Sick of Hearing about the Cowboys being our biggest threat

[HawKnPeppa]

I'm ok with whomever we have to beat, but a win over the Cowpies would be the most satisfying because: 1. They are a worthy matchup, and I wan't to see our D rise to the challenge(after getting manhandled last time) this time. 2. A few Cowpie players and a LOT if Cowterd fans have been spouting off about being 'better' than us. Only one way to prove 'em wrong.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

On that 3rd and 22nd play, Avril was being held hard. Flag should of been called. I want them to come to our house again. Our team will show them the real Seahawks.

You could use that sort of reasoning for both sides. We wouldn't have had a lead in that game if it weren't for a fluke play early on.
I definitely want to see what the Hawks can do now that their identity (and several players on D) is/are back.
Good thing we won't see them right away, so Hill will have a better chance to be ready. We need every pass rusher on deck to hopefully make Romo uncomphy. Their OL has staid healthy, so chances are they are even better than in our last meeting. .

 

[NINEster]

It's moot, because if they beat Detroit they get to go to Green Bay.

They are not beating the Pack, coming off a week of rest while the Cowboys battle the Lions. Not in Lambeau.

Lambeau hasn't hosted a winning playoff game for the Packers in several seasons. Would have to be prior to 2010, and may go as far back as 2007.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

It's moot, because if they beat Detroit they get to go to Green Bay.

They are not beating the Pack, coming off a week of rest while the Cowboys battle the Lions. Not in Lambeau.

Lambeau hasn't hosted a winning playoff game for the Packers in several seasons. Would have to be prior to 2010, and may go as far back as 2007.

Spoken like the fan of a team that beat them in Lambeau in last year's playoffs. :th2thumbs: Offensively, Dallas is equipped to beat GB in the trenches. GB's defense seems to live or die by how effective Clay Matthews is, and I think the Dallas OL can easily handle him. On defense, Dallas isn't near as dominating, but Marinelli is a great coach who has them playing above their heads. I'd compare them to some of the better 'bend-but-not-break' defenses, like KC. We'll see how they fare with Melton out of the picture. Maybe GB can make some money with on the ground.

This is starting to look like a game where both teams can pretty much score at will, but we'll see how that translates on the frozen tundra.

 

[TXHawk]

It's moot, because if they beat Detroit they get to go to Green Bay.

They are not beating the Pack, coming off a week of rest while the Cowboys battle the Lions. Not in Lambeau.

Lambeau hasn't hosted a winning playoff game for the Packers in several seasons. Would have to be prior to 2010, and may go as far back as 2007.

If you want to get into playoff history, the Cowboys haven't won a road playoff game since 1991.

Anyway, the Cowboys also have to get by the Lions which will be tougher now that Suh will be playing. Also AT&T Stadium provides one of the worst HFAs in the league. I've been to a few games there and its like a library compared to the Clink. They have to constantly exhort the crowd to make noise and half the crowd is watching the game on the huge videoscreen instead of on the field. It's a very sterile home environment for the Cowboys.

 

[taco40]

I like this though, you remember what happen when Broncos were being highlighted as the team that will win. Everyone already saying Cowboys already beat Seahawks in Seattle and they can do it again. I know the Seahawks player will be amped and will come out playing tough with those guys if Cowboys can beat Detroit and Green Bay.

My feelings as well. I loved it last year when everyone was giving our defense so little respect. I felt at that time that our guys were so hungry, the lack of respect just played into their hands. Besides, as Wes Welker screamed at his teammates, "We're the best dam offense that ever played this game." They had every reason to believe that they would be able to beat anyone despite the mantra: (Offense sells tickets, but...) Defense wins championships.

I'm looking forward to the week preceding the Dallas or Green Bay game when everyone sings praises of either starting QB.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Id be more "worried" about detroit than dallas

Don't know how anybody can say that.

