Hawks Drop Tight Battle With Cowboys

In a matchup between two of the NFL’s best, Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks came up just short of their fourth victory of the season on Sunday.

The Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys battled back and forth for a full 48 minutes, but in the end Seattle could not overcome several injuries on defense and couldn’t get their offense going late, and fell 30-23 to Dallas at CenturyLink Field. It was just Seattle’s second loss at home since the end of the 2011 season.

Afterward, Earl, who had a season-high six tackles, tipped his cap to the Cowboys and noted that he and his team would learn for their mistakes and come back better for it.

“We got beat straight-up. You’ve got to take these lessons and go. Adverse situations always make you stronger,” he said. “It ain’t always gonna pan out like you want it to pan out. I’ll be back next time.”

Seattle’s Legion of Boom went into the game shaken up, as ET III’s partner-in-crime, safety Kam Chancellor was questionable to play with a strained hip. Although Chancellor gutted it out through the pain, the injury hindered his performance.

Things only got worse when Hawks cornerback Bryon Maxwell and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner each suffered injuries in the second quarter, further depleting Seattle’s defensive unit.

Wagner returned for the second half, but Maxwell’s high ankle sprain took him out of the game for good, forcing Seahawks star corner Richard Sherman to alter his game.

With the Hawks’ defense reeling, the streaking Cowboys shined on offense. Quarterback Tony Romo threw for 250 yards and a touchdown, and running back DeMarco Murray rushed for more yards by himself (115) than any team had run for against Seattle so far this season.

Murray also became just the second player in NFL history to open the season with six consecutive 100-plus yard games, a mark set by Jim Brown. Afterward, ET III was complimentary of the Dallas running back.

“Obviously we didn’t stop the run,” Earl said. “He’s a great back. He’s very patient and he kept fighting all the way through. They outlasted us.”

While the Hawks defense struggled to control Dallas’ balanced attack, the Seattle offense had some trouble of its own. The Cowboys nearly doubled the Seahawks in time of possession and Seattle managed just 206 yards of total offense.

The normally efficient Russell Wilson went just 14-of-28 with an interception and Marshawn Lynch had a quiet night with just 61 yards rushing on 10 carries. Much of the Seahawks’ offensive struggles came in an effort to keep drives alive. They converted just 5-of-13 third downs into first down made just one successful trip into the red zone.

But Earl wouldn’t let the injuries on defense or the struggling offense be used as an excuse and noted that the Seahawks needed to take responsibility for the loss in order to move on and improve from it.

“We just didn’t do enough,” Thomas said. “Even when the offense isn’t clicking, we still have to stand up if we want to be the defense we say we are.”

At the outset, it appeared Seattle would stomp the Cowboys once again, as they began the game on a dominant note.

On the first drive of the afternoon, Wilson connected with Jermaine Kearse on a 53-yard reception that brought the Hawks to the Cowboys’ 14-yard line. Although Seattle could not finish the drive with a touchdown, a 33-yard field goal from Steven Hausckha gave them an early lead.

On the enusing Dallas possession, Earl and the Seahawks defense stymied Tony Romo and the Cowboys, capped off by a crushing third-down hit by Wagner on Romo that left the Dallas quarterback struggling to get up.

Seattle had all the momentum from there and as Dallas’ Chris Jones received the ball to punt it away on the next play, Doug Baldwin Jr. came fly in and blocked it. Mike Morgan picked up the loose ball and ran it back for the score to put the Seahawks in front 10-0.

But the Seattle momentum was short-lived as the Cowboys responded by driving the length of the field for a touchdown. The Seahawks could not pick up a first down on their final possession of the first quarter and the game headed to the second with the home team up 10-7.

That second quarter was dominated by Dallas, who held the ball for 13 of the 15 minutes before halftime. Nearly 10 of those minutes came on their first drive of the quarter.

