If Thursday night’s preseason meeting with the Dallas Cowboys showed anything, it’s that Earl Thomas III is ready for the Seattle Seahawks’ season to begin.

No. 29 logged 41 snaps, his highest workload of the preseason, and turned in a brilliant performance, notching four tackles and a diving pass break-up as the Seahawks cruised to a 27-17 victory to improve to 2-1 with one exhibition to go.

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Dallas quarterback Tony Romo injured his back on just the third play of the game, prompting the Cowboys to send rookie Dak Prescott into action at CenturyLink Field. Earl laid a big hit on the Mississippi State product on Dallas’ second drive, halting him after a nine-yard run, but two plays later, Prescott found tight end Jason Witten for the game’s first touchdown.

The Seahawks answered back with a 68-yard drive, capped off by a short Steven Hasuchka field goal to make it 7-3.

ET III came through with a big second-down play to halt the second Cowboys drive. The Texas Longhorn made a brilliant read on a screen from Prescott to Alfred Morris—and he stonewalled the Dallas running back at the line for no gain. Dallas punted two plays later.

“Thomas has been so consistent and so explosive with the Seahawks it’s easy to take him for granted. But he had another play that showed again, in some small way, why he is one of the best safeties in the game. The Cowboys ran a screen, and Thomas came flying from his post in the middle of the field to hold Dallas to no gain,” said Jayson Jenks of The Seattle Times. “The combination of his ability to recognize a play as it unfolds, to react to what he sees quickly and to finish the play with his speed and tackling ability — that’s rare.”

Midway through the second quarter, a missed field goal by Dallas set up the Hawks with a short field, and Russell Wilson took full advantage. An 18-yard reception by Luke Willson and a 27-yard gain by Tyler Lockett fueled the drive—and Wilson punctuated it, finding second-year receiver Paul Richardson for a nine-yard go-ahead touchdown. Dan Bailey added a 40-yard field goal to knot it back up at 10 going into the half.

The final two quarters of play belonged to the Seahawks. Seattle took the lead out of the locker room with a booming 53-yard field goal by Hauschka, and Earl played a big role in keeping the Hawks ahead. Prescott targeted Devin Street on second down, and No. 29 flew in, diving to knock the pass out of the air. That play led to another Dallas punt, which led to another Seattle score.

A 10-yard Christine Michael run opened the drive, and Wilson found receiver Tanner McEvoy for a 43-yard gain to bring Seattle to within striking distance. A few plays later, Wilson found Lockett from nine yards out to make it a 10-point, 20-10, lead.

“It just seems like we’re making progress on offense,’’ said head coach Pete Carroll. “We ran the ball well again. We didn’t get the runs we wanted in the first half the way the half went — we got ourselves in trouble a couple of times on drives (with penalties). But once we got going and took our shots at it we really found a nice consistency, and I hope we can carry this over to the regular season. The pass protection was pretty solid tonight.’’

The second line for the Legion of Boom came on after that score and forced the Cowboys to punt yet again, setting the table for second-string quarterback Trevone Boykin to deliver the dagger. The rookie quarterback led a nine-play, 72-yard drive and sealed the series with a brilliant 15-yard touchdown run, making it 27-10.

The L.O.B. held strong from there throughout most of the final quarter of play. The Cowboys tacked on one final touchdown, but with just over two minutes to go, the game was well in-hand.

“It was fun to see us having the joy of playing the game the way we like to and get out ahead and make it fun for the fans,’’ Carroll said.