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OK, I've heard back on a few inquiries regarding potential fines stemming from Week 10 games involving NFC West teams.

Looks like we had some pretty good damage.

Seahawks at Cardinals

• $7,500 against the Cardinals' Darnell Dockett for elbowing Matt Hasselbeck in the throat.
• $7,500 against Seahawks safety Jordan Babineaux for a horse collar tackle on Anquan Boldin.
• $5,000 against Cardinals cornerback Bryant McFadden for a facemask committed on T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
• $5,000 against Cardinals running back Beanie Wells for hitting Seahawks safety Deon Grant.
• $5,000 against Grant for instigating the incident with Wells.

Bears at 49ers

• $5,000 against Bears tackle Chris Williams for unnecessarily striking an opponent after the play.
• $5,000 against 49ers receiver Arnaz Battle for a facemask violation.
• $5,000 against 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown for taunting.
• $5,000 against 49ers tight end Delanie Walker for kicking an opponent.

By the way, the Bears' Mark Anderson did not incur a fine for striking the 49ers' Chilo Rachal after Frank Gore's fumble. That one generated some interest on the blog previously.

The $7,500 fine against Darnell Dockett seems about right for pressing his elbow into Matt Hasselbeck's throat Sunday.

The lesser fine of $5,000 might seem like more of a slap on the wrist. The $7,500 amount is more like an elbow pressed to the throat -- not enough to do any lasting damage, but enough to get a player's attention.

And that is what I think Dockett was doing on the play in question. He seemed to be sending a message, not trying to injure Hasselbeck seriously.

Additional fines from this game:

• $5,000 against Cardinals cornerback Bryant McFadden for a facemask violation against Seahawks receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
• $5,000 against Cardinals running back Beanie Wells for hitting Seahawks safety Deon Grant.
• $5,000 against Grant for instigating the confrontation.
• $7,500 against Seahawks safety Jordan Babineaux for a horse collar tackle on Anquan Boldin.

These are all coming from Darren Urban of azcardinals.com. I am waiting to hear back from the league on those and others. Will update as new information becomes available.

The Cardinals recorded four of their six longest offensive plays of the season against the Seahawks in Week 10. The best news for Arizona: two of them came with fewer than three wide receivers on the field, and one of them was a run.

This was a hot topic earlier in the season when the Cardinals were having problems striking downfield in the passing game. "You need to run the ball from run sets to force teams to play the run so you can take play-action shots," ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer advised.

That is what the Cardinals have done. Against Chicago in Week 9, they ran the ball eight times in their first 11 snaps with fewer than three wide receivers. Later in the game, they threw two touchdown passes from similar personnel.

Against Seattle, the Cardinals ran the ball on their first three plays with fewer than three wide receivers. They later threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Steve Breaston from similar personnel.

The Cardinals have changed offensively in the last two weeks. They have used regular personnel -- two backs, two receivers, one tight end -- about 45 percent of the time on first down in each of those games. They had never done so more than a third of the time in any of their seven previous games this season.

Receivers Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston still attract most of the attention from opponents, and rightfully so. But the Cardinals are developing a ground game separate from their three- and four-receiver packages. The Cardinals produced their two longest runs of the season in the last two games, both by Beanie Wells and both from two-receiver personnel (one covering 29 yards, the other 26 yards). Wells has 14 runs of at least 10 yards this season. Twelve of them came with fewer than three wide receivers on the field.

Wells has also been effective in limited carries with three or more wide receivers. Establishing the ground game from run-oriented personnel is important for dictating more favorable coverages. Counting playoffs last season, the Cardinals had 17 plays longer than 40 yards. Eight came with fewer than three wide receivers on the field even though Arizona used three or more 65 percent of the time (compared to 60 percent so far this season and 42 percent Sunday).

I'm working on an item about the Rams' situation at receiver -- Keenan Burton is undergoing surgery -- but first wanted to pass along an officiating note.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt indicated dissatisfaction with several calls during the Seattle-Arizona game Sunday.

"I'm disappointed that there seemed to be a number of penalties called that were tough to see," Whisenhunt said. "I thought we played a pretty good technical game. Some of those penalties were unfortunate. I wasn't happy with them. There will be a few that we turn in (to the league office) because, as would be the normal case, you don't always agree with them."

Seahawks coach Jim Mora also had issues with the game referee Walt Coleman's crew called. According to Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times, Mora said he turned in 17 plays for league review, the most he has ever submitted as an NFL head coach.

If that is what the head coaches are saying publicly, imagine what they must be saying in private.

Coleman's crew called 26 penalties, an extremely high number.

Teams with dominant pass rushers give Kurt Warner and the Cardinals big problems.

The Seattle Seahawks are no longer one of those teams.

Carolina, Indianapolis and San Francisco beat the Cardinals this season because they won one-on-one matchups up front. The Steelers beat the Cardinals in the Super Bowl because James Harrison won those one-on-one battles. The Vikings beat the Cardinals late last season because they won those matchups.

The Seahawks' inability to win those matchups stood out to me as the single biggest reason they could not beat the Cardinals in Week 10 even after building a 14-0 lead.

