SEATTLE — In one of the most unartful games in recent Seahawks history, there was at least one moment of beauty.
Through the fumbles and off-target passes and poor decisions, Jake Bobo's second-quarter touchdown catch shined almost as bright as the sun that peaked through in the second half, a toe-tap in the back of the end zone that helped propel Seattle to a 20-10 win over Arizona on Sunday at Lumen Field.
Bobo's catch and tap dance were so jaw-dropping that officials initially ruled him out of bounds before Pete Carroll challenged the ruling. It was overturned after a replay.
His 18-yard TD with 4:41 to play in the second quarter gave Seattle a 14-10 lead at halftime that held up through a mistake-filled second half that didn't soothe anyone's angst about how Geno Smith has played of late.
Smith threw one interception to a well-covered Bobo at the 1-yard line in the third quarter, then simply fumbled a snap from under center in the fourth quarter for two of the season-high three turnovers Seattle had on the day.
Arizona's Kyzir White also dropped a Smith pass thrown right to him that might have gone for a pick-six in the second quarter.
Smith finished 18-for-24 for 219 yards and two touchdowns — the other of 28 yards to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first quarter.
But he was just 6-of-9 for 70 and the one pick in the second half.
That he played without DK Metcalf, who missed the first game of his career with rib and hip injuries, surely factored in.
Still, the Seahawks might not have won if not for a barrelful of mistakes by the Cardinals.
Arizona penalties killed one potential score in the first half, and a bad snap and then a missed field goal blew a scoring chance in the fourth quarter after Arizona had reached the 15 trailing 17-10.
Arizona also made a head-scratching decision to try a fake punt on a fourth-and-nine at the 49 with just over five minutes left with Michael Jackson and Derick Hall tackling Michael Wilson 5 yards short of the first.
That gave Seattle the ball at its own 45 with 4:58 remaining.
From there, the Seahawks finally put the game away, with Smith hitting Bobo to convert a third down and the team using Kenneth Walker III's legs to get in position for a 48-yard field goal by Jason Myers with 2:17 left that put the Seahawks up 20-10 and finally allowed the Lumen Field crowd to exhale.
But if the manner in which Seattle won will no doubt cause a week's worth of discussion about just how good the Seahawks are, the NFL is also a survive-and-advance league.
And the upshot is that Seattle has won four of five since the season-opening loss to the Rams to improve to 4-2 and stay on the heels of the 5-1 49ers — who play Monday night at Minnesota — in the NFC West and move solidly ahead of the Rams, who lost at home to Pittsburgh to fall to 3-4.
