NFL Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks Must Clean Up Penalties Before Showdown With Dallas Cowboys

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By @The12thDude

Percy Harvin

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Sloppy would be one word to describe the Seattle Seahawks‘ victory on Monday Night Football. The Hawks managed to defeat the Washington Redskins on the road 27-17, but they made it a lot more interesting than it had to be — although the NFL is probably just happy that it wasn’t a blowout.

Seattle committed 13 penalties for 90 yards, three of which cost Percy Harvin three touchdowns. Three. I have never seen that happen to an NFL player in my life. Granted, the third penalty on James Carpenter was a terrible call that will never make any sense, but it still doesn’t negate the fact that the Seahawks’ offensive line was the primary cause of Seattle’s penalty woes.

Those issues will definitely be addressed this week, and Pete Carroll better be able to fix them before the Dallas Cowboys come to the Clink this coming Sunday. Statistically speaking, Dallas is actually pretty similar to Washington in all but one category — their record. I personally do not believe that the Cowboys are as good as their record indicates, but I do know that Seattle cannot continue to shoot themselves in the foot and expect to keep pulling out the victory, regardless of who they are playing.

One may think that Seattle could afford to be just as sloppy against the Cowboys, especially with the game being at home, but the penalty issues are much greater than any one game. Championship teams do not constantly commit penalties like the ones that Seattle continued to commit last night, and they know that. No disrespect to Washington, but mental mistakes by Seattle kept them from winning by 30 points.

Dallas brings the league’s No. 1 rushing attack led by DeMarco Murray. Seattle, meanwhile, is No. 1 in the league at stopping the run by a pretty good margin. Seattle did a great job at completely shutting down Alfred Morris, who is a really good running back himself, but Murray is a different type of runner who should be a factor. Unlike Washington, Dallas has also been able to keep games close and they have closed them out. Even though the stats show some similarities, the Cowboys are quite a bit better at this point. Another sloppy performance like the one we saw last night could cost Seattle, even at home, against the Cowboys and beyond.

Credit Russell Wilson for playing like a true champion last night, but the Seahawks need to get back to playing at a championship level as a whole unit. For the most part they are at that level, but the bad penalties, particularly from the offensive line, need to go — and they need to go now.

Tyson Sweet is a Seattle Seahawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @The12thDude, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google!

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