Detroit can keep Lynch at bay for a couple of quarters and bring some pressure, but their secondary isn't all that. Our Defense has a much better chance of bringing pressure against Detroits OL, and Douboy Stafford isn't anywhere as illusive as Romo.

I just finished watching the condensed version of the Dallas game and saw the same things I saw the first time. I'm even more convinced that they are our biggest threat. The game somehow stayed close, score-wise, but we were awfully lucky with a couple of opportune defensive plays that put us in good field position. Without those two fumble recoveries, we would have likely finished the game with about 3 points. I think I could count the number of 3rd down conversions we had on O, for the entire game, on one hand. Marinelli had that D playing aggressively and with purpose. I'll concede that much of their success was because they focused heavily on Percy, but not much else was working either. Kearse dropped pass after pass, but the coverage was pretty good. Willson had a drop or two -one was probably due to somebody grabbing his face mask- but he generally doesn't do well in traffic. Dallas was generating good pressure as well, and in many cases looked like they were forcing Wilson to either roll right, or they completely sealed the edges and generated pressure up the middle giving him nowhere to go and very few snaps with open receivers.

Unlike our dumb luck on O, Dallas got all of their points through honest scoring drives. We were able to stifle their running at times, but they started handling us pretty well as the game went on. When Romo took his drops, he had a super clean pocket for EONS. I think we generated a grand total of 3 pressures the entire game, once on a blitz that Romo beat, and couple of other times where single players slipped into the pocket (Irvin 1x; Bennett 1x, I believe). There was no pocket collapsing whatsoever; mostly just a impenetrable wall in front of Romo, snap after snap. That gave him all day to wait for Whitten, Bryant, Williams, Beasley -you name it- to come open, and he tore us up with that. Oh, and Bryant OWNED Sherm for most of that game. When Romo put up 50/50 balls, Dez showed he was the superior athlete. In many cases, Sherm had to resort to blatant holding because Dez was flat-out beating him.

Contrary to the excuses others have used about why Murray ran roughshod in the second half, Wagner and Mebane where in that game for all 4 quarters...they were just OWNED most of the time. In all fairness to Wagner, he looked lame for most of the game, so I'm guessing he was gutting out the torn tendon in his foot.

We will need to do much better at getting pressure on Romo next time. If not, I see the same matchups and much the same results. Pete was talking about how far Hill has come and that losing him would be a 'BIG DEAL' because he's major part of our four-man rush. He went from 'feeling pretty good' just after the game to having fairly serious sprain when Pete gave the update.

Anyhow, to whomever are saying they are sick of hearing Dallas is our biggest threat, get used feeling that way, because you will continue to hear it from multiple sources. That might be because they ARE our biggest threat, challenge, obstacle or however you want to term it. They made our D-line and the LOB look like children for most of that first outing, so the burden of proof is on us.

I think the people who are scoffing at the notion that Dallas has any chance are frozen in a time warp from 2013. The 2014/15 Cowpies are pretty darn good.

 

[hawkfan68]

Id be more "worried" about detroit than dallas

Don't know how anybody can say that.

Detroit can keep Lynch at bay for a couple of quarters and bring some pressure, but their secondary isn't all that. Our Defense has a much better chance of bringing pressure against Detroits OL, and Douboy Stafford isn't anywhere as illusive as Romo.

I just finished watching the condensed version of the Dallas game and saw the same things I saw the first time. I'm even more convinced that they are our biggest threat. The game somehow stayed close, score-wise, but we were awfully lucky with a couple of opportune defensive plays that put us in good field position. Without those two fumble recoveries, we would have likely finished the game with about 3 points. I think I could count the number of 3rd down conversions we had on O, for the entire game, on one hand. Marinelli had that D playing aggressively and with purpose. I'll concede that much of their success was because they focused heavily on Percy, but not much else was working either. Kearse dropped pass after pass, but the coverage was pretty good. Willson had a drop or two -one was probably due to somebody grabbing his face mask- but he generally doesn't do well in traffic. Dallas was generating good pressure as well, and in many cases looked like they were forcing Wilson to either roll right, or they completely sealed the edges and generated pressure up the middle giving him nowhere to go and very few snaps with open receivers.

