Dallas Defense Struggles In 1st Half Vs Seahawks; Cowboys Trail 21-20

Week 13 is upon us, and the Dallas Cowboys have taken the field versus the Seattle Seahawks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Dallas is fighting to improve their record to 9-3 before the big matchup versus Philadelphia next week.

Seattle is trying to stay above .500 and avoid dropping to 6-6 on the season.

1st Quarter

The Cowboys won the toss and elected to receive the ball.

Dak Prescott’s first pass was a dart over the middle to CeeDee Lamb for a big gain to midfield.

Another big play on 3rd & 2 to Brandin Cooks moved the ball inside the Seahawks 25 yard line.

Prescott would later complete a 3rd & 10 play to KaVontae Turpin to set up the Cowboys at the Seattle two yard line.

Dallas would fail to convert the drive into a touchdown, settling instead for a 30 yard Brandon Aubrey field goal.

Starting at their own 25 yard line, Seattle faced a 3rd & 8.

Geno Smith hit DK Metcalf on a dig route with DaRon Bland in coverage that Metcalf snagged out of the air and turned upfield for a 73 yard touchdown.

Dallas started the ensuing drive on their own 25 and quickly faced a 3rd & 16 after Prescott was sacked for the second time.

After a big conversion to Jake Ferguson, Prescott launched a pass deep up the left sideline to a streaking Jalen Tolbert, who was interfered with by Tariq Woolen.

On the very next play, Dak fired a strike up the seam for a 15 yard touchdown to Lamb.

Seattle faced a 3rd & 7 that they were able to convert to Tyler Lockett followed by a big 34 yard gain to Metcalf to the Dallas side of the field.

The first mention of Micah Parsons came on a 3rd & 5 play where he nearly sacked Smith to force a 4th down field goal attempt that Josh Myers pushed to the right.

2nd Quarter

Taking over at the 32 yard line, a few quick plays setup a 4th and 1 at the Seattle 47 yard line.

Mike McCarthy chose to go for the first down, and Tony Pollard took a handoff on the left edge for a 10 yard gain.

Pollard would gain another 12 yards on the next play after taking a late shovel pass from Prescott.

Prescott would later hit Lamb for a big play to the Seahawks two yard line, setting up a 1st & Goal.

After an ineligible man downfield penalty on Tyler Smith, Prescott would hit Brandin Cooks for a wide open touchdown to put Dallas up 17-7.

On their ensuing drive, Seattle converted a 3rd & 5 to Texas native Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

A couple of plays later, the Seahawks would set themselves up inside the Cowboys’ 10 yard line after a pass interference penalty where Rashaan Evans somehow got matched up on Tyler Lockett.

Dallas would force a 3rd down from outside the 10 yard line, but a pass interference penalty on Stephon Gilmore would set up Zach Charbonnet for a one yard touchdown run.

Prescott would again matriculate the ball down the field, converting three 3rd down conversions to put the Cowboys inside the Seahawks 10 yard line.

Facing a 3rd and Goal from the 10, Prescott would scramble to the three yard line.

McCarthy would again keep the offense on the field, and Dak would run it in for a touchdown, but a holding call on Terence Steele would negate it.

Brandon Aubrey would knock through a 31 yard field goal.

Seattle, despite not having timeouts, drove down the length of the field.

Bland was called for pass interference on a deep heave to Smith-Njigba in the endzone that was first ruled a touchdown.

It was overturned after review, setting up the Seahawks with a 1st & Goal at the one yard line with seven seconds left in the half.

DK Metcalf would secure his second touchdown of the evening on a slant pattern, giving Seattle a 21-20 lead headed into the half.

Scoring Plays

Brandon Aubrey 30 yard field goal (3-0)

Geno Smith 73 yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf (3-7)

Dak Prescott 15 yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb (10-7)

Dak Prescott 7 yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks (17-7)

Zach Charbonnet 1 yard touchdown run (17-14)

Brandon Aubrey 31 yard field goal (20-14)

Geno Smith 1 yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf (21-20)

Cowboys Top Performers

Dak Prescott: 18/24 206 yds 2 TD

CeeDee Lamb: 7 rec 82 yds 1 TD

Brandin Cooks: 3 rec 42 yds 1 TD

Analysis

The first half has not gone quite as the Cowboys expected.

While the offense is moving the ball well, they have had to settle for two field goals on drives they reached inside the Seahawks five yard line.

The defense has barely touched Geno Smith, and he has sat in the pocket picking apart the Cowboys defense.

To win the game, the defense needs to tighten up in the second half to limit the Seahawks’ efficiency.