Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks: Full Report Card Grades for Seattle
The Seattle Seahawks looked like a team with no answers in a game that was closer than it should have been. The Dallas Cowboys walked into CenturyLink Field and dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball to win the game 30-23.
With the loss, the Seattle Seahawks fell to 3-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals improved to 4-1 whereas the San Francisco 49ers are set to play the St. Louis Rams on Monday.
While the loss was tough to watch, this was not the end of the world for the reigning Super Bowl champions.
We'll take a look at some of the stats from the game and take a closer look at all the individual positional units to see where things went wrong.
Game Stats
| Dallas Cowboys | Category | Seattle Seahawks |
|---|---|---|
| 401 | Total Yards | 206 |
| 5.7 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.3 |
| 239 | Passing Yards | 126 |
| 7.2 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.2 |
| 162 | Rushing Yards | 80 |
| 4.4 | yards Per Attempt | 4.4 |
| 2 | Turnovers | 1 |
| 37:39 | Time of Possession | 22:21 |
| 6-46 | Penalties | 9-58 |
| 23 | First Downs | 9 |
Quarterback
1 of 10
After an MVP-type of performance by Wilson against the Washington Redskins last week, the Dallas Cowboys were intent on righting all the wrongs their division rivals made.
Wilson never was able to find room to run the ball himself and struggled to find open receivers or time in the pocket.
The Seahawks' star quarterback was held to a miserable 126 passing yards and an interception, completing just 14 of 28 passes and rushing for 12 yards as well as a touchdown on two carries. Wilson did well to avoid the pass rush for much of the game. He didn't lose yardage on his two sacks.
But the combination of being under almost constant pressure and not being able to find any open receivers was visibly draining. When you consider that 53 of Wilson's passing yards came on an early completion to Jermaine Kearse, it's really unbelievable the game was this close.
In watching the game, it seemed the Seahawks went away from their strength of running the ball a bit after completing that deep pass to Kearse and were never able to get back on track.
There was hardly any of the pre-snap movement with Percy Harvin and Marshawn Lynch, and the offense suffered for it.
Grade: D+
Running Back
2 of 10
At the end of the first half, one of the main stories of the game was the lack of carries for Marshawn Lynch. He saw two rushes in the first half and finished the game with 10 attempts for 61 yards.
Thirty-two of those yards came on the only time offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell called back-to-back run plays for the Pro Bowl running back.
Lynch couldn't find a way to get involved in the passing game as he had over the last few weeks. He ended the day with one catch for one yard. Backup running back Robert Turbin had just two totes for 10 yards and no receptions of his own in the game.
Overall, Seattle rushed for 80 yards and was never truly able to continuously open running lanes for Lynch and company to run through.
Lynch has rushed for 100 yards just once this year, with his lowest total coming in the game against San Diego.
Grade: C
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
As I may have mentioned earlier, the Seahawks receivers were nearly invisible in the game. They failed to get open on several dropbacks, resulting in either a sack or incompletions on throwaways.
Jermaine Kearse made a 53-yard catch on the opening drive of the game and followed that up with two more grabs for nine yards.
Despite that lackluster performance, Kearse still managed to lead the team in receiving yards. Doug Baldwin made two catches for 32 yards and Luke Willson had two grabs of his own for 11 yards, but beyond these already-nondescript performances, the rest of the group was even worse.
Here's how limited the route tree appears to be for Percy Harvin: three catches on four targets for zero yards. While Harvin's usage has provided the offense with several new wrinkles, Harvin himself is not truly being given the opportunity to make plays.
He now has 19 receptions for 133 yards and 92 rushing yards for a grand total of one touchdown on the year. Frankly, that's not good enough to be the leader of a receiving group.
Grade: F
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Penalties marred the performance of the offensive line again, as the unit accounted for nearly half of the team's nine penalties. Offensive tackle Russell Okung kept up his lack of concentration by picking up two false start penalties, giving him five penalties in the last two games.
The offensive line allowed two sacks along with several pressures and hits on Russell Wilson.
He was constantly dodging rushers, but what really affected the game was the line's inability to open up running lanes. The offensive line and receivers combined to make things difficult for Wilson, as it seemed that when he got protection, no one was open.
Surprisingly, Henry Melton wasn't nearly the nuisance he was expected to be facing off against J.R. Sweezy and Stephen Schilling (in for an injured Max Unger).
The poor pass-blocking has become par for the course with this unit, but poor run-blocking and the penalties are adversely affecting the success of this team.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Seahawks' front seven came into this game as the top-ranked run defense in the league. It had not allowed any single rusher to gain more than 38 yards on the ground in a game and had held opponents to an average of 2.9 yards per carry.
