SEATTLE — The Dallas Cowboys fell to the Seattle Seahawks on the road 38-31. Once again, the Cowboys struggled with several self-inflicted miscues throughout the course of the game that contributed to the loss.
Heading into the matchup, Seattle’s defense was allowing the most explosive plays of 10-plus yards and Dallas led the NFL with 41 plays of 10-plus yards through two games. The Cowboys entered with a banged up secondary and a defensive line that was struggling to generate pass pressure going up against mobile quarterback Russell Wilson, who has been playing at the top of his game/ in the early discussion for league MVP. The team knew it would be a battle.
Defense
The Cowboys defense improved in week three with four sacks, three by Aldon Smith and one by Antwaun Woods. Smith had consistent burst off the edge and out leveraged his blocker to disrupt Wilson in the pocket. The secondary however, struggled in coverage and Seattle’s receivers were wide open on routes that set up easy touchdowns. In addition, the last line of defense racked up several costly penalties that sustained drives for the Seahawks and marched them down the field.
Rookie Trevon Diggs had one of the biggest plays of the day. He was beat by D.K. Metcalf on a route but hustled after him and knocked the ball out in the end zone for the touchback to prevent a 63-yard touchdown.
Offense
Offensively, Prescott threw for a career-high 472 yards and the offensive unit reached the end zone four times with both Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson finishing with more than 100 yards receiving, but Dak also threw for two interceptions and lost a fumble. The turnovers resulted in 14 points for Seattle. The Cowboys shot themselves in the foot and did not capitalize on enough opportunities to come away with the victory.
Following the game, Mike McCarthy stated ““ They made more key plays than we did…the key plays in the game, we have to give those guys credit.”
Part of the reason Prescott’s numbers were so high was a result of the team having to come from behind again and the lack of production by Ezekiel Elliott in the running game. Elliott finished with 14 carries for 34 yards. The Seahawks came in with a game plan to shut down the run and K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner carried it out making tackles near the line of scrimmage and not allowing Zeke to break to the second level.
Overall
Dallas came back from a 15-point deficit and after Greg Zuerlein’s field goal in the fourth that gave the Cowboys a 31-30 lead, it seemed Dallas might pull off another crazy comeback victory but the end result was different. Wilson then had more than enough time with four minutes left. With plenty of time in the pocket, Wilson connected with Metcalf in the end zone for the touchdown. The Seahawks then failed on the first two-point attempt but a penalty on Trysten Hill (roughing the passer) gave the team another go to reach the end zone and they capitalized with a 38-31 lead.
The Cowboys got the ball back with 1:47 left on the clock and were able to march down the field into Seattle territory but came up short. Prescott threw a Hail Mary towards the end zone that was intercepted by the Seahawks as time expired.
There were good moments throughout the game but too many mistakes to reach a win. After a terrible special team’s performance with a missed extra point, a blocked extra point, and a muffed kick return by Tony Pollard; along with 10 penalties for a loss of 59 yards, blown coverage, and miscommunications, the Cowboys fell to 1-2.