Unlike our dumb luck on O, Dallas got all of their points through honest scoring drives. We were able to stifle their running at times, but they started handling us pretty well as the game went on. When Romo took his drops, he had a super clean pocket for EONS. I think we generated a grand total of 3 pressures the entire game, once on a blitz that Romo beat, and couple of other times where single players slipped into the pocket (Irvin 1x; Bennett 1x, I believe). There was no pocket collapsing whatsoever; mostly just a impenetrable wall in front of Romo, snap after snap. That gave him all day to wait for Whitten, Bryant, Williams, Beasley -you name it- to come open, and he tore us up with that. Oh, and Bryant OWNED Sherm for most of that game. When Romo put up 50/50 balls, Dez showed he was the superior athlete. In many cases, Sherm had to resort to blatant holding because Dez was flat-out beating him.

Contrary to the excuses others have used about why Murray ran roughshod in the second half, Wagner and Mebane where in that game for all 4 quarters...they were just OWNED most of the time. In all fairness to Wagner, he looked lame for most of the game, so I'm guessing he was gutting out the torn tendon in his foot.

We will need to do much better at getting pressure on Romo next time. If not, I see the same matchups and much the same results. Pete was talking about how far Hill has come and that losing him would be a 'BIG DEAL' because he's major part of our four-man rush. He went from 'feeling pretty good' just after the game to having fairly serious sprain when Pete gave the update.

Anyhow, to whomever are saying they are sick of hearing Dallas is our biggest threat, get used feeling that way, because you will continue to hear it from multiple sources. That might be because they ARE our biggest threat, challenge, obstacle or however you want to term it. They made our D-line and the LOB look like children for most of that first outing, so the burden of proof is on us.

I think the people who are scoffing at the notion that Dallas has any chance are frozen in a time warp from 2013. The 2014/15 Cowpies are pretty darn good.

Suh can step on anybody and get away with it. I don't want RW in any way near a headcase like Suh. Calling Suh a dirty player just seems a little too clean. He's the dirtiest player in football.

 

[idahawks]

Id be more "worried" about detroit than dallas

Don't know how anybody can say that.

Detroit can keep Lynch at bay for a couple of quarters and bring some pressure, but their secondary isn't all that. Our Defense has a much better chance of bringing pressure against Detroits OL, and Douboy Stafford isn't anywhere as illusive as Romo.

I just finished watching the condensed version of the Dallas game and saw the same things I saw the first time. I'm even more convinced that they are our biggest threat. The game somehow stayed close, score-wise, but we were awfully lucky with a couple of opportune defensive plays that put us in good field position. Without those two fumble recoveries, we would have likely finished the game with about 3 points. I think I could count the number of 3rd down conversions we had on O, for the entire game, on one hand. Marinelli had that D playing aggressively and with purpose. I'll concede that much of their success was because they focused heavily on Percy, but not much else was working either. Kearse dropped pass after pass, but the coverage was pretty good. Willson had a drop or two -one was probably due to somebody grabbing his face mask- but he generally doesn't do well in traffic. Dallas was generating good pressure as well, and in many cases looked like they were forcing Wilson to either roll right, or they completely sealed the edges and generated pressure up the middle giving him nowhere to go and very few snaps with open receivers.

Unlike our dumb luck on O, Dallas got all of their points through honest scoring drives. We were able to stifle their running at times, but they started handling us pretty well as the game went on. When Romo took his drops, he had a super clean pocket for EONS. I think we generated a grand total of 3 pressures the entire game, once on a blitz that Romo beat, and couple of other times where single players slipped into the pocket (Irvin 1x; Bennett 1x, I believe). There was no pocket collapsing whatsoever; mostly just a impenetrable wall in front of Romo, snap after snap. That gave him all day to wait for Whitten, Bryant, Williams, Beasley -you name it- to come open, and he tore us up with that. Oh, and Bryant OWNED Sherm for most of that game. When Romo put up 50/50 balls, Dez showed he was the superior athlete. In many cases, Sherm had to resort to blatant holding because Dez was flat-out beating him.

