Defense Saves Dallas Cowboys in Offensive Shootout With Seattle Seahawks: Top 10 Whitty Observations
On a wild west shootout of a night at AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys won a football game without forcing their opponent to punt. And the Seattle Seahawks lost one when scoring 35+ points for the first time in 37 games under coach Pete Carroll.
Cowboys 41, Seahawks 35 ... whew!
10. THE DEFENSE RESTS - On a night when Dak Prescott and the Cowboys' offense tied an NFL record by topping 40 points for the fourth consecutive home game, it was a beleaguered defense that them to hang on with three fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter.
First it was DeMarcus Lawrence with a tackle in the backfield with Dallas trailing, 35-30. Then blitz pressure forced Seahawks' quarterback Geno Smith to throw a wild incompletion off his back foot with Dallas up 38-35. And finally - inexplicably - it was an unblocked Micah Parsons harassing Smith into a harmless incompletion on 4th-and-2 at midfield.
Dan Quinn's unit allowed 406 yards and didn't force a Seahawks punt, but when the Cowboys needed a stop the defense came up with three in a row.
9. PERPLEXING PRIME - Still trying to figure out why Deion Sanders is treated like royalty by America in general and the Cowboys in specific.
No doubt he's one of the greatest athletes to ever step on a playing field. But he helped the Cowboys to only one Super Bowl (one in which, in fact, cornerback Larry Brown was the MVP). He sidetracked the lives of DFW students and teachers at his failed Prime Prep Academy. And this season after arrogantly demanding adulation from the college football world, his Colorado Buffaloes lost eight of their last nine games to not even qualify for a bowl game.
But there he was Thursday night, posing for a photo with Jerry Jones, sitting in a suite with son, Shedeur, basking in the glow of being named Sports Illustrated's "Sportsperson of the Year" and prepping for his upcoming Prime Video docuseries, Coach Prime.
8. DARON BLANDED, TEMPORARILY - Good thing Cowboys' cornerback DaRon Bland won his NFC Defensive Player of the Month Award before this one, because if the voting would've run through Nov. 30 he'd be giving it back. With talk of him and his record five Pick 6s being a candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Bland crashed back to Earth in front of a national TV audience during an ugly first half.
He was beaten twice for touchdowns by DK Metcalf, badly missed a tackle and was called for interference in the end zone. In a memorable season, it was a forgettable half. Instead of hanging his helmet, however, Bland picked off Geno Smith (for his eighth of the season) midway through the third quarter.
7. DIZZYING DISPLAY - In a season filled with boring blowouts in Arlington, the first half wasn't perfect but was certainly entertaining. In the first 30 minutes the teams combined for 431 yards, 41 points, 30 first downs, 11 penalties and 0 punts. And there could've been more scoring, had the Seahawks' Jason Myers not missed a field goal and the Cowboys' Terence Steele not been called for a holding penalty that negated a Prescott touchdown scramble.
It's not often a team trails at halftime despite scoring on every first-half possession, but Dallas indeed did, 21-20. The second was equally exciting. The game featured 19 possessions (not counting end-of-half/game kneeldowns) without a punt, only the fifth game in NFL history in which neither team punted.
6. MIKE MCGRESSIVE - Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was aggressive from the start. Three times through for the first three quarters he went for fourth downs, once bypassing a 48-yard field goal that would've given a Dallas a 30-28 lead. Instead, Prescott threw a perfect 4th-and-2 pass that was blatantly dropped by CeeDee Lamb. But he got a little too cute late in the game, allowing Prescott to throw into the end zone while nursing a three-point lead and Seattle out of timeouts.
The call saved the Seahawks about 35 seconds on the clock. But Dallas' defense saved McCarthy.
5. KICKIN' IT - The 2-9 New England Patriots traded up last April in the fourth round to draft a rookie kicker (Chad Ryland) that has missed six field goals and in consecutive losses (by four and three points) has misfired on a 35-yard attempts.
The 9-3 Cowboys, meanwhile. signed a rookie free agent (Brandon Aubrey) off the street who made four more field goals against Seattle to run his impressive rookie season to 26 of 26. Remind us again about the "genius" of Bill Belichick.
Jake Ferguson and the Cowboys held off the feisty Seahawks in a wild Thursday night game.
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4. SMACK-TASTIC - We're convinced that if you lead a life riddled with sin on this Earth that on the other side you are eternally wired into a headset blaring Carroll violently smacking his gum. Time to repent, anyone?
3. MAN AMONGST 'BOYS - Not sure if Metcalf was motivated by Lamb's accolades and recent claim at being (among?) the "best" receiver(s) in the league, but the Seahawks' star certainly reminded the world about his immense talent.
It proved a fascinating duel. While Lamb had 12 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, Metcalf topped him with six for 143 and three scores. Lamb also had two key drops, one on a late third-quarter fourth down and one early in the fourth in the end zone with Dallas trailing 35-27.
2. JAKE THE GREAT - Anybody missing - or even remembering - Dalton Schultz right about now? Tight end Jake Ferguson caught six passes for 77 yards, and beat stud Seattle safety Jamal Adams for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. Ferguson's nifty up-and-out route spun Adams around, and his leaping grab put Dallas in front 36-35 with 4:37 remaining.
1. HOME, SWEET (BARELY) HOME - The Cowboys extended their NFL-best home winning streak to 14, but not until after being threatened in Arlington for the first time all season. Truth to be told, they got caught - as Bill Parcells used to famously warn - eating the cheese. Looking back at Thanksgiving's rout that owner Jerry Jones compared to a Super Bowl and looking ahead to next week's showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys fell into a trap ... and were lucky to escape.
But now? It's all about Philly. Said Micah: "They got to come see us now. I’m excited about every game, but I feel like it’s us against the world, so let’s do it.”
