Cowboys' Micah Parsons on Seahawks' Protection on Final Play: 'Not a Good Strategy'

It wasn't just fans and analysts who were critical of the Seattle Seahawks' decision to leave Micah Parsons unblocked for their final offensive play in Thursday's 41-35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

In fact, Parsons said it was "not a good strategy" to go with that type of play in such a key spot.

The 4th-and-2 play looked like it was supposed to be a screen to running back DeeJay Dallas, but it got completely wrecked because Parsons stormed into the backfield to force Geno Smith into a bad throw.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Smith explained the design of the play and what they thought would happen.

"It is the design," Smith said. "He had to squeeze, the right tackle had to squeeze [block inside out] right there versus zero [blitz], so he did the right thing. Micah came free. We knew that would possibly happen. Tried to get the ball around him and just wasn't able to."

Even if Parsons didn't blow the play up immediately, it most likely wasn't going to work anyway. You can see DeMarcus Lawrence is standing right in front of Dallas when the ball arrives.

If the play had gone planned, Dallas probably gets outside a bit more on the route so that Lawrence isn't in his face. But there's still no protection in front of him at that point.

Leaving aside the decision to give Parsons free run at the quarterback, running a screen pass with a leaky offensive line against a Cowboys defense that leads the NFL in pass-rush win rate was baffling.

It was especially odd because Smith had done a great job all game of creating big plays while getting the ball out quickly because he was under constant pressure.

The Cowboys certainly aren't mad at the call from Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. They held on for the win and improved their record to 9-3 going into their huge NFC East showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 10.