name on the list is Nelson. Seattle acquired the All-Pro guard from Indianapolis last week for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick. He played every snap of Monday's loss to Chicago. Now he needs what Macdonald called a minor knee procedure, and he is week to week but not headed to injured reserve. Macdonald said the injury predated the trade and was aggravated after Nelson arrived, and that everyone agreed it was "best to take care of it now and play the long game," according to ESPN. Grey Zabel moves back to left guard, Anthony Bradford returns at right guard and Josh Jones makes another start at left tackle for Cross.

The reserves are the theme of Field Gulls' Saturday preview on SB Nation, and the injury report bears it out. Darnold cracked a rib on the second play against the Bears and hurt his quad late in the game. Lock will start despite a right elbow injury that kept him inactive for two games. He has been limited on every injury report since Week 6. Jalen Milroe was readied as the third quarterback, and former UFL MVP Adrian Martinez joined the practice squad this week. On defense, backup tackle Brandon Pili (back) is also out and outside linebacker Connor O'Toole (foot) is questionable, so the front will be thin without Williams and Nwosu.

What it means against Arizona

Seattle is 4-4 and has lost three of its last four, most recently a 34-17 loss to Chicago. Three of the four losses came by three points or fewer, at Washington, against San Francisco and at Denver. The Seahawks have still outscored opponents 185-159 and are 3-2 at Lumen Field. Arizona arrives at 3-5. When these teams met in Week 2, Seattle won 31-7 in the desert. Lock played most of the first two games after Darnold hurt a glute in the opener, and three of his four touchdown passes in that stretch came in that win, per ESPN.

The board has not moved much on the injury news. Seattle is a clear favorite across the 12 venues on this game's page. Novig lists the Seahawks at -376 on the moneyline and Arizona at +365. On the spread, Novig has Seattle favored by 8.5 at even money (-100). The best Seattle number elsewhere is -8 at theScore Bet, priced at -115. The venues differ by only half a point on the line, and sportsbook hold on the spread runs from 2.9% to 5.0%. The total is 39.5 on Novig, with the over at +104 and the under at -106. That total is well below the roughly 43 combined points per game in Seattle's games this season, which suggests the market expects a quieter afternoon from a backup-heavy lineup.

Kickoff is Sunday on Fox. Seattle's position for the second half of the season may depend on how well a patched-up line protects a quarterback with a sore elbow.