Contrary to the excuses others have used about why Murray ran roughshod in the second half, Wagner and Mebane where in that game for all 4 quarters...they were just OWNED most of the time. In all fairness to Wagner, he looked lame for most of the game, so I'm guessing he was gutting out the torn tendon in his foot.

We will need to do much better at getting pressure on Romo next time. If not, I see the same matchups and much the same results. Pete was talking about how far Hill has come and that losing him would be a 'BIG DEAL' because he's major part of our four-man rush. He went from 'feeling pretty good' just after the game to having fairly serious sprain when Pete gave the update.

Anyhow, to whomever are saying they are sick of hearing Dallas is our biggest threat, get used feeling that way, because you will continue to hear it from multiple sources. That might be because they ARE our biggest threat, challenge, obstacle or however you want to term it. They made our D-line and the LOB look like children for most of that first outing, so the burden of proof is on us.

I think the people who are scoffing at the notion that Dallas has any chance are frozen in a time warp from 2013. The 2014/15 Cowpies are pretty darn good.

HawkNpeppa is 100% right. Its a bad match up for us, we can win, but its the poorest odds for us of any NCF play off team. And some people think Carolina is scary- are you watching the same NFL as me- National Football League based in the united states ,American football, grid iron, pigskin?

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Id be more "worried" about detroit than dallas

Don't know how anybody can say that.

Detroit can keep Lynch at bay for a couple of quarters and bring some pressure, but their secondary isn't all that. Our Defense has a much better chance of bringing pressure against Detroits OL, and Douboy Stafford isn't anywhere as illusive as Romo.

I just finished watching the condensed version of the Dallas game and saw the same things I saw the first time. I'm even more convinced that they are our biggest threat. The game somehow stayed close, score-wise, but we were awfully lucky with a couple of opportune defensive plays that put us in good field position. Without those two fumble recoveries, we would have likely finished the game with about 3 points. I think I could count the number of 3rd down conversions we had on O, for the entire game, on one hand. Marinelli had that D playing aggressively and with purpose. I'll concede that much of their success was because they focused heavily on Percy, but not much else was working either. Kearse dropped pass after pass, but the coverage was pretty good. Willson had a drop or two -one was probably due to somebody grabbing his face mask- but he generally doesn't do well in traffic. Dallas was generating good pressure as well, and in many cases looked like they were forcing Wilson to either roll right, or they completely sealed the edges and generated pressure up the middle giving him nowhere to go and very few snaps with open receivers.

Unlike our dumb luck on O, Dallas got all of their points through honest scoring drives. We were able to stifle their running at times, but they started handling us pretty well as the game went on. When Romo took his drops, he had a super clean pocket for EONS. I think we generated a grand total of 3 pressures the entire game, once on a blitz that Romo beat, and couple of other times where single players slipped into the pocket (Irvin 1x; Bennett 1x, I believe). There was no pocket collapsing whatsoever; mostly just a impenetrable wall in front of Romo, snap after snap. That gave him all day to wait for Whitten, Bryant, Williams, Beasley -you name it- to come open, and he tore us up with that. Oh, and Bryant OWNED Sherm for most of that game. When Romo put up 50/50 balls, Dez showed he was the superior athlete. In many cases, Sherm had to resort to blatant holding because Dez was flat-out beating him.

Contrary to the excuses others have used about why Murray ran roughshod in the second half, Wagner and Mebane where in that game for all 4 quarters...they were just OWNED most of the time. In all fairness to Wagner, he looked lame for most of the game, so I'm guessing he was gutting out the torn tendon in his foot.

