Seattle Seahawks Win With Disappointing Effort over Cowboys
By Curt Popejoy
Sometimes, there are those wins that you just can’t get overly excited about. There are those games that you play on the road and when it is all over, you just get on the plane as fast as you can and get home. The Seattle Seahawks 13-12 win over the Dallas Cowboys certainly qualifies.
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Seattle went into Dallas hoping to keep the momentum going, after beating the San Francisco 49ers the week before. On the other hand, the Cowboys were riding a four-game losing streak since quarterback Tony Romo went down with his injury. There was still no Romo on Sunday, so this game should have been a lock, right? Not so fast.
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When the Seahawks go back and watch the film on Sunday’s game, they have to look at this game more as a loss in terms of what they can learn as opposed to a win. However, there was some great news. And that was the defense.
I understand that you have to temper enthusiasm when your defense is going against a quarterback like Matt Cassel, but when the opportunity was there for a letdown, they just amped up the intensity. Another week where the Seahawks offense couldn’t get any traction, the defense just get shutting the door on the Dallas offense. It is hard to fault a defense that held the opponent to four field goals.
That meant all the Seahawks offense needed to do was top those 12 measly points the Cowboys mustered. And even though it took the entire game to do it, Seattle finally sealed the deal. Seattle actually went into the fourth quarter leading 10-9, and tacked on a 24-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka with just over five minutes left to play.
The story for the offense was more of the same. The offensive line struggled all game long, and dragged down the entire offense. Seeing running back Marshawn Lynch take hit after hit behind the line of scrimmage. Quarterback Russell Wilson wasn’t sacked this week, but he was hit six times, and tucked it and ran six more. It was clear that the passing game suffered because Wilson was playing with a quick trigger.
There was no reason this game was close. Yes, all the wins count the same, but with the Arizona Cardinals coming up after the bye week in prime time, Seattle cannot duplicate this effort. Even at 4-4, there is more to the record. The team’s four wins have been against substandard teams, and the four losses have come against quality opponents.
Looking ahead at the schedule, the back half of the schedule is thin on cupcakes. Seattle isn’t going to make the playoffs if they can’t finish 9-7 or above, and going 5-3 to finish the year is going to have to make some changes. Head coach Pete Carroll needs to use the bye week to retool the blocking schemes, and find ways to create better matchups for his front. Right now, Carroll is slamming his hand in the dresser drawer hoping that one of these times it won’t hurt.