Seahawks vs. Cowboys: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

The Seattle Seahawks have failed to impress this season but did enough to reach .500 on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys in a 13-12 road victory.

After soundly beating the San Francisco 49ers last Thursday, Seattle had plenty of time to prepare against a hapless Cowboys offense sorely missing star quarterback Tony Romo. Week 8 was nevertheless yet another tougher test than expected for the Seahawks.  

Mike Sando of ESPN.com did well to describe Seattle's plight amid Sunday's struggles:

Although Seattle's "Legion of Boom" secondary did reduce Dallas star receiver Dez Bryant's return to a quiet footnote in terms of on-field impact, its offense was again predicated on QB Russell Wilson's playmaking ability.

Blocking up front has been a problem for the Seahawks all season and extended to Sunday. Wilson made the difference by throwing off his back foot to Doug Baldwin and then finding Luke Willson in the end zone for a 22-yard score on the next play with 5:29 left in the first half.    

CBSSports.com's Rob Rang applauded Wilson's ability to will Seattle onto the scoreboard:

That Wilson magic extended to the game-winning drive. Two third-down conversions to Jimmy Graham and Tyler Lockett, respectively, helped the Seahawks quiet the crowd at AT&T Stadium. The dual-threat signal-caller then moved the sticks on a 3rd-and-7 scramble to bleed more time. Steven Hauschka booted the winning field goal through the uprights from 24 yards away with 1:10 on the clock.

Albert Breer of NFL Network applauded how Wilson made something out of nothing with his legs on the aforementioned dash for a first—despite a three-man rush and spy:

Since the visitors' offense stagnated for most of the rest of the contest, though, the Cowboys were able to control time of possession and wear the reigning NFC champions down.

Evidence of this came from Dallas rookie offensive lineman La'el Collins, who obliterated All-Pros Bobby Wagner and Earl Thomas on one play, courtesy of Deadspin:

Usually Seattle is the side pushing the opposition around. America's Team fought hard despite a huge disparity at the all-important quarterback position and played inspired football despite being in the midst of a four-game losing streak.

One reason the Cowboys couldn't get going is because of the job stud cornerback Richard Sherman did on Bryant. Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus highlighted one play in particular in Bryant's outing that featured two receptions for 12 yards on six targets:

A big turning point occurred at the beginning of the fourth quarter, when maligned Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy jumped, tipped and intercepted a Wilson screen pass. Dan Bailey's fourth field goal of the day thereafter gave Dallas its first lead at 12-10 with 14:32 left in the game.

Wilson drove down the field into field-goal range, but Hauschka's first miss of the year came at a bad time, as David Irving blocked his kick. For those unfamiliar with the Cowboys rookie, Dane Brugler of CBSSports.com provided some relevant context that explained a lot:

But the Matt Cassel-led Dallas offense did nothing with the momentum boost provided by the stuffed kick, proceeding to fall victim to some more Wilson heroics on a 17-play scoring drive. Cassel wound up 13-of-25 passing for 97 yards and couldn't put Bailey in range to win it at the end.

The Seahawks' official Twitter account had a great reaction to Week 8's outcome:

ESPN's Skip Bayless summarized how a lot of Cowboys fans probably feel following Sunday's loss:

The Seahawks are two games behind the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC West lead but host the Cardinals in Week 10 for a real chance at turning their fortunes around. Before then, Seattle has the benefit of a bye and hopefully won't come out as flat in what should be one of the best games of the year to date.

As for Dallas, Romo can't come back fast enough. Neither Cassel nor Brandon Weeden has gotten it done in Romo's stead, but at least the Cowboys defense is showing signs that last year's improvement wasn't a fluke.

The Cowboys do remain at home for Week 9 but unfortunately face another stout defense against the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles. No one in the division is playing particularly good football at the moment, and that matchup will loom large at the NFL season's approximate midpoint.

Post-Game Reaction

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

To say the least, Bryant wasn't too pleased with how Sunday's latest defeat played out, lashing out at the media afterwards.

"Stay the (expletive) away …," shouted Bryant to reporters, per USA Today's Eric Prisbell. "Why don't you all get the (bleep) out of here? This is our (expletive) locker room. You (expletive) dirty (expletive)."

CBS Radio's Mike Fisher spoke to Dallas defensive back Barry Church, who was a little more calm and collected.

"This division is crazy right now. Next job is to try to get to 3-5," said Church.

And to think, it's often the Seahawks who are criticized for their candor or outspokenness in the case of someone like Sherman or their downright silence with regard to someone like Marshawn Lynch.

Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette was hit extremely hard in the first half by Cowboys safety Jeff Heath and had to be stabilized and removed from the field. Lockette suffered a concussion, per the team, and may have inspired Wilson to carry on to a big win, according to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson:

For those who were ready to write off Seattle, it proved to have quite a bit of fight left in nudging its record to 4-4. For all the big personalities and talking the Seahawks do, they've more often than not backed it up in recent years.

Based on Bryant's post-game tirade, perhaps the Cowboys' locker room is the one to worry about even though they still have a chance to steal the weak NFC East.