Dallas Cowboys: Can Team Continue Hot Season Start Against Seattle Seahawks?

The Dallas Cowboys played upset to the Super Bowl champion New York Giants Week 1 of the NFL season, but America's Team faces a stingy Seattle defense and talented rookie quarterback next.

The Seahawks were unable to defeat NFC West rival Arizona last weekend, largely due to a dropped pass by Braylon Edwards near the end zone with under 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Despite losing a nail-biter to the Cardinals however, the Cowboys cannot take their Week 2 opponent lightly. 

Tony Romo and the Dallas offense were able to pick apart the New York Giants defense throughout last week's contest, but Seattle's unit is a bit more formidable to say the least.

The Seahawks boasted the ninth-best defense in 2011. This squad kept both Arizona quarterbacks John Skelton and Kevin Kolb to just over 200 combined yards passing and held running back Beanie Wells to 14 yards on seven carries.

The Cowboys boast a stronger offense than Arizona, but those previous numbers should not be discounted simply because of who Seattle faced last Sunday.

America's Team has the talent to crack this unit and showed what they can do when firing on all cylinders in Week 1. They have to keep those cylinders firing once again in Week 2.

It won't be an easy go for running back DeMarco Murray or Romo in their respective offensive roles, but they will be able to do enough to win.

Defensively, the Cowboys are going to need to key in on the fact Seattle's rookie starting quarterback is playing in just his second NFL game. Russell Wilson did have some impressive moments against the Cardinals and would have done enough to get the win if not for Edwards, but his box score wasn't pretty.

He had just 153 yards through the air and just 18 completions on 34 attempts. Wilson did throw for a touchdown, but he also had one interception in the contest as well.

The Cowboys need to rattle Seattle's No. 3 with defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's 3-4 scheme that sacked Eli Manning three times for 26 yards.

If Ryan's unit can sack Wilson a few times, collapse the pocket on the young quarterback early and often then the Cowboys will force him into mistakes that will ultimately shut down the Seattle offense.

Dallas is the better built team with the more formidable offense and its defense has an easier attack to shut down. The Cowboys should be able to defeat the Seahawks in Week 2, but don't expect it to be some kind of blowout by any means.