This should trouble the Seahawks deeply because the team has invested significant resources to win those battles:

• The organization paid and continues to pay huge money to Patrick Kerney, but the Cardinals' Levi Brown matched up with him pretty evenly Sunday.
• The organization used the fourth overall choice in the 2009 draft for Aaron Curry, then lauded his pass-rush skills. I didn't notice those skills Sunday.
• The team invested a 2008 first-round choice in defensive end Lawrence Jackson. I doubt Warner could pick him out of a photo lineup featuring Seattle pass rushers.
• The team used a 2006 second-round choice for defensive end Darryl Tapp. How much time does Warner spend preparing to face him?
• The team adjusted 2007 third-round choice Brandon Mebane's role in hopes he would become a poor man's Warren Sapp. Mebane, though occasionally disruptive, has one sack all season.

The Seahawks have lost six of their last seven games against the Cardinals. Kerney dominated as a pass rusher in the last Seattle victory between the teams. Seattle lacks that element and it was the biggest problem facing the team Sunday.

The facts: The Seahawks fell to 3-6 with a 31-20 road defeat to the Cardinals in Week 10.

The upside: Even the worst defeats tend to feature a bright spot or two.

• Seattle scored seven first-quarter points against Arizona after managing only six in the five previous first quarters combined. Jumping to a 14-0 lead was impressive and critical for the Seahawks after they fell behind early against the Cardinals in the previous meeting.
• The defense made a momentum-turning goal-line stand to prevent the Cardinals from taking a 7-0 lead. The stop spurred Seattle's offense, which responded with a six-play, 99-yard touchdown drive.
• The offense finished with 472 yards, the Seahawks' most since a 501-yard game against Atlanta in Week 17 of the 2007 season. This was the Seahawks' third-highest regular-season yardage total since the start of the 2003 season. The 2004 team gained 507 yards against Dallas.
• Justin Forsett played an exceptional game at running back. His 123-yardage total was only part of the story. The block he made in blitz pickup against Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson was tremendous.
• Receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught nine passes for 165 yards in his finest game with the Seahawks. Houshmandzadeh made big plays down the field, pushing his per-catch average for the season to 11.6 yards.
• Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane showed flashes early in the game, particularly on a 4-yard tackle for loss.
• Fullback Justin Griffith made excellent blocks leading Forsett on inside runs. The zone running game looked good. Line coach Mike Solari has done a good job under the circumstances and that showed Sunday.

Looking ahead: The Seahawks face the Vikings on the road in Week 11.

Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times says the Seahawks failed to deliver on promises this season. Kelley: "This season was supposed to be about a seamless transition from former coach Mike Holmgren to new coach Jim Mora." He is right. The Seahawks definitely expected more this season. Last season was supposed to be an injury-induced aberration. Mora had spent two seasons on Holmgren's staff, so he knew the personnel.

Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times says Matt Hasselbeck felt better about the Seahawks' offensive performance despite the defeat. O'Neil: "The Seahawks weren't rendered road kill until the final period when Beanie Wells ran over Seattle's defense. That wasn't a metaphor. He ran right through safety Deon Grant on a 13-yard touchdown run, spinning out of Grant's hit and putting Arizona ahead for good with 11:20 left in the game. It was Wells' second rushing touchdown of the second half."

Also from O'Neil: Anquan Boldin's 37-yard reception was the play of the game.

Dave Boling of the Tacoma News Tribune says the Seahawks need to start playing for the future. Mora: "I see growth on this football team. I thought coming into this year we would see growth once we had some (lineup) continuity. And we’ve had some and I think it showed up today. Offensively, we were able to move the ball against a very good defense. We were able to run the ball against a defense that was fourth in the NFL against the run. To me, those are all positives." The Cardinals' run defense has fallen off dramatically in recent weeks and I do not think Justin Forsett can carry a full rushing load week after week.

Also from Boling: The Cardinals had a hard time finding the diminutive Forsett.

Eric D. Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune says the Seahawks' T.J. Houshmandzadeh ranks eighth among NFL players in receptions after catching nine passes for 165 yards against the Cardinals.

Also from Williams: The Seahawks appear destined to miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season, something that has not happened since the 2001 and 2002 teams failed to qualify.

John Morgan of Field Gulls liked what he saw from Forsett, Brandon Mebane, Darryl Tapp and Josh Wilson. Mebane was disruptive at times, but the Seahawks failed to sack Kurt Warner or pressure him when it mattered.

John Clayton and I previewed the Seahawks-Cardinals game while touching on other NFC West subjects during his Saturday radio show on 710ESPN Seattle.

Audio here.

I'll be covering the game from University of Phoenix Stadium. Generally, I would fly in Saturday, but I'm on the first flight out Sunday morning. My youngest son's fifth birthday party was Saturday afternoon and I wasn't going to miss it.

Also: There's still time to leave predictions for remaining NFC West games in Week 10. Visit the comments section of this item for your chance to earn a spot on the Wall of Fame.

Having Sean Locklear at left tackle used to be a worst-case scenario for the Seahawks.

