Dallas Cowboys beat themselves Sunday against Seattle
By Connor Green
The Dallas Cowboys blew a winnable game due to penalties, turnovers, and sloppy special teams play
The Dallas Cowboys had a chance to beat one of the best teams in football on the road this week. A combination of untimely penalties, costly turnovers, and sloppy special teams play dismantled that chance.
America’s Team managed to take the game down to the wire. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson continued his MVP-caliber play against a battered Cowboys’ secondary completing 27 of his 40 passes for 315 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions. However, it seemed that no amount of Russell’s “cooking” could hurt Dallas more than they hurt themselves this week.
The Cowboys finished the game with three turnovers and several consequential penalties. The team’s kicker Greg Zuerlein missed two extra-point attempts. The team also allowed a safety after a muffed kick return by running back Tony Pollard.
Despite another impressive performance from quarterback Dak Prescott, Dallas now finds themselves sitting at 1-2 on the season. Last week, the Cowboys were able to overcome their mistakes against the Atlanta Falcons winning on a walk-off field goal by Zuerlein, 40-39. But this week, the team was not nearly as lucky.
The performance Dallas turned on Sunday against the Seahawks was essentially a crash course in what not to do to win. Beating good football teams usually requires relatively mistake-free play on both sides of the ball. Yet, the Cowboys still came within a score of sending the game to overtime, losing 38-31.
This was a gut-wrenching loss that could have been avoided if the Cowboys had cut down on their mistakes. Still, the fact that the team was able to nearly overcome those issues against a team like the Seahawks shows the tremendous potential of this football team.
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If the Dallas Cowboys can cut down on these simple mistakes and play a complete game of football from start to finish, they could potentially make a deep playoff run. However, if the team continues to cough up the football, make bone-headed penalties, and leave points on the board due to subpar special teams play, this might be a long season for fans of America’s Team.