Today the Dallas Cowboys showcased to the NFL that their in fact for real with an impressive road win over the Seattle Seahawks on the road and improved to 5-1 on the season.
Dallas started slowly and finally awakened after trailing 10-0 early in the first quarter. Russell Wilson led the Seahawks to a Steven Hauschka field goal on the opening possession and the Cowboys didn’t do much on their first offensive series and resulted in a blocked punt by wide receiver Doug Baldwin which got recovered and returned 25 yards for a touchdown by Mike Morgan.
From that moment in the game the Cowboys dominated both sides of the football and it started with running backs DeMarco Murray and Joseph Randle. The highlight on their first scoring drive a 38-yard run by Randle and a two yard touchdown catch by tight end Gavin Escobar.
Seattle couldn’t get anything going in the second quarter and Dallas ended up with a field goal by Dan Bailey and right before halftime Jason Witten found the end zone after Tony Romo did a great job escaping pressure.
With the Cowboys leading 17-10 to start the third and getting the first opportunity on offense it seemed that with the way the defense played in the first half the Seahawks were in trouble. Yet, Bruce Irvin came up with a sack of Romo leading to a punt instead.
Marshawn Lynch who only carried the ball twice for eight yards at that point picked up his longest run of the game that went for 32 yards. Wilson and the Seahawks offense couldn’t get much else and punted the ball away. Punt returner Dwayne Harris who signaled for a fair catch didn’t catch the football cleanly allowing Seattle to recover with great field position.
It didn’t take Wilson long to take advantage of the mistake and he found the end zone on a nine-yard run. On the ensuing possession for Romo and the Cowboys the ball got snapped early and again Seattle got the opportunity to take advantage of the Cowboys mistake.
With Dallas’ improved defense Seattle couldn’t get anything going and settled for a field goal to take a 20-17 lead. Romo finally took advantage with Byron Maxwell leaving in the first half due to injury and found Terrance Williams for a 47 yard pass play. After a delay of game penalty called on Williams, the Cowboys only picked up a yard and Bailey came in and drilled a 56-yard field goal.
After both teams punted the Seahawks got another field goal from Hauschka.
The Seahawks did a better job of pressuring Romo in the second half, which made him make quicker decisions or got the football out of his hands before he wanted to. After a holding call to start the drive it appeared the Cowboys defense was going to get needed for another chance on offense. Yet, on third and 20, Romo escaped a sack and threw it towards the sideline it was overthrown to Witten and then Williams came from nowhere to make a spectacular toe-dragging catch along the sidelines.
Pete Carroll already used a timeout earlier in the half, so it became a big moment when he decided to challenge the ruling of the catch. The Seahawks lost the challenge and that’s when Murray took over with runs of 25 and six and finally a 15-yard touchdown run to give the Cowboys a 27-23 lead.
Even after burning their final time out on third and six, Wilson threw an incomplete pass that seemingly meant that all Dallas needed to do was run the clock down. It didn’t happen and with over a minute left Bailey came in for another field goal for the 30-23 lead.
Wilson got one more chance and wound up getting intercepted by Rolando McClain to seal the win.
Note: Murray tied the NFL record with his sixth straight 100-yard rushing game to start the season.