Cowboys-Seahawks: Another thrilling end in store?
By José Miguel Romero
Seattle Times staff reporter
If recent history has any bearing on the outcome of Saturday's Seahawks-Cowboys playoff game, assume the following:
Nothing.
If not that, then expect a close game. High-scoring or low-scoring. Maybe a few momentum swings. Perhaps some late-game heroics and deflating big plays.
That has been the nature of Seattle-Dallas games played in the 2004 and 2005 regular seasons, with each team victorious once. There has been a little of everything.
First, a trip back in time for a few details. On a Monday night, Dec. 6, 2004, the Seahawks faced a 4-7 Dallas team that was going nowhere. The Seahawks were reeling from a 38-9 blowout loss at home to Buffalo, but had a chance to move two games above .500 and closer to the division title they would eventually win.
The Seahawks saw a 14-3 lead evaporate into a 29-14 deficit by early in the third quarter. But the next 28 minutes of the game were theirs, as Seattle surged to a 39-29 lead behind a touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerheme Urban (remember him?) and a pair of Shaun Alexander touchdown runs.
All the Seattle defense had to do was hold on. It couldn't.
Vinny Testaverde lofted a 34-yard touchdown pass to Keyshawn Johnson with 1:45 left in the game. Replays showed Johnson got only one foot inbounds after the catch, and the play should have automatically been reviewed. It wasn't, and the Cowboys then recovered an onside kick.
Moments later, Julius Jones raced up the middle for a 17-yard go-ahead touchdown. The final score was 43-39, and for the second time in 2004 the Seahawks had blown a big lead in the fourth quarter and lost.
Later, when the season ended in a home playoff loss, this was one of the games that had Seattle coach Mike Holmgren contemplating retirement.
"It was about as difficult a loss as I've ever had," Holmgren recalled this week. "I guess you can talk about the emotions and why coaches go into early retirement, or whatever. You are just sick. You don't know how you are going to come back after one of those."
Fast forward to last season. Seahawks-Cowboys, the rematch. This time it was Dallas' turn to fold in the clutch.
On Oct. 23, the Cowboys had a 10-3 lead just before the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter. But Hasselbeck engineered a six-play, 81-yard drive for a touchdown, Hasselbeck passing to Seahawk-turned-Cowboy Ryan Hannam.
The Cowboys got the ball back with 40 seconds to play, but Jordan Babineaux intercepted a Drew Bledsoe pass and returned it 25 yards to the Dallas 32-yard line.
Enter Seahawks kicker Josh Brown, who drilled the game-winning field goal from 50 yards as time expired for a 13-10 Seahawks win. The Seahawks went into their bye week at 5-2, and the run to the Super Bowl was on.
"It's kind of a miracle win. And you're sky high," Holmgren said.
"When JB kicked that field goal to put us over," tight end Jerramy Stevens said, "that was kind of the point in the season where I think a lot of us felt like that was the turning point, where we finally caught the big-play break to kind of get us rolling and give everybody on the team the confidence to know that we're going to step up in clutch situations."
Safety Michael Boulware knows the Cowboys remember what happened last season.
"They're going to be thinking about that, and it's going to be a great game," he said. "It's kind of what the NFL's about."
Offensive coordinator Gil Haskell offered a thought on the nature of the previous two Seahawks-Cowboys games and how that could be on display Saturday.
"They're violent, physical games," Haskell said, "and it's never over until the last play."
José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com
Seahawks vs. Cowboys
Dallas leads the all-time series, winning six out of 10 games:
Date Score
Oct. 23, 2005 At Seattle 13, Dallas 10
Dec. 6, 2004 Dallas 43, at Seattle 39
Oct. 27, 2002 Seattle 17, at Dallas 14
Dec. 16, 2001 At Seattle 29, Dallas 3
Nov. 22, 1998 At Dallas 30, Seattle 22
Oct. 11, 1992 At Dallas 27, Seattle 0
Nov. 27, 1986 Seattle 31, at Dallas 14
Dec. 4, 1983 Dallas 35, at Seattle 10
Nov. 27, 1980 At Dallas 51, Seattle 7
Oct. 3, 1976 Dallas 28, at Seattle 13
Seattle Times staff reporter
If recent history has any bearing on the outcome of Saturday's Seahawks-Cowboys playoff game, assume the following:
Nothing.
