ARLINGTON, Texas – The humbling losses are piling up for the Seattle Seahawks.
The Dallas Cowboys handed the Seahawks their latest setback, a 23-13 bruising defeat Sunday that looked eerily similar to the five losses that preceded it.
Tied 6-all at halftime, penalties and turnovers once again stymied good drives for Seattle’s offense and led to easy scores for the Cowboys.
The Seahawks finished with 10 penalties for 88 yards and turned the ball over three times.
Seattle quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, starting for the first time since suffering a high-grade pectoral strain a month ago against the New York Giants, had perhaps his worst outing as a Seahawk.
He completed 17 of 30 passes for 221 yards, no touchdowns and threw three interceptions that Dallas turned into 10 points. Jackson had solid protection most of the day. He was sacked just once but finished with a 40.4 passer rating.
Jackson owned up to his mistakes afterward.
“I feel very sick about how I played today,” he said. “I just made some stupid mistakes. You can’t do it. I’ve been staying away from those mistakes the whole season, and it’s just one of those games where you just do something stupid.”
Jackson wasn’t the only culprit. Seattle’s defense let Dallas rookie running back DeMarco Murray run wild. The former Oklahoma player finished with 139 yards on 22 carries. The Seahawks gave up a season-high 163 yards on the ground.
Seattle also failed to get pressure on Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, and he made the Seahawks pay. Romo threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with a 112.2 passer rating, completing nine passes of 10 yards or more, and three passes of 30 yards or more.
In four games against Seattle, Romo has completed 60 percent of his passes, thrown for 1,055 yards, nine touchdowns and has a 105.9 passer rating.
The Seahawks defense finished without a sack for the third time this season – San Francisco and Atlanta were the others – and just two quarterback hurries.
“If you get that kind of time it is going to be a good day,” Romo said.
The lone highlight for the Seahawks was Marshawn Lynch rushing for a season-high 135 yards on 23 carries and a score – his first 100-yard performance of the season.
The Seahawks lost their third game in a row, and at 2-6 are five games behind NFC West division leader San Francisco – a 19-11 winner over Washington on Sunday.
With three straight wins, the Niners could clinch their first division title since 2002 in Week 11.
However, at the midpoint of the season the Seahawks are more concerned with getting things turned around for the final eight games.
“It doesn’t feel good at all,” safety Earl Thomas said. “And we know we’ve still got a lot of games to play. And all we can do is keep preparing, and hopefully we can turn this season around.”
Added coach Pete Carroll: “I’m really disappointed where we are. We thought we could be better. Of course, I don’t know any other way to think. But it doesn’t matter. Now it’s about going back to it, and seeing if we can’t put together some games to give us a chance to get some momentum going and feel like we’re growing.”
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
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