Seahawks Beat Cowboys in Dress Rehearsal
By Ben Renner
The Seahawks beat the Dallas Cowboys last night 27-17 at CenturyLink Field in their third preseason game this season.
The Seahawks defeated the Dallas Cowboys last night 27-17 at home after entering halftime tied at 10. The third preseason game is usually considered a dress rehearsal for the first-team units on all sides of the ball. The first-team offense heading into this home game against Dallas was sputtering. Russell Wilson and company went the first six drives of the preseason without visiting the endzone until he rolled right and threw a perfect pass to hit wide receiver Paul Richardson in the hands late in the first half last night.
The first-team defense struggled to contain rookie running back extraordinaire Ezekiel Elliott but put Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo on his back and forced him from the game. Let’s break down the performance of both the offense, defense, and special teams in this game:
Offense
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If you’ve watched any Seahawks preseason action this year, you were likely disturbed by the ineffectiveness of the first-team offense. Albeit in limited action, Wilson didn’t score a touchdown and was mostly ineffective trying to escape constant pressure. The offensive line concerned many people in the preseason before last night, but had shown some signs of improvement during the Seahawks loss to Kansas City.
Last night, the first-team offense was sharp and efficient and the offensive line didn’t allow a sack. Wilson completed 16 of 21 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. In the third quarter, he led a particularly impressive drive that featured a 42-yard pass to receiver Tanner McEvoy and culminated in a scrambling nine-yard bullet to Tyler Lockett for a touchdown.
Backup quarterback Trevone Boykin wasn’t as efficient as Wilson, but led a touchdown drive of his own in the third quarter that ended in a 16-yard touchdown scramble.
Running back Christine Michael was particularly impressive. His seven carries netted 58 yards. Michael looked explosive in the hole, gashing the Cowboys’ first-team defense for runs of 10, 17, and 20 yards in the third quarter. After his performance last night, he appears to be the main backup to Thomas Rawls upon his return to the lineup. I’m as surprised as you are.
Defense
The first-team defense struggled against the Cowboys in the first quarter. After defensive end Cliff Avril knocked Romo out of the game with a hit to his backside, Dallas rookie backup quarterback Dak Prescott engineered a seven-play, 81-yard drive that ended with this catch by Jason Witten through linebacker K.J. Wright. Prescott finished the day 15-19 with 109 yards passing in relief of Romo.
The defense didn’t appear to have an answer for Elliott, who ran seven times for 48 yards, even taking on Kam Chancellor during a first quarter run. It seems his visit to the pot store hasn’t affected his play as of yet.
On the whole, the Seahawks defense allowed 194 yards to the Cowboys in the first half. They stiffened in the second half, allowing only seven points.
Special Teams
Kicker Steven Hauschka continued his hot streak, blasting a 53-yard field goal and chipping in a 27-yard kick in the game. Lockett looked comfortable returning kicks, and Jon Ryan delivered another good performance in the art of giving the ball away (an important art, punting is). Head Coach Pete Carroll was encouraged by the special teams’ performance against Dallas: “Jon is ridiculously on fire right now and Hauschka keeps hitting all of his stuff, too. That’s not to go unnoticed. I’m really fired up for those guys. Our kicking game should be very solid.”
It’s tough to find anything Carroll isn’t fired up about with the regular season right around the corner, but he’s obviously happy with the state of the special teams unit right now.
Roster Cuts and the Raiders
On Tuesday, the Seahawks will have to make their first round of cuts, trimming the roster from 90 players to 75, along with the rest of the league. They will travel to Oakland to face the Raiders on Thursday, September first for their final preseason game.
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