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One of the NFL’s stout defenses will go head-to-head with one of the its most productive offenses when Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks welcome the Dallas Cowboys to CenturyLink Field on Sunday.

The two sides last met in Week 2 of the 2012 regular season, when ET III and the Seahawks defense shut down Dallas in a 27-7 home win.

In that last meeting, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo completed just 23-of-40 passes and posted a quarterback rating of 39.4 while running back DeMarco Murray was held to just 44 yards. For Seattle, Marshawn Lynch ran for 122 yards and Russell Wilson earned his first NFL victory. All of those same key players will be back at CenturyLink Field Sunday afternoon.

Dallas (4-1) comes into this year’s bout firing on all cylinders, having won four straight contests and sitting atop the NFC East. Romo is off to one of the best starts of his 11-year career with nine touchdowns and a completion percentage of 69.2 percent. In addition, Murray leads the league in nearly every rushing category and is on pace for a record-setting season.

Meanwhile, Seattle is coming off of its gritty 27-17 Monday Night Football win over the Washington Redskins. Wilson owns the league’s best completion percentage (70.3), its third best quarterback rating (112.9) and has thrown for eight touchdowns.

For Earl and the Hawks, containing Murray will be the defense’s main focal point. Seattle ranks first in the NFL in rushing defense, only letting up 62.3 yards per game. Earl said he hopes to take the running game away from Dallas and force Romo to throw the ball.

“It’s always about that,” ET III said. “I think when you can make a team one-dimensional and you know it’s a pass, it starts becoming 7-on-7, and you can kind of translate your mind into a pass thought; you don’t know if it’s going to be a play-action or run. So I’d rather make a team one-dimensional and take their strengths away from them and make them beat you with their weaknesses.”

Earl, a Texas native who grew up a Dallas fan, also praised the effective play of Romo as Dallas has transitioned to a ground-based offense.

“They’re starting to find out who they are,” Earl said. “They’re a run-first team and Tony [Romo] is doing a good job of scrambling and making big plays down field so we have to plaster; just as we if were playing Green Bay or Drew Brees. These quarterbacks have a knack for spinning out and kind of creating on the run. He and Russell [Wilson] are kind of alike in that aspect.”

Earl has a special relationship with Romo’s number one target Dez Bryant. In addition to both being members of the Team Jordan brand, the two — both 25 years old and in their fourth seasons in the league, both grew up in Southwest Texas and started competing against each other in high school.

ET III and Bryant then joined Big 12 schools as Earl attended the University of Texas and Bryant went to Oklahoma State.

The only time the two met in their respective college careers was an Oct. 25, 2008 showdown in which Earl’s No.1 ranked Longhorns outlasted Bryant’s No. 7 Cowboys 28-24. ET III had a dominating performance. He led Texas in tackles (8), deflected a pass and forced a fumble to help Mack Brown’s squad secure victory. For his part, Bryant had six receptions for 74 yards.

Early in his NFL career, injuries kept Bryant from fulfilling his full potential, but the Dallas wide reciever has come into his own with back-to-back 90-reception seasons of over 1,000 yards.

Last season, the Dallas star made his first Pro Bowl and is putting up similar numbers thus far in 2014.

“He’s slowly starting to progress to be that Dez Bryant that he was,” Earl said. “I played him in high school and all-star games, we were on team Jordan together, so we have a lot of great conversations about wanting to be great. He’s wants to be in the Hall of Fame and he’s one of those types of players where we have to know where he is at all times.”

Bryant is not the only familiar foe ET III will be meeting up with again on Sunday, as Murray played his college ball at the University of Oklahoma.

Each of the two times that No. 29 and Murray squared off in their college careers resulted in a standout performance from Earl and a UT victory.

In 2008, ET III and the No.5 Longhorns knocked off the No.1 Sooners in a 45-35 shootout. Earl had three tackles, grabbed two interceptions off of Sam Bradford, deflected three passes and forced a fumble in the win that set up Texas’ Big 12 championship season.

The following year’s matchup proved to be a defensive battle, with the No.3 Longhorns holding on for a 16-13 win. Earl led the way once again, with seven total tackles, an interception, two passes deflected and one forced fumble. Murray had eight receptions for 114 yards in the win.

Earl said he hopes to continue his winning streak over Murray going.

“I think he’s getting back to himself,” No.29 said. “When he was at OU he was very explosive. Anytime he got the ball, he could go the distance. He’s starting to get his swagger back. He and I battled; we were going at it and I always won so let’s keep it that way.”

If they can stifle Murray and force Romo to throw, the Seahawks they will have a better opportunity to attack the ball and force turnovers. Although the team has only grabbed two interceptions and recovered one fumble so far this season, Earl said he remains confident in his unit.

“We’ve been getting the ball out, it’s just one of those things where you have to keep going,” No.29 said. “It’s a daily process, it’s a lot of coachable moments, but we always talk about it and it’s always on our mind. We can’t control that we’re not getting the ball and we’re still winning games; that’s the most important thing. The thing that we need to just keep doing is keep going after it. We’re doing a great job of trying to punch the ball out, but it’s just not falling our way.”

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll also said he is confident that his defense will be able to get on the right track Sunday.

“We’re hoping that we’ll keep with it and keep attacking the football,” Carroll said. “We kind of got this feeling that they come in bunches so if we can get this thing going, it can really make a big difference cause we’re really playing without the turnover factor in our favor.”

As a whole, Earl said he is impressed with the progression of his entire defensive unit as they head into the bulk of their season.

“I think we’re peaking right at the right time,” ET III said. “I think our D-line has played great. They really made it easy for us on the back end; they’re very dominant, they know what they’re doing, Brandon Mebane is playing great, he’s doing a hell of a job. He’s controlling all those holes; he’s a wide body so he’s plugging up two or three gaps at the same time and it’s making it easier for the linebackers to flow with what’s going on.”

Kickoff from CenturyLink Field is set for 1:25 PDT and the game can be viewed on FOX.