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ARLINGTON, Texas — Well, what to make of the Seahawks now?
They are becoming the team proverbially patching up one hole only to see another develop.
And on Thursday, it was usually a member of the Cowboys running through it.
An offense that was in a “rut,” as coordinator Shane Waldron said this week, broke out of it with maybe its best performance of the season, considering the locale and opponent. Its strategy to get the ball out quickly worked better than they could have imagined.
But 35 points and never punting wasn’t enough for Seattle to hold off a relentless Dallas team.
And the Seahawks offense finally seemed to buckle under the weight of carrying everything.
Well, that and all those flags — the officials won’t get a passing grade for this one after calling 16 penalties for 257 yards, the most in the NFL this season. Six Seattle flags gave Dallas first downs.
The result is a 6-6 team that now has to at least split against what might be the two best teams in the NFL — the 49ers and Eagles — to avoid needing to run the table of the last three games to keep any hope of a playoff spot alive.
A tough one, indeed.
Quarterback
Smith showed again what he can do when he’s fully healthy and given a game plan that makes sense. Seattle was aggressive offensively from the start in this one, calling on Smith and the receivers to do what they do best — a quick passing game and also taking some deep shots when they were there. It worked spectacularly early. But it was a lot to ask to make that work all night against a Dallas defense that entered the night ranked second in fewest passing yards allowed and fourth in fewest yards allowed per completion. Smith threw one bad pass for an interception at a time when the Cowboys seemed on their heels.
Grade: B-plus
Running back
Zach Charbonnet got his second career start in place of the injured Kenneth Walker III and had his best game 60 yards on 19 carries and a TD and one screen pass for 39.
“We ran the ball enough so we could run our offense,” Carroll said later.
Charbonnet was out on the last series due to a bruised knee, but it didn’t sound serious. That might have made a difference.
Grade: B-plus
Receiver
Ugh. There was one really big, bad drop by Tyler Lockett on a first down in the fourth quarter when Seattle was ahead 35-30. That led to the failed fourth down run by Charbonnet — and one of the biggest what-ifs of the game. But that aside, this was mostly a really good day as DK Metcalf tied a career high with three touchdowns and his best day of the season with 134 yards — and also showed off his sign language ability — and Jaxon Smith-Njigba showed the kind of threat he can be with a career-best seven catches.
Grade: B-plus
Tight end
Noah Fant should have had a TD at the end of the first half but had a couple key catches and three for 43 overall. The blocking on the edges was good for most of the night.
Grade: A-minus
Offensive line
Abraham Lucas was back to his starting spot at right tackle, his first action since the first half of the opener against the Rams, and it seemed to make a big difference as the Seahawks held a really good Dallas pass rush in check much of the night. Jason Peters rotated in and also played well. Rookie Anthony Bradford started in place of Phil Haynes at right guard. Charles Cross also appeared to play really well on the left side. You might have liked the run blocking to be a little better but this was a good defense on the road. Overall, this felt like the best OL performance of the year.
Grade: A-minus
Defensive line
It was a really good job for most of the night against the Dallas running attack. And there were four sacks of a tough QB to bring down. But there was a bit too much time for Prescott to pass on a few of those key plays at the end.
Grade: B-minus
Linebacker
Hard to judge this group with Jordyn Brooks missing the second half with an ankle injury. Brooks started well, with a sack on third down of Prescott on Dallas’ first drive, forcing the Cowboys to settle for a field goal. And Bobby Wagner had a huge open-field third-down tackle to force a fourth down that fell incomplete. Devin Bush was thrown into duty to take over for Brooks and had some decent moments. But there was a lot of space late.
Grade: C
Secondary
So how to judge this group given the wacky way the game was officiated? Both teams seemed perturbed at the way that the officials so wantonly threw flags on defensive backs. It really seemed to catch up to the Seahawks on a drive by Dallas in the third quarter when there were four penalties in pass coverage that resulted in first downs and helped Dallas drive for a TD that made it 28-27. Three came on the secondary.
“It feels like there was a whole other factor in this game,” coach Pete Carroll said afterward referring to the officials.
So, a big caveat for these guys. But the safety play in particular felt like it needed to be better on pass coverage. Riq Woolen, who played only the first quarter against the 49ers before being pulled due to a sore shoulder, returned to the starting spot at right cornerback.
Grade: C-minus
Special teams
Yeah, the officials seemed to mess up not giving Seattle a timeout on the delay before the missed field goal. But Jason Myers should also be able to make a 42-yarder. So, that’s a tough one. Otherwise, not a lot happened in a game in which neither team punted.
Grade: B-minus
Coaching
Give the coaches a lot of credit for getting this team up off the mat after the dispiriting 49ers game, and devising a quick-passing game that also got the offense going. But Carroll took some blame for not being more assertive to get the timeout before the failed field goal, which ultimately proved pretty critical.
Grade: B
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