This week’s game on Sunday Night Football will be the game that defines Seattle’s season. Either they’ll win, and run through the rest of their schedule like a freight train. Or they’ll lose on national TV, shattering their confidence and distancing them even more from the playoff race.

Each team is coming in with equal amounts of pressure. The Seahawks need to salvage their season, while the Cardinals need to show the rest of the league that they are for real, and can beat more than just the bottom feeders. Here’s a position comparison of both teams.

Quarterback – At age 36 Carson Palmer hasn’t showed any signs of age, putting on a performance that has him in step with the best in the NFL. His 20 touchdowns through eight games trails only Tom Brady’s 22. Most telling is that the Cardinals are 22-8 when Palmer lines up under center, and only 5-5 when he doesn’t.

Russell Wilson has decent numbers this year, completing over 68% of his passes to go with an even 95-passer-rating. Although those numbers have not exactly resulted in points. Through eight games he has only nine TD passes and the Seahawks are last in red zone scoring. Still he is dangerous when improvising and can beat you with his legs, as his 303 yards on the ground shows.

Edge: Cardinals

Running back: Marshawn Lynch has not been the Marshawn Lynch we have seen in past years. Yes he has shown flashes, and the ‘Hawks have been in more situations necessitating the pass than in the past. Not to mention the offensive line has been horrendous until recently.

Chris Johnson has been one of the league’s great surprises. After seemingly fading into anonymity, he has had a resurgence this year, occupying third place on the league’s rushing charts. He’s looking like CJ2K more and more, and has they speed to break off big plays at any moment.

Edge: Cardinals

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: Jimmy Graham and Larry Fitzgerald cancel each other out. Both are having decent years, although Graham’s numbers are far below his standard. Fitz, like CJ2K, is coming back into the national consciousness, reminding us of how good he actually is.

The rest of both teams’ corps is fairly non-descript. The Seahawks do have Tyler Lockett, although he has been more of a surprise than a difference maker.

Edge: Tie

Defense: Both squads are top-five defenses, although Seattle holds the edge slightly in terms of yards allowed but not by much. Seattle is second, while the Cardinals are third. 

The biggest disparity lies in interceptions. Arizona leads the league with 13, per football-reference.com, while Seattle has only three, good for 29^th. Russell Wilson normally takes good care of the ball. Even though his totals are already even with years past, a few of those picks came in inconsequential situations, like a hail mary at the end of a half.

Also look for the Cardinals to give Wilson trouble with their blitz. The Seahawks are giving up sacks on 17 percent of blitzes per ESPN. That’s a problem because the Cardinals blitz on over 40 percent of their defensive snaps.

Edge: Tie

Special Teams: Steven Hauschka has been almost as automatic as it gets. It’s video game like. Combine that with Tyler Lockett’s return ability and the Seahawks have one of the best special teams units, if not the best in the NFL.

Yes Lockett hasn’t been as explosive lately, but chalk that up to the league respecting him. Or you could say he’s due. The faster he gets back to being all world, the better the ‘Hawks’ chances are to win the division.

Edge: Seahawks

Verdict: Seahawks 23 Cardinals 17. Despite the Cardinals holding the advantage in many key aspects of the game, I expect Marshawn Lynch to have a big day and get himself back on track for the season. The offensive line has shown vast improvement the past couple weeks, and we should expect that to continue.

It’s going to come down to offensive execution. Though the difference will be special teams. Both defenses are stout, while neither offense sets the world on fire. With a superior kicking and return game, the Seahawks’ special teams units will convert more drives for points via field goals thanks to Hauschka, and Lockett will routinely give the offense a shorter field. Hopefully that shorter field will result in six more often than three.

However the real deciding factor is Century Link Field. Arizona has shown in the past it’s not intimidated by the 12^th man, but the fact that the Seahawks have had a bye, they’ve now gotten comfortable and spent two weeks at home.

Photo: Flickr/Keith Allison