If not that, then expect a close game. High-scoring or low-scoring. Maybe a few momentum swings. Perhaps some late-game heroics and deflating big plays.
That has been the nature of Seattle-Dallas games played in the 2004 and 2005 regular seasons, with each team victorious once. There has been a little of everything.
First, a trip back in time for a few details. On a Monday night, Dec. 6, 2004, the Seahawks faced a 4-7 Dallas team that was going nowhere. The Seahawks were reeling from a 38-9 blowout loss at home to Buffalo, but had a chance to move two games above .500 and closer to the division title they would eventually win.
The Seahawks saw a 14-3 lead evaporate into a 29-14 deficit by early in the third quarter. But the next 28 minutes of the game were theirs, as Seattle surged to a 39-29 lead behind a touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerheme Urban (remember him?) and a pair of Shaun Alexander touchdown runs.
All the Seattle defense had to do was hold on. It couldn't.
Vinny Testaverde lofted a 34-yard touchdown pass to Keyshawn Johnson with 1:45 left in the game. Replays showed Johnson got only one foot inbounds after the catch, and the play should have automatically been reviewed. It wasn't, and the Cowboys then recovered an onside kick.
Moments later, Julius Jones raced up the middle for a 17-yard go-ahead touchdown. The final score was 43-39, and for the second time in 2004 the Seahawks had blown a big lead in the fourth quarter and lost.
Later, when the season ended in a home playoff loss, this was one of the games that had Seattle coach Mike Holmgren contemplating retirement.
"It was about as difficult a loss as I've ever had," Holmgren recalled this week. "I guess you can talk about the emotions and why coaches go into early retirement, or whatever. You are just sick. You don't know how you are going to come back after one of those."
Fast forward to last season. Seahawks-Cowboys, the rematch. This time it was Dallas' turn to fold in the clutch.
On Oct. 23, the Cowboys had a 10-3 lead just before the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter. But Hasselbeck engineered a six-play, 81-yard drive for a touchdown, Hasselbeck passing to Seahawk-turned-Cowboy Ryan Hannam.
The Cowboys got the ball back with 40 seconds to play, but Jordan Babineaux intercepted a Drew Bledsoe pass and returned it 25 yards to the Dallas 32-yard line.
Enter Seahawks kicker Josh Brown, who drilled the game-winning field goal from 50 yards as time expired for a 13-10 Seahawks win. The Seahawks went into their bye week at 5-2, and the run to the Super Bowl was on.
"It's kind of a miracle win. And you're sky high," Holmgren said.
"When JB kicked that field goal to put us over," tight end Jerramy Stevens said, "that was kind of the point in the season where I think a lot of us felt like that was the turning point, where we finally caught the big-play break to kind of get us rolling and give everybody on the team the confidence to know that we're going to step up in clutch situations."
Safety Michael Boulware knows the Cowboys remember what happened last season.
"They're going to be thinking about that, and it's going to be a great game," he said. "It's kind of what the NFL's about."
Offensive coordinator Gil Haskell offered a thought on the nature of the previous two Seahawks-Cowboys games and how that could be on display Saturday.
"They're violent, physical games," Haskell said, "and it's never over until the last play."
José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com
Seahawks vs. Cowboys
Dallas leads the all-time series, winning six out of 10 games:
Date Score
Oct. 23, 2005 At Seattle 13, Dallas 10
Dec. 6, 2004 Dallas 43, at Seattle 39
Oct. 27, 2002 Seattle 17, at Dallas 14
Dec. 16, 2001 At Seattle 29, Dallas 3
Nov. 22, 1998 At Dallas 30, Seattle 22
Oct. 11, 1992 At Dallas 27, Seattle 0
Nov. 27, 1986 Seattle 31, at Dallas 14
Dec. 4, 1983 Dallas 35, at Seattle 10
Nov. 27, 1980 At Dallas 51, Seattle 7
Oct. 3, 1976 Dallas 28, at Seattle 13
posted by The Gryphon at 7:29 PM
<< Home