A few postscripts on Dallas

Zero sacks

I forgot to mention that last night.

Despite the absence of O-Line cornerstone Russell Okung, replacement left tackle Alvin Bailey and his comrades slowed down Greg Hardy and the rest of the Dallas pass rush just enough to let the amazingly elusive Russell Wilson avoid getting tackled in the backfield even once. After the sackfest our opponents had enjoyed in the previous seven games, that constituted quite an achievement.

<100 yards passing for Dallas

The Legion of Boom and the Pass Rush of Doom limited Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Cassell to just 98 yards passing. That's sick.

Blanketed by Richard Sherman, Dallas All-Pro wideout Dez Bryant made only two catches for 12 yards on six targets.

Correction: Cowboys All-Pro tight end Jason Witten got shut down, but he did not get shut out. He caught two balls for 16 yards on four targets.

Ricardo Lockette's Heart

Remarkable courage as his life, health and career hang in the balance

Not sure how I forgot to mention how cool it was when Ricardo Lockette made the Legion of Boom sign as the medics wheeled him off the field on a gurney. Of course, it was a relief to see see that he was able to move his arms at all, but at that point, Lockette could not have known the extent of his injury, and his ability to encourage his teammates in the face of massive personal uncertainty was heroic.

Props to Dallas fans for graciously applauding a fallen warrior.


More evidence that Dallas is Evil

As Seahawk Ricardo Lockette laid motionless on the field near the end of the first half, both sidelines spilled onto the field.

Most of the players were concerned about the injury. Some Cowboys had to restrain ex-Seahawk Christine Michael from going to check on his former teammate.

Bryant on Lockette's injury: "That's what you f***ing get!"

There some heated exchanges, too. Fox cameras caught All-Pro Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant yelling, "That's what you f***ing get!" (The network captured no audio, but you don't have to be a lip-reading expert or a SPAFF-certified decoder of facial expressions to discern Bryant's careful enunciation.)

Bryant has a longstanding reputation for tantrums, but this reaction suggests that he may be as evil as Jerry Jones or Greg Hardy.

No decent person celebrates when someone in an athletic contest take a cheap shot and suffers a serious injury. At that moment, we did not know if Lockette was dead or alive, and--if alive--if he was merely injured or in fact paralyzed or otherwise crippled.

When reporters asked him about it in the locker room, Bryant lied audaciously, perhaps unaware of the existence of indisputable contradictory visual evidence:

“I won’t ever, ever, ever, ever wish bad on a player that’s been knocked down. C’mon, man. Stop with the bulls—. Not once did I say that’s what you get. I got on one knee and prayed for that man.... C’mon, man. Don’t put clips together and do that...."

“I’m too busy trying to break it up, trying to get our players back. I’m telling Richard [Sherman] and Earl [Thomas], 'Y’all get your players back.' I’m talking to the officials more than anybody.”

"That ain't right. That is not right. That is not right."

“I swear on my daughter’s soul I would never in my life do that to anybody."

Bryant then threw a tantrum for several minutes, screaming and raving and cursing and--like a Republican presidential candidate--threatening to stop talking to the media for asking unwelcome questions.

“Y’all took that s— too far. Whoever wrote that, whoever done that is a dirty m—–f—–. That really pissed me off. That ain’t right. That is not right. That is not right. That is not right."