The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Dallas Cowboys 41-35 in Week 13. Dallas had won each of their home games by at least 20 points heading into the matchup, so maybe we learned that Seattle is a decent team after all in losing by just 6 and being ahead for a lot of the game. But we learned Seattle is just good enough to get beat by a good team as well.
The Cowboys are not an exceptional team. While they are among the better teams in the NFL, they really should not have looked so bad defensively against a Seattle team that was greatly struggling in the weeks before Thursday's contest. Maybe if Dallas gets home-field advantage in the playoffs they can be a threat, but the Philadelphia Eagles are unlikely to let home-field advantage slip away from them.
Yet the Cowboys are a more well-rounded team than the Seahawks. With Seattle, every week seems slightly different. The offense will be bad but the defense OK, or, as in the case of Week 13, the offense was pretty good while the defense stunk. Here are some things we learned about Seattle in their loss to the Cowboys.
Seattle Seahawks truth No. 1 - Pete Carroll's culture is fine...for now
Since 2010, head coach Pete Carroll has built a successful culture where players are mostly allowed to be themselves and the team comes first. Note I said mostly there. Possibly one reason young players relate to Carroll's style so much is they have not yet learned to be jaded by the business of the NFL and just want to play football. That is what Carroll wants to do, of course.
Teams who are facing three very tough games in a row and had already lost three of four games could easily quit and start thinking about their offseason plans. But the Seahawks did not quit and came out starting the game as if they were the 8-3 team and trying to get good playoff seeding. Teams that do not believe in their coaching staff would not do that.
Many 12s and websites, including this one, have spoken about potential changes to the Seahawks coaching staff this coming offseason. That may, and likely should, still happen. One game where the offense plays well does not really change anything as Seattle is far too inconsistent from week to week and that is partly a coaching problem. But at least we saw that the 2023 Seahawks are not going to quit playing hard.
Lie No. 1 - The defense is better this year
Some of Seattle's defensive statistics look better so far in 2023, but Seattle also faced a bunch of teams with backup quarterbacks near the beginning of the year. If the Seahawks were to face a Cleveland Browns team led by P.J. Walker every week, Seattle might have a good chance of going unbeaten. But when the Seahawks play teams with good quarterbacks - the Cowboys, the Baltimore Ravens, the San Francisco 49ers - Seattle's defense gets completely exposed for the fraud it is.
Seattle does give up 5.2 yards per play (12th in the league) versus 5.5 in 2022 (21st) and Seattle allows fewer yards per rush in 2023 than in 2022 (4.2 compared to 4.9). But where it really matters - points per game - Seattle allows more this year (24.2) than last (23.6). So how is a defense that should have more talent as Seattle added rookie Devon Witherspoon and brought back Bobby Wagner in free agency giving up even more points?
Some players have taken a step back this year. Rig Woolen is not creating turnovers, getting called for pass interference calls as if they were Skittles (two atrocious ones against Dallas though only one looked legit - the officials were once again far worse than Seattle could ever be), and teams are not afraid to throw his way. Quandre Diggs also is not creating turnovers and he is missing more tackles (9.5 percent compared to 7.8 percent in 2022) this year.
Seattle still sits back in zone too often on 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-long situations and allowing teams to pick up chunk plays. That is likely a defensive coaching issue, but that has also been a problem for years. There is also no reason to think that Seattle's defense will be any better in 2024, either.
Truth No. 2 - No argument about QB1 in Seattle
Was Geno Smith perfect in Week 13? No. But can anyone logically argue that Drew Lock would have been an upgrade over Smith? They shouldn't try. Smith threw one interception but that was also a really good play by DaRon Bland where he cut off a pass intended for Tyler Lockett and was simply a lot more physical than Lockett. But Smith threw 3 touchdown passes and ran for another. He was 23 of 41 for 334 yards and a quarterback rating of 97.
His numbers might have been even better had Lockett not dropped a pass in the fourth quarter that would have been a sure first down and 20-yard gain. DK Metcalf, who overall had a great game with 6 catches on 8 targets for 3 TDs and 134 yards, also dropped a slant pass that seemed as if he could have held on to the ball he might have run to the end zone. Smith could have thrown a better pass to Noah Fant for a first down on Seattle's final futile drive, but two or three bad throws over the course of an otherwise good game is just being nitpicky.
DK makes the play! pic.twitter.com/FGgAX0sOjr
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 1, 2023
Smith also moved around well in the pocket and was not sacked even though he was often under pressure. The Cowboys were credited with one sack, but that was against DeeJay Dallas who was attempting to throw the ball on a trick play.
Some of Smith's throws were just perfect dimes like the one above. He played well enough, even though the offense broke down a bit in the fourth quarter which was as much about play-calling and adjustments made by the Cowboys than what Smith was doing, to lead the Seahawks to a victory. The hope is he keeps playing as well as he did against the Cowboys the rest of the year and maybe Seattle can steal a game or two.