Originally published October 12, 2014 at 7:01 PM | Page modified October 12, 2014 at 7:57 PM
In the blink-of-an-eye it took Dallas quarterback Tony Romo to spin away from Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin on Sunday afternoon and throw a 23-yard strike to Terrance Williams, Seattle’s season took a sudden turn.
“The game is in our hands then,’’ Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of the play, which converted a third-and-20 and led to Dallas’ go-ahead touchdown in what became a shocking 30-23 victory for the Cowboys. “… We have to stop them and get off the field and see if we can run the clock out with a win.’’
As with too many things on this day, though, Seattle couldn’t do it. Irvin was forced to watch while lying on the ground as Williams tiptoed the sidelines to complete what was the most significant play of the game.
“I couldn’t believe it,’’ said Irvin, who busted free at the line off the right side and dived at Romo, only to see the Dallas quarterback slip away. From the ground, Irvin grabbed at Romo’s feet again, only to see Romo steady himself and fire.
Irvin said the Seahawks knew Romo had plays like that in him and had talked all week about not letting him escape.
“But it’s easier talking about it than when it actually happens,’’ Irvin said.
Irvin was asked if he’d replay that sequence in his head for a while. “I ain’t trying to see this game, man,” he said. “I’m trying just to sleep and wake up and study for the Rams (Seattle’s opponent next Sunday).’’
Indeed, in that split second, Seattle’s road to a Super Bowl repeat became a lot more bumpy, allowing little time for reflection on a game that slipped away.
The defeat dropped Seattle to 3-2, and possibly into third place in the NFC West if San Francisco beats St. Louis on Monday night. The Seahawks also are 1½ games behind a Dallas team that announced itself as legit, with the Cowboys grabbing any tiebreakers.
But the result also illustrated that the Seahawks have a lot of things to fix before worrying about another Super Bowl run.
Dallas dominated this game from start to finish, with only two special-teams gaffes — a blocked punt that Seattle returned for a touchdown and a fumbled punt that led to another Seahawks touchdown — keeping the home team in it.
“I really felt like fundamentally, we didn’t play very well,’’ Carroll said. “I said to them in the locker room that when we look at it, we’ll see that blocking and tackling was not as good as it needs to be, really in any phase.’’
In fact, a game billed as a battle of the two best rushing teams in the NFL was won decisively by Dallas, which outrushed the Seahawks 162-80.
Marshawn Lynch got 32 yards on one third-quarter carry. Otherwise, Seattle was held to 48 yards on 17 carries, none longer than 9 yards.
Seattle’s passing attack was no better as Russell Wilson had what he admitted was one of his poorer days, completing just 14 of 28 passes for 126 yards — 53 coming on a first-quarter pass to Jermaine Kearse.
Otherwise, Seattle had just three passes all day longer than 10 yards. And all that came against a Dallas defense that came into the game allowing 6.4 yards per play, worst in the NFL.
“We had no rhythm,’’ Carroll said. “We weren’t able to get going, run and pass-wise.’’
Defensively, Seattle players had said during the week they relished the challenge of stopping Dallas running back DeMarco Murray, who entered Sunday with an NFL-high 670 yards after having topped the 100-yard mark in each of the first five games.
But behind an offensive line emerging as one of the league’s best, Murray had the upper hand, finishing with 115 yards on 29 carries to tie Jim Brown in 1958 as the only running backs in NFL history to rush for 100 or more yards in the first six games of a season.
Murray got a lot of his yards Sunday on cutback runs and by slipping through tackles.
“We should have tackled,’’ said defensive end Michael Bennett. “Guys were just out of position. And the yards they had after contact. He would duck his head and get 1 more yard or stretch it all the way to the sideline and find a gap.’’
Said Irvin: “We were just hopping out of our gaps and missing tackles. That’s a recipe for disaster right there. … So I think our biggest thing coming into this week is going to be tackling and tackling. We’ve got to tackle.’’
It might not have helped that Seattle had a short week, having played at Washington on Monday. Seattle took the rare move of staying over until Tuesday and then flying back to try to stay fresh. But the Seahawks offered no excuses.
Despite everything, had Irvin been able to get to Romo, the game — and being able to still claim supremacy in the NFC, if not the NFL — might still have been theirs.
Instead, the Seahawks now go on the road the next two games, long trips to St. Louis and Carolina, searching equally for victories and answers.
Bennett vowed they’ll find them.
“You’ll hear the media say ‘The Seahawks this, this and that,’ ’’ Bennett said. “We lost this game. But that doesn’t make us. We’ve just got to come back and be who we are.’’
Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @bcondotta.
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