The Seattle Seahawks let Colt McCoy be a bigger factor than Russell Wilson in Sunday's game.

Wilson is coming back off finger surgery, and maybe he's incapable of throwing it well. If that's the case, he shouldn't be starting. He is starting. And the Seahawks are treating him like an undrafted free agent who is having to start. They want to limit him at all costs. It is frustrating, and has been for many seasons.

The Cardinals, behind McCoy's 328 passing yards and two touchdowns, beat Seattle 23-13. Wilson had 207 passing yards and no touchdowns. At one point Sunday, Wilson had three pass attempts and Seattle had 12 rushing attempts. Playing a run-heavy approach despite having a future Hall of Fame quarterback, the Seahawks fell behind Arizona 13-3 and never dug out of that hole.

This is one of the reasons Wilson wanted a trade. Maybe we haven't heard the end of that story.

Russell Wilson a non-factor again

Wilson rushed back from finger surgery. But again, if he's healthy enough to play, there's no world in which it makes sense to open up running the ball just about every down, all to just fall behind by 10 points to McCoy and the Cardinals.

This has been the Seahawks' approach for many years. Wilson rarely has the same volume of passing as other great quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. The Seahawks like to run the ball a lot, even when their two best players on offense aside from Wilson are receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and often the plan turns into Wilson bailing them out with some great plays when he does get a chance to throw.

Usually that approach has led to wins, though it has been a while since Seattle made a deep playoff run. This season, the Seahawks are 3-7. There was a lot of chatter last offseason about a possible Wilson trade. If the Seahawks lose double-digit games and feel their best method to success is with their quarterback handing off most of the time, those rumors will be rekindled.

Cardinals outplay Seahawks in win

In fairness to the Seahawks' play-calling, this isn't vintage Wilson. There's some area between Wilson being able to play and not being himself, and he's settled in there the past two games. The Seahawks were shut out at Green Bay in Wilson's return last week, and they weren't much better on Sunday.

Wilson missed some passes. He had Gerald Everett open for a touchdown late in the first half, and he missed him so bad Everett never had a chance. Then Wilson threw well over everyone on third down, though he might have been throwing it away. Since Wilson has returned from injury, it's hard to tell.

The Cardinals continue to roll despite missing Kyler Murray, Chase Edmonds and DeAndre Hopkins. McCoy wasn't great but he was efficient. Arizona's defense continues to play very well. They look like a strong contender, like the Seahawks were years ago.

The Seahawks made a late rally, when Wilson had to pass more and he threw a nice 48-yard pass to Tyler Lockett to set up a touchdown. But McCoy came right back with a long drive and a touchdown by James Conner sealed the win.

The Cardinals seem like they're on their way to an NFC West title. Nobody can be sure where the Seahawks are heading if this season continues to get away from them.