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How Cowboys won a 41-35 thriller against Seahawks in Thursday Night Football’s best game of the season
Cowboys beat Seahawks 41-35 on TNF: Final stats and analysis
The Cowboys rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Seahawks 41-35 on Thursday Night Football. Dallas improves to 9-3 on the season including 6-0 at home. Seattle falls to 6-6.
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- Cowboys def. Seahawks 41-35: Final stats and game information
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Cowboys offense is a confident, well-oiled machine
The Dallas Cowboys trailed by eight points in the third quarter and faced second-and-13 from the Seattle Seahawks’ 20-yard line.
Dak Prescott completed a pass to tight end Jake Ferguson for 14 yards and the first down. When Ferguson got up, he signaled forward to indicate as such. He towered over Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quandre Diggs in the process.
Seahawks safety Jamal Adams, who wasn’t involved in the play, made his way back to Ferguson and started jawing and pointed at the Cowboys’ second-year tight end. Instead of backing down, Ferguson stepped up and locked helmets with Adams, who took a quick swipe at Ferguson’s chin.
“Just letting them know I got a first down,” Ferguson said. “You can talk all you want. I mean, it’s a great team effort right there. I know that my guys are pulling me back so that’s always good and then, yeah.”
Ferguson didn’t have to say much in the locker room afterward because his play Thursday spoke volumes. Two plays after that catch, Tony Pollard scored to bring the Cowboys within a point. Then, with less than five minutes left in the game and the Cowboys trailing by five points, Prescott looked up the left sideline in the end zone for the lead. One-on-one against Adams, Ferguson came down with the ball and finished with an emphatic spike.
“He’s a baller,” Prescott said after Dallas improved to 9-3 with its 41-35 victory. “His mentality, first and foremost, is why he is the guy that he is and has the success that he has. When I talk about expectations, he expects to do what he did in tonight’s game.”
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Seahawks went toe-to-toe with the Cowboys, only to be sunk by familiar woes
The feelings of frustration and disappointment could be felt in every corner of the Seattle Seahawks’ locker room Thursday night. The silent strolls to the shower. The slumped shoulders. The blank stares into space. Responses to reporters beginning with profanity, then searching for answers after a third consecutive loss, this one a 41-35 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
This is life on the margins. The Seahawks won a game in Detroit with a walk-off touchdown in overtime. They lost a game on a failed red zone trip in Cincinnati. They won a game at home because of a fortuitous bounce off a player’s helmet. Then won another game on a last-second field goal. Then lost a game on a missed field goal.
So, it is no surprise that in this Week 13 shootout with Dallas, the difference between winning and losing was a few plays here or there, particularly in the fourth quarter. A miscommunication. A dropped pass. A bad block. A questionable play design. Had any of these moments gone in Seattle’s favor, perhaps the Seahawks wouldn’t be 6-6, losers of three straight and on a path to yet another early exit in the postseason — if they make it all.
Going toe-to-toe with Dallas (9-3), which has the best point differential in the league at plus-168, does suggest that Seattle can hang with the best. That’s an important takeaway from this game, seeing as the Seahawks have a rematch at San Francisco in 10 days and a home game against the conference-leading Eagles in Week 15. But those teams are dominant in ways that force Seattle to be near-perfect with its execution in crunch time to pull off upsets. On Thursday, they wilted in winning time.
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How Dak Prescott helped spark the Cowboys’ defense before key late stops
Micah Parsons flashed a big smile when thinking back to what Dak Prescott said to the defense. With 4:37 remaining Thursday night, the Dallas Cowboys took their first lead of the second half. Prescott led Dallas on a seven-play, 54-yard touchdown drive that included a two-point conversion.
The Cowboys led 38-35 and Prescott wanted the defense to know it was their turn to come up with a critical stop.
“Turn the eff up,” Prescott shouted, Parsons recalled. “Y’all get a motherf——’ stop now! It’s y’all’s turn!”
Parsons loved that enthusiasm coming from Dallas’ team leader.
“Damn, that s— made me blush a little bit,” Parsons added. “That’s my quarterback right there. That’s always exciting, that energy he brings, that fire. He’s at a different pace. This is the type of quarterback that’s going to win us the Super Bowl.”
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Cowboys’ Dak Prescott bolsters MVP case with 3 TDs in thrilling win over Seahawks
By Jon Machota, Saad Yousuf and Michael-Shawn Dugar
Dak Prescott threw for nearly 300 yards and three scores as the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Seattle Seahawks 41-35 Thursday night at AT&T Stadium.
Prescott threw touchdown passes to receivers CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks and the go-ahead score to tight end Jake Ferguson with 4:37 to play in the fourth quarter. It was the sixth straight game with multiple TD passes for Prescott, making it the longest active streak in the NFL and tied for the longest streak of Prescott’s career (six straight in 2021).
The Cowboys added a field goal later in the fourth quarter to stretch their lead to 41-35 and sealed the win when Micah Parsons forced a bad throw from Seattle QB Geno Smith on 4th-and-2. Dallas has now won 14 straight home games, the longest active streak in the NFL and second longest in franchise history.