We will need to do much better at getting pressure on Romo next time. If not, I see the same matchups and much the same results. Pete was talking about how far Hill has come and that losing him would be a 'BIG DEAL' because he's major part of our four-man rush. He went from 'feeling pretty good' just after the game to having fairly serious sprain when Pete gave the update.

Anyhow, to whomever are saying they are sick of hearing Dallas is our biggest threat, get used feeling that way, because you will continue to hear it from multiple sources. That might be because they ARE our biggest threat, challenge, obstacle or however you want to term it. They made our D-line and the LOB look like children for most of that first outing, so the burden of proof is on us.

I think the people who are scoffing at the notion that Dallas has any chance are frozen in a time warp from 2013. The 2014/15 Cowpies are pretty darn good.

Lucky for us that Green Bay is a bad matchup for them and we likely won't see Dallas because of it right? Either way I believe if we do draw them somehow they will be toast this time around because regardless of if Wagner and Chancellor were playing they were both obviously injured and it is not the case now and that means a lot combined with the fact that Dallas is injured on the defensive side of the ball which changes things even further.

 

[Seafan]

I'm not worried about Dallas. They have a huge road ahead to get to the NFCC. Kam wasn't healthy. Wagner missed part of the game and Maxwell, Lane and Simon were out. Not the same matchup at all. But I seriously doubt they get past Green Bay.

 

[Superbad88]

Happy New Year!!!

Full disclosure I am a Cowboys fan and I visited opposing forums during the season. This was my favorite and a Giants board is 2nd. I rarely join just lurk and read.

I would say if I was a Seahawks fan I wouldn't worry about anybody bc you have home field, you're the defending champ and the AFC best team I don't think will beat the top 3 from the NFC.

As a Cowboys fan I would be thrilled to see Seattle again, simply bc it's means it's the NFCCG. I would sign up for that everyday during the offseason, pre-season, week 1 down 28-3 to the 49ers. It's been an unexpected year. I'm still worried about the playoffs it's been a while since we had a deep run.

As for the potential matchup between the Cowboys and Seahawks, I agree with most of you that the Seahawks are a better team then in October. However I think the Cowboys are too.

And I disagree with the thought that Dallas only won bc of 3rd and 20, sure it was needed but if you really play that game over it shouldn't have come down to that. Dallas had a block punt go for TD, a muffed punt deep in Seahawks territory, and QB/C miscommunication for another fumble deep in Seattle territory. So both teams got plays you really can't rely on, it's not sustainable winning formula vs a very good team.

I just can't see neither team blowing out the other. These teams have probably faced off more then any other non-division pairing in the NFC since Carroll became the HC. I think for QBs Romo has probably had the most success against the legion of boom but against 3 different front 7s.

 

[olyfan63]

Yup, Dallas flat kicked our ass physically in that game, punched us in the mouth. We were very fortunate to be in position to win, which was primarily because we were +14 on Special Teams that day. No other team in my recollection has physically handled us the last 3-4 years like Dallas did in that game. I think the 'Hawks came in overconfident, expecting to punch Dallas in the mouth like the Golden Tate-Sean Lee blowup game in 2012. So now it's all about the adjustments, if the two teams meet again. Seattle won't get surprised and pulped again by that excellent Cowboys O-Line. Yes, we were missing key players (BWags being huge) but still, nobody else has done anything like that to our team the last few years.

Our position in the Dallas game was like the Rams in the first Rams game where they won by 2 because they were +17 on Special Teams even though we physically dominated the game. The major difference being the Lambs won.

 

[olyfan63]

But don't you think they probably are the biggest threat? Despite their schedule, they're mopping up and are on fire right now. If they weren't a strong team, they wouldn't be blowing their opponents out and scoring over 30pts a game. They're a good team, imo

Yup. Not only that, they're a tough matchup for Seattle. Hawks don't get sacks they get pressure. That means savvy pocket awareness QB's can exploit the Hawks.

