3 winners and losers from Seattle Seahawks in preseason Week 2 win

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday 22-14 and Seattle is now 2-0 in the 2023 preseason. As far as which team wins or loses in the preseason, that doesn't matter. But individual players can definitely make or break their roster spot in the preseason.

Overall, the Seahawks looked physical again. The only problem with that is that these aren't regualr season games so while Seattle appears to be the more aggressive team through two weeks of the preseason, this level of physicality will more than likely be reached when Week 1 comes around. Oh, also, Seattle needs to be better against the run early in games.

Some players that played well that aren't the three mentioned here were Drew Lock, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Jake Bobo. Lock does look capable of being a QB1, if needed. I can't wait to see what Smith-Njigba does when the real games start and he is able to play off DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. And Jake Bobo needs to make the team. Period. But here are three guys worth mentioning who either played well or did not.

Winner No. 1 - Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe proves he needs to be a starter

I'm not sure what else Mafe would need to do to prove he needs to start at one edge rush spot opposite Uchenna Nwosu. Mafe has had one of the best training camps and preseasons of any Seahawk, and against the Dallas Cowboys he seemed to constantly be wreaking havoc. He didn't record a sack, but he got lots of pressure on Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush.

Mafe recorded 2 quarterback hits, drew a holding penalty in what otherwise would have likely resulted in a Mafe sack, and had 2 batted balls. He simply was not allowing the Cowboys to consistently block him and some of the Cowboys trying to block him will be starters when the real games begin in September. Mafe is also clearly better than Darrell Taylor when playing the run as well.

Taylor started for most of 2022 and is capable of inconsistently chasing down quarterbacks. But one reason Seattle struggled against the run last year was because Taylor consistently got run over. Mafe has a much stronger lower body than Taylor, it seems, and simply isn't moved as easily. Plus, Mafe hasn't gotten to play in the preseason next to Bobby Wagner or Nwosu, so he could be even more disruptive when opposing teams are having to focus on players other than Mafe.