Will Seahawks have better luck against Cardinals in Arizona?

The Arizona Cardinals needed less than three hours to show Seattle how far it had fallen in the NFC West, marching into Qwest Field and walking over the Seahawks four weeks ago.

Those footprints are still fresh. Any thoughts Seattle had loaned the NFC West title to the Cardinals last season evaporated in Week 6. Arizona held the ball for 14 of the game's first 15 minutes and scored two touchdowns before the Seahawks' offense even took the field in Arizona's 27-3 victory.

"We really weren't out of the game if you looked at the scoreboard," Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "But if you were at the game, it didn't ever feel like we were really in it."

It was the low point since Seattle joined the NFC West, the 24-point margin of defeat Seattle's largest against any division opponent since 2002.

Arizona now owns the claim ticket to the division that once belonged to Seattle. The Seahawks won four consecutive NFC West titles starting in 2004 and won 10 games in a row against division opponents at one point.

Can Seattle find its way back into contention? Only if it wins today, and that's a tall order considering the circumstances.

The Seahawks are on the road, where they've lost 11 of their past 13 regular-season games. They're in Arizona, where they haven't won since the Cardinals moved into their new stadium in 2006. They're playing the Cardinals, who have won five of the teams' past six meetings, including the 24-point whupping earlier this season.

If it was that bad in Seattle, how's it going to get any better on the road? All Arizona has to do is follow the same procedure, right? Rinse, lather, repeat, and the Seahawks will be washed right out of the NFC West playoff discussion for good. That sounds too easy to Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt.

"What I've learned in this league is that you never can duplicate what you did before, no matter what," Whisenhunt said.

The NFL is a league of adjustments, and coaches don't work their way up the NFL food chain by overlooking the reasons for a loss. You develop counterpunches to keep from getting knocked out again.

"They always find ways to correct it," Whisenhunt said. "We'll have to change up what we do."

That means finding a way to keep Arizona's pass rush from using Hasselbeck for target practice. He was sacked five times in the first meeting, and it wasn't just the defensive linemen who applied the pressure. Arizona's secondary pressed up on Seattle's receivers, trying to take any quick option Hasselbeck might have and betting on the fact he wouldn't have time to look farther downfield.

The Cardinals left the back door open, but Seattle never could find a way to get over the top.

"There's no way they can guard us the way they were trying to guard us," Hasselbeck said after the game. "We just can't let people get away with that. We have to execute."

Arizona's defense is known to take chances. If Seattle is going to find a way to win as a longshot, it's going to have to turn those chances into scores.

"They're not really a conservative team," Hasselbeck said. "They like to gamble."

That's kind of fitting, because today is Seattle's last chance to remain relevant within the division this season. And while it might be a longshot, Seattle still has a chance.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com