It meant Walter Jones wasn't available.

Times have changed. With Jones on injured reserve, the Seahawks are happy to welcome back Locklear from a severe ankle injury. They expect him to start against the Cardinals.

"He’s looked good," Mora told reporters Friday. "[We needed him to] make it through practice and show no ill effects, be able to come back the next day and not be sore. So he had a good week."

Locklear could be rusty, but at least he has experience in the offense.

They sold enough tickets to the Seahawks-Cardinals game to get around NFL blackout rules.

That means the Cardinals have sold out every home game since opening University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006.

The Cardinals have sold enough tickets to their Week 10 game against Seattle for the NFL to offer a 24-hour blackout extension.

That means the team has until Friday to sell enough tickets for the game to appear on local television in Arizona.

The Cardinals have sold out every home game since University of Phoenix Stadium opened in 2006.

The Wall of Fame stood firm in Week 9, taunting the NFC West masses.

With the 49ers and Bears kicking off within hours, it's time for the Wall to welcome new challenges in Week 10.

For a spot on the Wall, simply predict outcomes and scores correctly for the following Week 10 games involving NFC West teams:

• Bears at 49ers
• Saints at Rams
• Seahawks at Cardinals

The fine print: Those submitting predictions for "You called it" must pick the winner correctly for their scores to be considered. Scoring is easy to calculate. The difference between a 20-17 prediction and a 31-14 outcome would be 14 points. We would calculate this by adding the difference between 20 and 31 to the difference between 17 and 14.

The Wall of Fame presently features:

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

SEATTLE -- Ben Patrick is active for the Cardinals following his four-game suspension, but the team is listing Anthony Becht as its starting tight end.

Stephen Spach and Dominique Byrd are the inactive tight end for Arizona.

Also inactive for the Cardinals: Rashad Johnson, Reggie Walker, Herman Johnson, Brandon Keith and Early Doucet. Brian St. Pierre is the third quarterback.

The Seahawks' inactive players are: safety C.J. Wallace, linebacker Leroy Hill, guard Rob Sims, tackle Walter Jones, tackle Sean Locklear, defensive tackle Red Bryant and tight end Cameron Morrah. Mike Teel is the third quarterback.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Before we solicit predictions for the Falcons-Cardinals game -- look for that Friday -- we sift through your "You called it" submissions for Week 17 games involving NFC West teams.

The Wall of Fame remained unchanged because no one predicted a score and outcome exactly, but we did have a few impressive efforts.

Dannypad came closest to predicting a score and outcome correctly. He foresaw a 34-24 Cardinals victory over the Seahawks (34-21 actual score after Olindo Mare missed a field goal for Seattle). Excellent work.

NINERS4Ever66 was right behind with a 31-20 prediction on the Seahawks-Cardinals game. The four-point differential matched TheRooster58's margin on the Redskins-49ers score (27-20 prediction, 27-24 outcome). Way to go.

Giant302 came closest to hitting the Rams-Falcons score with a 33-24 prediction (31-27 actual). Mariner377 also foresaw a close Falcons victory, predicting a 27-24 score. Great work on a game that most saw Atlanta winning in a blowout.

Thirteen forecasters predicted all three outcomes correctly. Of those, cloudturo came closest on average to predicting scores, missing by an average of 12 points per game (that sounds like a wide margin, but it works out to hitting each team's score within a touchdown). Cloudturo predicted the 49ers to win 24-20, the Cardinals to win 21-20 and the Falcons to win 27-16.

The Wall of Fame stands as follows:

• Elion245. Forecast the Redskins' 20-17 victory over the Seahawks in Week 12.
• Leesters. Forecast the Bears' 27-3 victory over the Rams in Week 12.
• habitat730. Forecast the Cardinals' 34-10 victory over the Rams in Week 14.

The fine print: Those submitting predictions for "You called it" must pick the winner correctly for their scores to be considered. Scoring is easy to calculate. The difference between a 20-17 prediction and a 31-14 outcome would be 14 points. We would calculate this by adding the difference between 20 and 31 to the difference between 17 and 14.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

The facts: The Seahawks finished the 2008 season with a 4-12 record after their 34-21 defeat at Arizona in Week 17.

The upside: Even the worst defeats tend to feature a bright spot or two.

• Deion Branch again showed what he can do when healthy. He caught six passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Branch scored four touchdowns over the final four games of the season.
• Though intercepted twice, Seneca Wallace made plays with his feet. He also made accurate deep throws even when pressured.
• Josh Wilson had a 30.4-yard average on five kickoff returns.
• The Seahawks had three drives of at least 12 plays, allowing them to build a nearly five-minute advantage in time of possession.
• Darryl Tapp and Brandon Mebane combined for three hits on Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. Tapp also forced a fumble.
• Seattle scored touchdowns on both red zone possessions.
• The Seahawks' short yardage offense was generally effective, converting twice on third-and-1, once on fourth-and-1 and once on fourth-and-2. Seattle also ran the ball for 4 yards on third-and-3.

Looking ahead: The Seahawks hold the fourth overall choice in the 2009 NFL draft.