The Cowboys began that drive at their own 5 and took advantage of the shorthanded Seahawks defense to drive deep into Seattle territory. But shortly after Dallas crossed midfield, Earl stepped up with a huge tackle on a first down run by Murray. A holding penalty set the Cowboys back from there and they had to settle for a game-tying field goal.

But after the Seahawks couldn’t earn a first down on their next drive, the defense was quickly forced onto the field again just a few short minutes after the end of a nearly 10-minute Dallas drive. This time, the Cowboys drove 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from Romo to Jason Witten to put Dallas up 17-10.

The Cowboys received the second half kickoff, but the Seattle defense came out re-energized as stopped Dallas short of another scoring drive. K.J. Wright had three big tackles on the drive, including one to stop Murray on a 3rd & 17 screen from Romo just three yards short of the first down marker.

Dallas punted and pinned Seattle at their own 10, but on the second play of the ensuing drive, Lynch busted through for a 32-yard gain that put the Hawks near midfield. The Cowboys defense tightened up and forced a field goal from there, but the field position flip caused by Lynch’s big run would prove critical for Seattle.

On the Seahawks punt, Dallas’ Dwayne Harris muffed a fair catch and the loose ball was recovered by Morgan at the Cowboys’ 14-yard-line.Two plays later, Wilson scrambled for a nine-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17-17.

Another Dallas miscue just three plays into the ensuing drive gave Seattle a chance to steal momentum and take control of the game.

The Hawks defense had the Cowboys in a 3rd and 6 at their own 22, and as Romo went to make a pre-snap adjustment, Dallas center Travis Frederick released the ball, which hit Romo in the calf and squirted away. Seattle’s Jordan Hill was able to pull it away from Romo in the scrum that followed, giving the Hawks another possession in the red zone at the 17.

But Seattle couldn’t finish the drive with a touchdown to really take control and go up seven. Instead they settled for another 33-yard field goal from Hauschka to take a 20-17 lead. The lead did not last long, as Dallas got a 47-yard catch from Terrance Williams on the very next play from scrimmage to move into field goal range.

Though ET III and the Hawks prevented the drive from going any further, Dan Bailey converted a 56-yard field goal try to even things out at 20-20 entering the fourth quarter.

Both teams had unsuccessful drives early in the fourth and Seattle took over with 10:44 in the fourth with a chance to take the lead. A poor punt by the Cowboys gave the Hawks starting field position inside Dallas territory, but Seattle managed just 12 yards in seven plays and had to settle for a 48-yard field goal from Hauschka to pull back ahead 23-20.

But Dallas followed up that missed opportunity by the Seahawks with a game-breaking drive. The Cowboys’ nine-play trip down the field included two opportunities for Seattle get the third down stop they needed. But on the first one Romo found Dez Bryant for 16 yards and on the second one — a 3rd & 20 from the Dallas 31 — Romo wiggled free from a sack attempt and found Williams along the sideline for a catch that included a tiptoe drag that stood up to replay to move the chains for a first down.

“He scrambled and did what we prepared for,” Earl said of Romo. “When he scrambles, we have to plaster [to the receivers]. But they made a crazy conversion. We just didn’t do enough.”

Three plays after that catch, Murray broke away for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Cowboys a 27-23 lead with 3:16 remaining

Seattle went four and out on its ensuing drive and after a Bailey field goal gave the Cowboys a seven-point lead with 1:09 to go, Wilson was intercepted on the final Seahawks drive allowing Dallas to kneel out the victory.

“It’s a prime example of, if you don’t come with the right mindset, stuff like this can happen. I take full ownership of just not stopping it. But we’ll fix it.,” Earl said afterward. “You can’t do anything but move forward. You watch the film, take the hard lesson, take the hard coaching and then you move on and try to get better from it.”

In a great display of sportsmanship, Earl and Dez Bryant traded jerseys and shoes after the game.

.@DezBryant and @Earl_Thomas swap shoes and jerseys after the game #DALvsSEA pic.twitter.com/cXuM7xh1L4

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 12, 2014