The Dallas Cowboys opened Week 13 of the NFL with a 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Both sides put off offensive fireworks, but in the end it was a defensive play that made the difference.
Seahawks @ Cowboys: At a glance
- In a game in which neither team punted, it was a play by edge rusher Micah Parsons that ended the game.
- Interception leader DaRon Bland was involuntarily the center of attention with a very weak performance before the break. But he did much better after the break and helped decisively to keep the Cowboys in the game.
- The Seahawks wrote sad NFL history with this loss.
Seahawks @ Cowboys: The game report
Cowboys against Seahawks usually means very good defense, but not on this Thursday evening in Texas. Both teams didn’t let up right from the start and exchanged blows openly. What’s more, neither team punted in the entire game.
The Seahawks led 21-10 at halftime after two touchdowns from DK Metcalf and one from running back Zach Chabonnet. The Seahawks also put an exclamation point right at the start of the game with a 73-yard score from Geno Smith to Metcalf. In between, kicker Jason Myers also missed a 42-yard field goal attempt. The home team, in turn, saw two field goals from kicker Brandon Aubrey, who ended up scoring four times, extending his rookie record of 26 field goals in a row. Dak Prescott, in turn, found CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks for touchdowns.
After the break the scoring continued. Geno Smith scrambled for a five-yard touchdown, which Tony Pollard countered with a TD run on the other side. Then cornerback DaRon Bland, who threw two touchdown passes in the first half, caught an interception against Smith, but the Cowboys ultimately did nothing with it. They were stopped on a fourth-down attempt at the Seahawks’ 30-yard line.
In return, the guests quickly followed up: After a 39-yard catch-and-run from Charbonnet to the six-yard line, Smith found Metcalf again in the end zone and thus extended the lead to eight points at the start of the fourth quarter. However, that was also the wake-up call the Cowboys needed. Aubrey shortened the gap with a field goal and with 4:37 minutes left, Prescott finally found tight end Jake Ferguson for a twelve-yard touchdown to give the home team the ultimate lead. Cooks converted the two-point conversion and a little later Aubrey scored again.
The Cowboys defense did the rest, stopping the Seahawks on 4th down on each of their final three drives of the game. The Cowboys remain somewhat on the heels of the Eagles (10-1) in the NFC East and are in pole position when it comes to the NFC Wild Cards. The Seahawks, on the other hand, are in 7th place in the conference after their third defeat in a row.
Seattle Seahawks (6-6) @ Dallas Cowboys (9-3)
Result: 35:41 (7:10, 14:10, 7:7, 7:14) BOXSCORE
Seahawks @ Cowboys: Key stats
- This was only the fifth game in NFL history in which both teams failed to punt once. And that made the Seahawks the first team in NFL history to score 35 points without punting and still lose.
- Cornerback DaRon Bland was inevitably the focus of this game and was the closest defender on all three of Geno Smith’s touchdown passes. According to Next Gen Stats, he had a perfect 158.3 passer rating before halftime. However, he halved the number to 77.2 after the break and caught his eighth interception of the season, which leads the NFL.
- DK: Metcalf posted a season-high 134 receiving yards. He also tied his career high with his second three-touchdown game of his career.
The star of the game: Dak Prescott (quarterback, Cowboys)
In a true shootout without punts, it was Prescott who ultimately led his team to victory. He wasn’t as precise or efficient as he had been recently, but with 299 yards and three touchdowns, he ended up making the plays that counted and made the difference in an offense that only failed to score on one drive in the entire game. Also strong: Micah Parsons with three QB hits and the pressure to make the decision.
The flop of the game: Offensive Line (Seahawks)
You might not see it in the box score, but the O-line didn’t really help Geno Smith. According to Next Gen Stats, he saw pressure on 54.5 percent of his dropbacks, the highest against him since 2016. His last pass of the game was incomplete because Micah Parsons pressured him after just 1.4 seconds. Smith didn’t concede a single sack, but also got rid of the ball in an average of 2.42 seconds – also his lowest number since 2016. The O-line also lacked punch in the run game – the Seahawks only ran for 3.3 yards per Carrie.
The highlight of the game
Micah Parsons capped off an offensive fireworks display with a pressure just 1.4 seconds after the snap that forced Smith into the final incompletion of the game.