But hey, I was laughed at for pointing this out before they played the Cowboys originally. What do I know?

Amazing how quickly people forget how thoroughly the Hawks were dominated at the LOS on both sides of the ball in that the last game against Dallas.

We've been humiliating rookie and backup QBs behind average OLs for the past 6 games. Facing a seasoned vet with 5-6 seconds to throw every drop back is a totally different story, especially when he's throwing to Dez Bryant and Whitten. He doesn't become the fumbling/bumbling Romo in a consitently clean pocket.

Let's also ingnore how they dominated us on the ground. A great run-blocking OL combined with an outstanding RB who patiently waits for his blockers.
Yeah, you're right they are at the bottom if our list of threats. [emoji90]

This just SO nails the challenge the 'Hawks face.

And yes, our defense absolutely FEASTED on all the backup QB's we faced over the 6-0 run. AZ twice, Philly, Rams. The only starting QB we faced in that stretch was Niners and Kaepernick twice.

The 2014 Cowboys actually have a lot in common with the 2005 Seahawks. An overpowering offense and O-Line, a great NFL-MVP-level running back, a smart QB playing at a high level who excels at making plays when given time, and an *average* defense that consistently *outperforms* its perceived level of physical talent, the "Lofa Tatupu" of defenses.

In fact, the 2014 Cowboys have several edges over the 2005 Seahawks, for example, Dez Bryant > Darrell Jackson as #1 receiver. East Coast mediots somehow thought the 2005 Seahawks were a "finesse" team, despite the smash-mouth running game. At least they're not calling a very similar Cowboys team a "finesse" team this year.

In a lot of years, the 2014 Cowboys team wins the Super Bowl, like the 05 'Hawks should have*. Not this year. The Seahawks beat the Cowboys in the NFCCG, if that happens, but it will be a good game. Here's why the 'Hawks win:

1) A better game plan for exploiting the Cowboys defense than the lame, pathetic, gimmicky offense we had in the first game. We keep the Cowboys offense off the field longer and allow our defense to rest, instead of getting worn down all game.

2) A much better, healthier run defense than the Cowboys saw in the first game. BWags, Kam--key to the Seattle run defensive effort.

3) A much better pass rush than the Cowboys faced in the first game. Quinn has figured out how to generate pass rush over the course of the season, using blitzes, stunts, and improving the players.

4) Russell Wilson. The magic he brings, the way he wills his team to win. The things he does at crunch time when the game is on the line.

5) Our maturing, improving Seattle WR corps. Way better than what Dallas saw in the first game.

6) Dallas defensive depth and injuries. Without Henry Melton, with other guys nicked up, their overperforming defense won't be able to overperform when, not if, their D loses another player or two over the next 2 games. It will be like us losing Chris Clemons in 2012 before the Falcons game when we desperately needed a pass rush and he was all we had. It will be like Marquand Manuel going down in the 2nd quarter of SBXL with nobody real to replace him, man-off-the-street time.

7) Overall Seattle health, freshness, and depth as a result of the bye week. We should get guys like Max Unger, Tony Moeaki, and others back and able to perform. Seattle will be about +2 to +3 on healthy starters and quality rotation players relative to Dallas.

8 ) Special Teams and turnovers edge. Seattle is likely to be +7 or more points on Special Teams and/or Turnovers/Points Off in this game. If we're not, it will be a very close game indeed.

9) A historically good Seattle defense, healthy and playing at its peak at the right time.

My overall prediction for such an NFCCG matchup is 31-17 Seahawks. As I said, the 2014 Cowboys look like a good enough team that in some years they could win the Super Bowl. Just not this year with the 2014 Seahawks in the way. Assuming GB vs Dallas comes to pass in Divisional round, I do expect Dallas to go into Green Bay and win a close and exciting game. If the Cowboys lose, it will be due to Aaron Rodgers late-game heroics.

(*I blame team tissue paper depth/FO issues more than the refs. But let's try not to digress here.)