The Seahawks did not punt on Thursday night in Dallas. They will, however, be kicking themselves as well as any trash can that happens to be in the vicinity when someone mentions the officiating.
The Seahawks offense broke out of its month-long rut in fairly spectacular fashion, scoring more than 30 points for the first time since September only to fail on three straight fourth-down conversions in the fourth quarter.
The defense, however, didn’t do much to slow Dak Prescott after forcing a couple of first-half field goals. Dallas scored on eight of its nine possessions if you don’t count the Cowboys’ final clock-killing snaps of the first and second half.
Jason Myers missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt in the first half. The officials flagged linebacker Bobby Wagner for pass interference and then swallowed kept their hankies to themselves when the Cowboys Jourdan Lewis did the same thing to Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba later in the period. In what can only be compared to an act of God, the normally sure-handed Tyler Lockett flat-out dropped an easy catch for what would have been more than a 20-yard gain.
If this were earlier in the season or the Seahawks hadn’t lost twice to the Rams, I’d be inclined to point to the positives and say that Seattle stood toe-to-toe with a team that has been absolutely mopping teams on its home field.
But it isn’t earlier in the season and the Seahawks have lost twice to the Rams and they’ll take a three-game losing streak with them to San Francisco and the fact that Seattle has never lost four in a row under Pete Carroll isn’t offering all that much assurance at this point.
Geno Smith played a hell of a game in Dallas, D.K. Metcalf was an absolute monster and Smith-Njigba had his best game as a pro even if there was a mixup on the second of Seattle’s three failed fourth-down attempts in the final period.
Seattle was so close so many times in this game. They went for it on fourth-and-1 only to have DeMarcus Lawrence slip a block from second-year tackle Charles Cross and blow up the play. They went for it on fourth-and-2 near midfield on their final possession and watched Micah Parsons nuke that play when he came unblocked off the edge.
Let’s stop there for a second because that’s a call that’s going to be discussed in especially indignant terms today:
On one hand, I agree: I don’t like the call.
On the other hand, it is either ignorant or disingenuous to state that Seattle’s offensive coordinator simply decided not to account for Parsons on that fourth down because football plays are not nearly that simple. Here’s the chain of events.
Dallas lined up with six players at the line of scrimmage where Seattle has five offensive linemen. The tight end, Noah Fant, is lined up at the hash mark and not off tackle.
If the Cowboys bring all six pass rushers, which is what they’re showing, the offensive linemen are instructed to block the guy to the left, which is why Abe Lucas blocked Jayron Kearse, not Parsons. The running back – DeeJay Dallas – is lined up in front of the quarterback and to his left. His assignment is to run in front of the quarterback and into the flat as soon as the ball is snapped. If the Cowboys are rushing six – what’s called a zero blitz – Parsons will be coming free and in that case, Smith’s read is to throw to the running back who needs to be free in the flat.
If you want a better explanation of the scheme, click here to see Benjamin Solak’s explanation. The dude consulted Notre Dame-Navy film to find an example of how it’s supposed to work. As an aside, Solak – who works for The Ringer – is one of my very favorite sources of NFL analysis, and I highly recommend his work.
In effect, Seattle set up a counterpunch to Parsons coming unblocked. The problem is that Dallas didn’t get across the formation fast enough. Some of this was his fault. More of it was the penetration Demarcus Lawrence got up the middle. Some of it was the speed of Parsons.
Like I said, I don’t like the call. You’re giving the opponent’s best player a free run on a decisive play and your quarterback’s lifeline is a running back getting across the formation. That said, I understand the logic behind it.
And I suppose that’s a pretty good summary for this game. The Seahawks had the right idea. They even did some really good things in this game, but it wasn’t enough on the road against a good team and Seattle has played too many games, and stumbled too often, to find encouragement in a good loss.
Nope. This was a bad loss. One that leaves them with an uphill climb if they’re going to match last season’s record let alone exceed it.