Geno Smith, Shane Waldron, Seahawks revive at Dallas but lose late 41-35 to Cowboys
Bobby Wagner was captaining a team that looks like in a locker room that sounded like what the Seahawks have skidded to become.
Mediocre.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Wagner said amid the silence in the visitors’ locker room beneath Dallas’ AT&T Stadium late Thursday night. “We had a lot of penalties that hurt us. We’ve just got to make plays. ...
“It’s a game that we could have won. We just didn’t make the plays to come out victorious.”
Geno Smith already had a 300-yard throwing night running play caller Shane Waldron’s new, quicker pass game. He had three touchdown passes, to DK Metcalf, and a stunning lead on the previously rolling Cowboys.
And the Seahawks quarterback had a chance to win a game few thought Seattle would.
With the ball at his own 25-yard line with 1:43 left, down 41-35 to Dallas in a scintillating Thursday night in Texas, Smith fired two completions, to Tyler Lockett and Noah Fant, on the first two plays. That got Seattle to midfield. On third down with 1:15 remaining, Smith got pressured and his pass broken up.
On fourth and 2, Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parson rushed in unblocked.
Smith shook his head, disappointed he had no chance to throw the final pass.
Right tackle Abe Lucas, off injured reserve to play his first game in 2 1/2 months, picked up Dallas’ DeMarcus Lawrence inside. Running back DeeJay Dallas was late getting over to pick up Parsons — which is a mismatch against Seattle anyway.
The final play had no chance.
That’s how the Seahawks improved, encouraged yet ultimately losing for the fourth time in five games, 41-35 at Dallas.
“We beat ourselves,” Smith said, after he completed 23 of 41 passes for 334 yards, three TDs and one interception, yet still lost.
Seattle gained 406 yards and had 25 first downs, was 9 for 14 converting third downs.
“It hurts,” Seahawks rookie wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said, after his seven catches for 62 yards in his return to his native Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Wagner’s Seahawks defense repelled drives in the red zone but still allowed Dallas to roll up 410 yards and a whopping 33 first downs.
“The offense was rolling. The defense was making some stops in key situations,” Seahawks safety Julian Love said.
“Yeah, we had opportunities at the end on both sides ofthe ball — and we didn’t finish it.”
Playoff teams, Super Bowl contenders, convert on fourth downs with the game on the line.
Middling teams, the Seahawks, go 0 for 3 on fourth downs in the clutch — and (like the officiating, or not) commit 10 more penalties for 130 yards and six gifted first downs to the Cowboys.
“It’s tough to lose a tight game like that,” Seahawks defensive tackle Leonard Williams said.
“I feel like the penalties screwed up the game for us.”
What else is new? Seattle leads the NFL with 91 penalties in 12 games.
The Seahawks (6-6) dropped to 2 1/2 games plus a tie-breaker behind San Francisco for the NFC West lead, with five games remaining. Seattle plays at San Francisco (8-3) next, on Dec. 10, then at home against Philadelphia (10-1) Dec. 18.
The Seahawks no longer hold one of the three wild-card playoff spots in the NFC, either. They’ve made the postseason nine of the last 11 years.
“There’s all kinds of stuff that’s going to happen. The story’s not told, what’s going to happen,” Carroll said. “We’ve got great chances again in the next couple of weeks against teams that are worthy of being on top of this thing at the end.
“And we’re going to show the world we’re worthy of being right there with them.”
Seahawks fail at the end
With Seattle leading 35-30, Tyler Lockett dropped a pass inside the Dallas 30-yard line with 8 minutes left; the pass seemed to surprise him. Lockett pounded the turf after the play. Instead of likely Seahawks points, to at least 38, Dallas then stopped Zach Charbonnet’s run on fourth and 1.
Lockett said in that quiet locker room after the game that Smith’s pass came on him more suddenly than he anticipated.
The Cowboys took that turnover on downs to the lead. Dak Prescott challenged Seattle safety Jamal Adams one on one in coverage outside left with tight end Jake Ferguson. Ferguson won that easily inside Adams for a 12-yard touchdown. Dallas led 38-35 with 4:37 remaining.
Seattle’s ensuing drive began with an 18-yard pass from Smith to Smith-Njigba. But on third down a pass to Smith-Njigba went off the first-round draft choice’s hands as he got hit from behind.
On fourth and 4 at midfield with just over 3 minutes left, the Cowboys blitzed Smith. He had to hurry his throw off his back foot. Smith-Njigba stopped his route as the ball soared far past him incomplete for Seattle’s second turnover on downs of the fourth quarter.
“It was unfortunate,” was about all Carroll said about that mismatch of pass to route.
Dallas converted that into a field goal with 1:42 left for its 41-35 lead.
“It was all-out pressure. Really, I just have to get the ball up to someone,” Smith said. “That’s something we’ve got to get better and learn from. We can expect that to happen at the end of these games, especially in critical situations.
“We’ve got to be better at that.”
With Seahawks lead back Kenneth Walker out with an injured oblique for the second straight game, Zach Charbonnet had 19 carries for 60 yards as Waldron made a concerted effort to run. But Charbonnet left the game in the fourth quarter with a bruised knee.
Seattle’s other injury was linebacker Jordyn Brooks in the first half, to an ankle issue. Devin Bush played the rest of the game for him.
The Seahawks’ defense kept Seattle in the lead until the final minutes.
Late in the third quarter, a sure tackle by Wagner underneath on a short pass on third and 5 forced a fourth down for Dallas. It would have been a 48-yard field goal for the lead from there. But the Cowboys went for it. Seahawks rookie defensive back Devon Witherspoon covered CeeDee Lamb on a quick out route. Lamb dropped the pass to keep the Seahawks ahead 28-27.
