by Clint Elsemore
The game against Washington involved some blatantly wrong calls, some poor execution, and a lack of turnovers from the defense, but still resulted in a comfortable road win. The Seahawks also remain mostly healthy, when compared to the attrition throughout the league, our team is in great shape to take advantage of the schedule getting easier, and return to the Clink for some home cooking against Dallas this week.
Dallas is on a 4 game winning streak, and even the first loss of their season at home to the 49ers featured 4 fluky first half turnovers that cover up the fact that they controlled the better part of that ballgame. Dallas features strong skill players in Dez Bryant and emerging 2nd year wideout Terrace Williams coupled with Jason Witten at TE, but the team is now based around DeMarco Murray and their strong running game. No team has more rushing attempts than Dallas, and only the Seahawks average more yards per game than the Cowboys. Their offensive line is young and extremely talented, pass protecting Romo much better this year and clearing huge holes for Murray to run through.
On defense Dallas has forced turnovers at a good clip to help cover up some of their warts. They don’t stop the run very well, and are prone to also give up the big passing play. They have rushed the passer well using a collection of little known ends and tackles, and are amongst the league leaders in QB pressures on the year. Overall they give up considerably more yardage against the pass and the run when compared to the Seahawks unit though, and should have difficulty with the efficient offense the Seahawks possess.
I expect the first quarter to be strength on strength with Dallas trying to establish the run versus the Hawks league leading run defense. Dallas will have limited success early on, and Murray who also leads the league in fumbles will put a ball on the ground in the first half leading to Seahawk points. The Hawks will grind out tough yards between the tackles via Marshawn and get at least one big play over the top for a touchdown building a two score halftime lead. In the second half Dallas will open things up some, but I don’t expect them to abandon the run. Romo will throw at least one pick, but they will score a couple of times making the final tally closer than the game would indicate. The Seattle run D stops Murray’s hundred yard game streak limiting him to 80 on the ground. Russell finishes with another strong game with over 200 yards passing and two scores to go along with two rushing TDs by the backs.
Final game prediction: Seahawks 34 Dallas 20