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Running back Ezekiel Elliott had 169 yards from scrimmage and one touchdown, and quarterback Dak Prescott added rushing and passing scores as the Dallas Cowboys beat the Seattle Seahawks 24-22 in an NFC Wild Card matchup Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Tyler Lockett had four catches for 120 yards for the Seahawks, while quarterback Russell Wilson rushed for one touchdown and threw another to running back J.D. McKissic.
Seahawks Must Move on from Schottenheimer to Capitalize on Russell Wilson’s Window
The Cowboys allowed the sixth-fewest running back yards per carry this season, per Football Outsiders. They allowed 80 or fewer rushing yards in six of their last eight regular-season games.
Dallas also has two of the NFL‘s best linebackers in Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith, who have helped give the Cowboys the No. 5 run defense per DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average).
The Cowboys aren’t invincible against the run, but establishing a ground game at AT&T Stadium, where Dallas went 7-1 in the regular season and allowed just 3.4 yards per carry, is extremely difficult.
The Seahawks gave it their best shot, however, and the results were not positive. As a team, Seattle ran for just 73 yards on 24 carries. If you take out a 28-yard Rashaad Penny run, those figures dip to 45 yards on 23 carries for less than two yards a pop.
No. 1 running back Chris Carson ran for just 20 yards on 13 carries.
Seattle is the only team in the league that ran more than it passed this season, per Sharp Football Stats, so it’s clear head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer wanted to stick to their bread and butter regardless of the opponent.
That’s not a big issue if that’s your plan A and you have a plan B as a backup. But running the ball and firing swing and screen passes regardless of the situation seemed to be the Seahawks’ plans A, B and C all night despite the repeated rushing failures.
Sharp posted some eye-popping stats in the middle of the second half:
Warren Sharp @SharpFootball
Seahawks fans, we’re going to have a long talk about Brian Schottenheimer.
Seattle doesn’t have Blake Bortles or Case Keenum at QB.
This is Russell Wilson.
16 Wilson passes @ 8.3 YPA vs
21 non-Wilson runs @ 2.8 YPC
One of the worst called games w a good QB I can remember.
He also drew out Seattle’s second touchdown drive to explain what worked and what didn’t:
Warren Sharp @SharpFootball
Last TD drive by Seattle:
Ball on DAL 44
4&5 Wilson 22 yd pass
1&10 3 yd RB run
2&7 0 yd RB run
3&7 2 yd RB run
1&10 3 yd RB run
2&7 2 yd RB run
3&5 Wilson 7 yd run
1&5 1 yd RB run
2&4 Wilson 4 yd runRB runs: 1.8 YPC, 6 att
Passes: 22 YPA, 1 att
QB runs: 5.5 YPC, 1 TD, 2 att
Bill Barnwell of ESPN was blunt in his assessment:
Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell
JUST DO THAT THING WHERE RUSSELL WILSON THROWS THE BALL TO HIS GOOD WIDE RECEIVERS ALL THE TIME
The bottom line is the ‘Hawks have two wideouts in Lockett and Doug Baldwin who can beat you in a variety of different ways, and they only combined for 12 targets. That wouldn’t be a big deal if the Seahawks found success with the run, but that wasn’t the case tonight.
Those 12 looks led to seven catches and 152 yards. Lockett had a 53-yard catch late in the fourth quarter, making one wonder whether further deep-shot opportunities were there for him.
Granted, the Cowboys pass rush led by Demarcus Lawrence is intense, but with the run game failing, the ‘Hawks needed to take more chances downfield to their top pass-catching weapons.
Ultimately, the Seahawks’ conservative offense isn’t getting them to a Super Bowl in an era where innovative teams are opening up the playbook and lighting up the scoreboard.
Wilson will turn 31 next season, so he isn’t getting any younger. At this point, the Seahawks have to consider a coaching switch to better utilize their skill-position talent.
Dallas Cowboys’ Road Woes Spell Doom in Divisional Round
The Cowboys are now 8-1 at home this year after their playoff win, but they are just 3-5 away from Arlington. Dallas also laid a goose egg in one of its biggest road games of the season, a 23-0 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on December 16.
The Colts are arguably the best team the Cowboys faced all season, and Dallas wasn’t able to do much of anything. In fact, Dallas has faced three teams with 10 or more wins this season on the road and come up empty each time (the other two were the Seahawks and Houston Texans).
The bad news is Dallas will face either the New Orleans Saints or Los Angeles Rams on the road for the divisional round, and those teams are arguably the best two in the league. Record-wise they certainly are, as they finished with league-best 13-3 marks.
For those reasons, Dallas’ season looks like it will end next weekend.
In fairness, one could split the Cowboys’ 2018 campaign into two sections: Pre-Amari Cooper and Post-Amari Cooper. If you look at the year from that lens, then Dallas is 3-1 away from AT&T Stadium in the Post-Amari era.
However, those wins were not against the NFL’s cream of the crop. The Cowboys needed 187 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns from Elliott to top the Philadelphia Eagles, who finished 9-7 but were in the midst of a 2-5 lull when they hosted Dallas.
The Cowboys squeaked by the 7-9 Atlanta Falcons 22-19 before skating by the Odell Beckham Jr.-less New York Giants 36-35. Granted, the Cowboys were shorthanded themselves sans running back Elliott and others versus Big Blue, but the rebuilding Giants just finished a 5-11 season.
Even though Dallas beat New Orleans earlier this season at home, the team faces a significant problem against the Saints on the road.
At home, New Orleans finished 6-1 in games that mattered (they rested quarterback Drew Brees and numerous starters for the playoffs in a Week 17 loss). New Orleans went 7-1 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome last season, and Brees is also 5-0 at home in the playoffs lifetime.
Facing the Rams might be an easier task, as Cowboys fans could flood the Los Angeles Coliseum and make it a quasi-home game, or at least give the crowd a neutral vibe.
But the Rams’ No. 2 scoring offense is much tougher to defend than the Seahawks’ rushing attack, and if L.A. gets momentum on its side early, then Dallas could be in trouble. Like the Saints, the Rams are also a dominant home team and went 7-1 there this season. They should also have a rested Todd Gurley back after the star running back missed his final two games with a knee injury.
Dallas deserves much credit for overcoming an ugly 3-5 start and winning a playoff game against a good Seattle team. The team’s youth and energy could also foreshadow a dominant run atop the NFC East well into the 2020s.
In that sense, maybe 2018 is akin to 1991 for the Cowboys, as a young and rising team got smoked on the road in the playoffs against the Detroit Lions before winning the Super Bowl three times in four years.
But 2018 doesn’t seem like Dallas’ time. A road win isn’t impossible, but it’s certainly improbable.
What’s Next?
The Cowboys’ next opponent is dependent upon the result of the Eagles at Chicago Bears NFC Wild Card matchup Sunday. If the Eagles win, then Dallas will face the Rams. If the Bears win, the Cowboys will go to New Orleans and face the top-seeded Saints.
Regardless of opponent, the Rams will host their divisional-round game Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET, with Fox carrying the telecast. Fox also has the Saints’ divisional-round battle Sunday at 4:40 p.m. ET.
The Cowboys have not faced Los Angeles this season, but they beat New Orleans at home 13-10.
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2CSKtN6
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