The Seahawks went from down 20-14 to up 28-20 early in the third quarter by playing the final possession of the first half and the initial one of the second half perfectly. They scored two touchdowns — Smith to Metcalf for the second time Thursday, plus Smith’s 5-yard scramble for a TD on a third and goal — without the Cowboys touching the ball. That was because Seattle won the opening coin toss (“tails never fails”) and chose to receive the second-half kickoff.
Metcalf electrified the Seahawks’ sideline with a 73-yard catch and run for a touchdown on Seattle first third down Thursday. Smith stood in with two Cowboys aiming to hit his chest and delivered a perfect dart onto Metcalf’s hands in stride of his post route. Seattle led 7-3, and the tone was set; the Seahawks were here to score with the prolific Cowboys, who entered the game averaging 39 points per contest their last five games.
After the Seahawks took that 28-20 lead, their defense committed five penalties on Dallas’ next possession. Four of those flags gave the Cowboys first downs. Two penalties were on cornerback Tre Brown, for grabbing Cowboys receivers. Riq Woolen was called for that, too.
A 47-yard pass-interference penalty on Woolen in the first quarter set up Dallas’ first touchdown for its 10-7 lead.
The Cowboys ended their Seattle-aided drive with a touchdown run of 6 yards by Tony Pollard. Dallas coach Mike McCarthy chose to kick the extra point, so Seattle still lead, 28-27 late in the third quarter.
How Shane Waldron did it?
Screens. Quick outs. Slants. Roll-outs and bootlegs.
Basically, Smith threw all the varied passes, mostly of them quick, that he didn’t throw while dropping back as a target for San Francisco’s pass rushers the week before, a 31-13 loss for Seattle.
Amid the loss, Waldron may have found a formula for Smith and the Seahawks’ passing game the rest of the season.
NFL NextGen Stats said Smith was pressured on 54.5% of his drop backs through the game’s first three quarters. That was the highest rate he’d faced in a game. But Smith was not sacked to that point. His average time to throw was 2.42 seconds, Smith’s quickest time in a game as a Seahawks starter.
One week after San Francisco bludgeoned Smith with six sacks while Waldron had him holding onto the ball as if it was a cherished family heirloom, Seattle’s offensive coordinator called plays that got the ball out of Smith’s hands quickly. Despite constant pressure, Smith didn’t get sacked until the fourth quarter, threw the three TD passes to Metcalf, and had a chance to win the game at the end.
One game after going 3 for 11 on third down, Smith and the Seahawks converted 6 of their first 7 and 9 of their first 11.
One of those, in the third quarter, was only the second quick, short out route run by Metcalf in 85 targets this season.
The ninth conversion was the fourth by Smith connecting with Smith-Njigba, with 8 minutes left. On the next play Lockett was open inside the Dallas 30-yard line. Smith’s pass was on his hands but seemed to surprise Lockett. The normally sure-handed veteran dropped the ball.
On fourth and 1, Dallas’ Lawrence beat a block attempt by Seattle left tackle Charles Cross and dumped Charbonnet for no gain. Dallas took over on downs, behind 35-30 with 7 minutes left.
Seahawks defense bows up
The Seahawks’ defense gave up Dallas drives of 14 and 16 plays in the first half — but only a total of six Cowboys points from those.
In the first quarter, seldom-used linebacker Nick Bellore, usually only a special-teams ace, entered in goal-line defense next to Bobby Wagner and stopped a Cowboys run by Tony Pollard on first and goal from the 2-yard line. On second down, Devon Witherspoon blitzed from his inside nickel back spot and batted down a pass after Prescott rolled into him.
On third down, linebacker Jordyn Brooks blitzed through a middle gap and sacked Prescott. The Cowboys had to settle for a field goal for the game’s first points.
Late in the second quarter, with Seattle trailing 17-14, Dallas had a second and goal at the 6. But defensive tackle Leonard Williams got his second sack since joining the Seahawks in a trade from the Giants in late October. On third and goal, the 33-yard-old Wagner made a sure tackle of a scrambling Prescott in the open field, at the 3.
On fourth and goal, the Cowboys were caught holding the quick-starting Williams during Prescott’s apparent run outside right for a touchdown. After the 10-yard penalty, Dallas was forced to settle for a second field goal and a lead of only 20-14.
With 1:33 left in the half and no time outs, knowing they were to receive the second-half kickoff, Smith and the Seahawks’ offense went on a brilliant, hurry-up march to the lead. Smith threw on third and 3 for 11 yards to Smith-Njigba. On another third down Smith converted on a pass quick outside to Lockett.
With 13 seconds left, Smith and Smith-Njigba thought they had a 30-yard touchdown pass, while Dallas’ NFL interception leader DaRon Bland was hanging all over Seattle’s rookie receiver in the end zone. A replay review determined the ball touched the ground enough to be incomplete even though Smith-Njigba held possession of the ball throughout the contact with the ground.
The pass interference on Bland put the ball at the 1-yard line. Smith and Metcalf then connected for their second touchdown pass of the half, with 4 seconds left in it.
That’s how the Seahawks went 5 for 6 on third downs — they were 29th in the league converting those entering the game — and took a 21-20 lead into the third quarter.
“I’m proud as hell of these guys and the way we fought,” Carroll said. “And, unfortunately, there might be five plays in this game that could change the whole game.
“And it’s just unfortunate that’s the way it turned out.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 8:51 PM.