Much like the Seattle offensive line, however, the defensive line was largely ineffective. DeMarco Murray rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. Murray also led Dallas in receptions with six for 31 yards.
Joseph Randle had five carries for 52 yards and Lance Dunbar caught four passes for 48 yards.
The Cowboys running backs accounted for 242 total yards in the game. It appeared that Murray was going to get slightly fewer carries early in the game, but he still ended up with over 30 touches because Seattle couldn't stop him.
Michael Bennett had one of the team's three hits on Tony Romo. The pass rush has not been there for Seattle of late. Teams have opted to throw more quick throws to avoid the pass rush and run defense.
The Cowboys' offensive line was every bit as good as advertised, proving its worth in game where the Seahawks were spotted 17 points by turnovers and special teams.
Grade: C
Linebacker
6 of 10
Bruce Irvin accounted for the team's lone sack and he and Bobby Wagner had two of Seattle's three quarterback hits. K.J. Wright finished the game in a three-way tie for the team lead in tackles with eight.
Wagner, who missed most of the first half due to a foot injury, still finished with seven tackles, but his impact was missed in the second quarter. The biggest issue I have with the linebackers’ performance in this game was their coverage on screens and short passes over the middle.
Lance Dunbar and DeMarco Murray made a killing on short throws, picking up huge gains in 3rd-and-long situations.
Jason Witten made a catch in the end zone on a two-yard pass over the middle. It was a quite a relapse by a linebacker corps that had looked as though it was improving in that aspect.
Despite allowing another 13 points, the group was significantly improved in the second half.
Grade: C+
Secondary
7 of 10
Number two cornerback Byron Maxwell suffered an injury to his ankle pretty much right after the one to Wagner, only he never returned to action. The injury had major implications on the rest of the game, forcing Marcus Burley—who had begun to excel in nickel coverage—to play on the outside.
The injury did allow us to see Richard Sherman move around the field, however, as the team used him to shadow Dez Bryant for the rest of the game.
He had two first-half penalties—one of them being fairly questionable—but otherwise held his own.
Sherman finished with eight tackles, helping out in run support on several occasions and allowing 63 yards to Bryant on four receptions. Burley also had eight tackles in the game, showcasing the amount of tackles defensive backs had to make in this game.
There were too many occasions when Cowboys running backs made it into the second and third levels of the defense.
Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas combined for 12 tackles of their own, but were far from impactful in the game.
Grade: C+
Special Teams
8 of 10
Special teams represented perhaps the sole reason Seattle was in this game to the end. Doug Baldwin didn't make many plays on offense, but he broke through untouched in the first quarter to block a punt that was returned 25 yards for a score by linebacker Mike Morgan.
Rookie linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis also made his impact felt after Dallas punt returner Dwayne Harris muffed a punt. Pierre-Louis recovered the ball to set the Seattle offense up for Russell Wilson's nine-yard touchdown run.
Fourteen points off those two plays accounted for more than half of the team's final total, and considering that the offense was set up on the Dallas 20-yard line on a fumbled snap, the Seahawks were gifted another three points.
The return teams failed to give Percy Harvin much room on returns in the second half, but the coverage teams were impeccable. Steven Hauschka nailed all of his field-goal attempts.
Grade: A
Coaching
9 of 10
The Seahawks continued to have issues with penalties after it gave the team serious issues against a far inferior team in the Washington Redskins.
It was an issue last season as well, but the team's defense was much deeper and better last season, allowing it to cover up those mistakes.
Speaking of defense, the team had no answer for the Cowboys' screen game. They were able to convert first downs seemingly at will throughout the game.
Following the game, Pete Carroll said he was impressed by the Cowboys' performance. "We make no excuses. They played really well and they did a lot of cool stuff for their football team, I think, in all phases. And we were not right, really, in any phase of our game today," he told reporters.
The offensive play-calling seemed to be assumed by an entirely different coordinator than in the previous four games, as it shunned the ground game and any of the other offensive strengths Seattle possesses.
As Carroll said, the Seahawks did not seem to be well-prepared for the Cowboys on either side of the ball.
Grade: D
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | D+ |
| RB | C |
| WR/TE | F |
| OL | D |
| DL | C |
| LB | C+ |
| DB | C+ |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | D |
| Cumulative Grade | C- |
This was an all-around bad performance by a team that I still consider to be the best in the league.
Aside from on special teams, there were far too many mistakes with penalties and execution for the team be even remotely effective for large stretches of the game.
Seattle will need to get itself back on track in a hurry. It could easily find itself in third place in the NFC West, should the San Francisco 49ers knock off the St. Louis Rams on Monday night.
The Seahawks' next opponent will be those same Rams in St. Louis. It should be another tough divisional game.
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