Smith otherwise enjoyed a strong night passing for 334 yards, three touchdowns and a rushing score. All three of Smith’s passing touchdowns went to DK Metcalf, who finished with a game-high 134 yards. Metcalf entered the game with three touchdown receptions all season. On Thursday, he matched his career high for single-game TD receptions.
Both teams were flagged multiple times during the game that saw neither squad punt. Dallas was flagged nine times for 121 yards and Seattle 10 times for 130. It was the most combined penalty yards in a game this season (257).
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Seahawks hadn't lost game when scoring 35+ points since 2007
The Seahawks’ 41-35 loss to the Cowboys was their first when scoring 35 points or more since Week 17 of the 2007 season against the Falcons (lost 44-41).
Seattle had won 36 straight games when scoring at least 35 points, which was the fifth-longest active streak in the NFL.
Seahawks' play call on game-deciding fourth down left Micah Parsons unblocked by design
On the game-deciding fourth-and-2, the Seahawks left Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons unblocked, and Geno Smith said it was not a bust but by design. Smith said that against a Cover-0 blitz, as Dallas ran on the play, the offensive design called for the right tackle to squeeze inside and leave Parsons unblocked, while running back DeeJay Dallas leaked out to the flat.
“We knew that would possibly happen,” Smith said. “Tried to get the ball around (Parsons), just wasn’t able to.”
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Pete Carroll questions officiating in loss to Cowboys
Speaking after the game, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll was not happy with the officials, pointing specifically to the sequence that led to the delay of game before the Seahawks’ missed field goal and also to the numerous fouls called against his defensive backs in coverage.
Scoring at will
When we think of a Pete Carroll-coached team, we don’t usually think of shootouts, but over the last two seasons, the Seahawks have played seven games in which both teams have scored at least 26 points, including tonight. That’s tied with the Eagles for the second-most in the NFL over that span, trailing only the Lions (eight, including two games they lost to the Seahawks).
With Thursday’s loss, Seattle is now 4-3 in those games, including 3-1 this season. The Eagles, whom the Seahawks face in two weeks, are 6-1 in such games, while the Chiefs are a league-best 4-0.
Seattle couldn't convert when they needed it most
A familiar thorn in the Seahawks’ side resurfaced late to cost them Thursday night’s game. After opening 7 of 8 on third down, they went just 2 of 6 the rest of the way, including failures on their final three opportunities before also failing on fourth down. Seattle still finished the game 9 of 14 on third down, by far its best showing of the season.
The Cowboys defeat Seattle 41-35 on TNF
Seattle loses 41-35, a tough blow after Geno Smith and the offense had perhaps their best game since a Week 2 overtime victory over the Lions. The Seahawks have lost three in a row to fall to 6-6. While they remain in NFC wild-card position for now, five other teams in the conference also have six losses, so the picture could change considerably this weekend.
The Seahawks still have games against the 49ers (on the road) and Eagles (at home) over the next two weeks, capping a brutal stretch of four games against the top teams in the conference.
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Four players with 28+ PPR points in tonight’s game
This was a fantastic way to kick off the Week 13 fantasy scoring slate, as four players scored 28+ PPR points in tonight’s game.
Those weren’t the only stars, however. Here’s the full list, in PPR scoring format.
- DK Metcalf 37.4
- CeeDee Lamb 32.6
- Geno Smith 29.96
- Dak Prescott 28.36
- Jake Ferguson 19.7
- Tony Pollard 17.3
- Zach Charbonnet 16.9
- Brandin Cooks 16.5
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba 13.2
Thats all she wrote
Three straight fourth-down failures near midfield doomed the Seahawks, sullying an otherwise outstanding offensive performance. Micah Parsons was unblocked on fourth-and-2 with 1:11 remaining, and Geno Smith had no chance to deliver the ball, giving the ball back to the Cowboys to kneel out the game.
One last chance
The Seahawks are going to get one more chance to take this shootout. After the Cowboys surprisingly threw on third down, and the pass fell incomplete, Dallas settled for a 32-yard field goal on fourth-and-3. Seattle will have 1:43 and no timeouts, needing a touchdown and the extra point to win.
Seahawks are down to their third RB
The Seahawks were already without Ken Walker III tonight, as he is missing his second consecutive game with an oblique injury, and now Zach Charbonnet has headed to the locker room. The team has ruled Charbonnet doubtful to return with a knee injury. DeeJay Dallas is the next man up at running back.
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Dallas' defense gets another stop
Facing its first deficit of the second half, the Seahawks drove near midfield but again hit fourth down near midfield after Geno Smith’s pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba was broken up on third-and-4. On fourth down, Smith’s pass fell incomplete, as the Cowboys force another turnover on downs.
Seattle is down to two timeouts after using one earlier in the half to avoid a delay of game.
Dak Prescott ties for league lead in big fantasy point totals by QB
Dak Prescott’s touchdown pass and two-point conversion completion give him 28.36 points on the night. It’s Prescott’s sixth game with 24+ points, a mark that ties him with Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen for the most 24+ point games by a quarterback this season.
Neither team has punted tonight
There have been only four puntless games this century, most recently in 2021 when the Chiefs faced the Eagles. Before that, none had happened since 2014, when the Packers played two such games.
Tonight, the Seahawks and Cowboys have combined for nine touchdowns, three field goals, one missed field goal attempt, one interception and two turnovers on downs on 16 possessions.