by Jeric Griffin
Featured Columnist

2 Rants

Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE

The Dallas Cowboys have some making up to do to the team’s fans. Following a 34-7 disaster at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles to fall to 3-4, the Cowboys get the lowly Seattle Seahawks at home Sunday. On paper, Dallas should win this game handedly. However, the Cowboys shouldn’t have lost to the Eagles by 27 on paper, either. Dallas needs another dominating performance against an NFC West team to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Many Dallas-Fort Worth area talk show hosts are already looking past the Seahawks. So that we don’t ruffle any feathers, no names will be mentioned, but several media members who cover the Cowboys have already chalked the Seattle game up as a victory.

As mentioned, the game should be a Dallas victory on paper, but upsets are why the game is played. The Cowboys enter the game with the league’s 8th-best offense, a rank that dropped four spots after the loss to the Eagles. That offense will test the Seahawks’ 13th-best defense, an underrated bunch that’s slowed some of the NFL’s top offenses already this season. However, the only teams to fall to the Seahawks this season are the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals.

The Seahawks are only 2-5, but many believed the Cowboys would be better than 3-4 after seven games, so anything can happen. The Cowboys need quarterback Tony Romo to find his rhythm again in the passing game to exploit the Seahawks’ secondary. This unit has been pretty consistent in holding opposing offenses to average amounts of yardage and limited points. The Cowboys have really reigned in Romo after his late-game interceptions that cost the team victories against the New York Jets and Detroit Lions. Dallas will need to let Romo loose and let him post lots of yards and multiple touchdowns for Dallas to win this game.

Cowboys receivers Miles Austin and Dez Bryant were held in check, to say the least, against Seattle. Both are very explosive playmakers who will be chomping at the bit for some action by the time the game rolls around at noon on Sunday. Romo won’t admit it, but he’s dying to sling the ball around as well after handing the ball off to rookie running back DeMarco Murray often in the Cowboys’ win over the St. Louis Rams two weeks ago and then not possessing the ball much at all against the Eagles.

That being said, the Cowboys desperately need to feed Murray the ball to get another dominant win. Dallas’ only blowout win under head coach Jason Garrett was against St. Louis when Murray broke a franchise record with 253 rushing yards on 25 carries. That is the kind of game the Cowboys need to get back on track in the playoff race. Romo doesn’t need 40 pass attempts to post big numbers; Dallas needs him to be efficient with the ball and make big plays on obvious passing downs.

The Cowboys’ defensive players are looking to redeem themselves from the embarrassment the Eagles offered a week ago. Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware said Thursday he and his teammates won’t let Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan down again. A dominating performance against the Seahawks’ second-worst NFL offense would be a good start to that guarantee.

Indeed, the Seahawks’ offense ranks near the bottom of the barrel, averaging only 284 total yards per contest this season. Even more so, Seattle has almost no running game to speak of and that’s where the Cowboys have been the strongest defensively this year. Aside from the Eagles game, Dallas has dominated opposing running backs in its other six contests, allowing the fewest yards of any NFL defense this season. Seattle will be forced to throw the ball a lot and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson doesn’t do that well.

The Cowboys’ 9th-best NFL defense will look to jump back into the top 5 with a crushing win over the Seahawks while Dallas’ offense needs to regain its swagger against a pretty good Seattle defense. Garrett’s one-game-at-a-time approach should serve the Cowboys well in this contest, but “should” hasn’t been a friendly word to Dallas the past few years. This team proved it can dominate weaker teams by crushing St. Louis. Garrett needs his players to make that a consistent occurrence by doing the same to Seattle. Plus, the Cowboys will be playing angry after getting embarrassed by Philadelphia. My prediction: Cowboys 27, Seahawks 10.

Contact Jeric Griffin on Twitter @JericGriffin

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