Seattle Seahawks September 2020 preview

In their final September game, the Seattle Seahawks host America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys

Sunday, September 27, 2020: Week 3 – Dallas Cowboys @ Seattle Seahawks

What team had a better offseason than the Dallas Cowboys? They started with hiring former Super Bowl Champion, Mike McCarthy, as their new head coach. Many being critical of Coach Garrett for clapping his hands and his in-game decisions, McCarthy comes to a loaded Dallas team with championship experience and having the reputation of building up quarterbacks. He worked with future Hall of Famer, Aaron Rodgers for nearly a decade in Green Bay. While many were uncertain if Dak Prescott would hold out due to contract negotiations, the Cowboys signed QB Andy Dalton as a backup. Dalton has playing experience in this league and has led the Bengals to numerous playoff appearances.

The Cowboys already having one of the best offensive lines in football spent the offseason on building their defense. After last year, many were critical of the backend play of the Dallas Cowboys and expressed their beliefs that if the Cowboys were to be a legit super bowl contender, then they would need to fix the holes on their defense. Losing cornerback Byron Jones to the Dolphins hurt, but they were not able to appease his asking price as they had just made Amari Cooper one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL.

In the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected Trevon Diggs, cornerback, out of Alabama. Dallas has high expectations for the youngster to come in and fill in the void that was left behind by Byron Jones. Dallas also spent money in the offseason on defensive tackle Dontari Poe, defensive end Everson Griffin, and safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix. But in recent news, the Cowboys cut Clinton Dix. This means that Dallas will be making a pursuit on free agent safety Earl Thomas.

What Will Determine the Outcome: Dallas Offense v Seattle Defense

This game is going to ultimately come down to whether or not Seattle’s defense can cause enough turnovers for them to win. Coach Carroll is one of the best at teaching his young defensive players the necessary techniques of how to cause turnovers. Whether it be punching the football or ball-hawking, year after year Seattle’s defense is making plays. In 2019, Seattle finished fourth in turnover rate in the NFL. According to Sport’s Illustrated Corbin Smith, Seattle created 16 turnovers in a five-game stretch late in last year’s season.

Against Dallas though, they will be facing one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Typically, a team is able to create turnovers by getting pressure on the quarterback and forcing them to make poor decisions. Seattle’s biggest weakness coming into this year is their defensive line. According to PFF, Seattle has the worst defensive line coming into the 2020 season while Dallas has the 4th best ranked offensive line.

While the loss of C Travis Frederick is a huge one, Dallas still has two pillars on that offensive line: LT Tyron Smith and RG Zach Martin. They also have young and upcoming linemen in Connor Williams and La’el Collins. La’el Collins recorded one of his best seasons last year, PFF reports:

"La’el Collins’ performance this year was the most promising development from the group. His 85.8 overall grade ranked third among right tackles and was easily the highest overall grade of his career."

Ultimately, the Dallas offensive line will be too much for this young Seattle defensive front. They will be able to create the running lanes for Zeke, which will open the play-action game for Dak to hit his targets downfield in Amari Cooper and rookie Ceedee Lamb.

The Seattle defensive line will not be able to get to Dak and force poor decisions. As a result, I do not see Seattle causing enough turnovers in this game to give Wilson and the offense more chances at putting points on the board.

Inside the trenches will be a huge factor on both sides of the ball for both teams. The Dallas front 7 cannot be slept on and I can see them giving Wilson trouble all game long.

In last year’s week 3 loss to the New Orleans Saints, Seattle played very sloppy. Allowed many bigs plays down the filed, missed assignments, silly turnovers which ultimately caused them to lose to Teddy Bridgewater. I see this week 3 matchup being very similar to what occurred last year.

While you can never count out Russ at home, I think the Cowboys hand the Seahawks their first loss of the season.

Spread: Is not out at the moment for this game.

Final Score: Seahawks 14 – 24 Cowboys

Seattle Seahawks Record: 2-1