Seahawks at Cowboys: Good vs. Evil, Part II

Dallas owner Jerry Jones with All-Pro domestic abuser Ezekiel Elliott (Photo Credit: ESPN)

Most NFL games are mere mercenary bouts with little on the line but civic pride.

But there are real moral dimensions to Sunday's Seahawk-Cowboy showdown.

Back in 2015, Seattle faced a Dallas team then coddling Greg Hardy, a defensive end whom Carolina had cut for getting caught throttling his girlfriend and threatening to kill her.

Two years later, the Cowboys continue to harbor bad men who hurt women.

Sunday will mark the return of All-Pro running back Ezekiel Elliott from a six-game suspension for several separate episodes of violence against an ex-girlfriend.

Last summer, Cowboy linebacker Damien Wilson backed his truck into a woman and brandished a rifle at a man in a Dallas stadium parking lot. The Cowboy candidly told arresting officers, "I had road rage."

Dez Bryant--the team's All-Pro wideout--hit his mom and tore her bra and T-shirt back in 2012.

Jerry Jones remains the NFL's vilest owner. That is no mean feat in a league that includes scoundrels like Stan Kroenke (who stole the Rams from St. Louis) and pervy bigot Jerry Richardson, who erected a 13' statue of himself outside Carolina's Charlottesville stadium, but is now selling the Panthers in an effort to forestall investigations for sexual harassment and racial slurs.

What makes the Dallas owner so vile? Jones not only condones domestic violence, but also opposes free speech. Earlier this season, Jones threatened to bench any player who knelt during the national anthem, and cited President Trump as the inspiration for his ultimatum.

The owner's threat has evidently cowed the entire Cowboy roster from exercising their First Amendment rights during the pregame patriotic observance.

Seattle, however, remains the home of free and the land of the brave.

Center Justin Britt supports left tackle Duane Brown as he kneels & defensive linemen sit during the national anthem last week (Photo Credit: Q13)

In 2015, Seattle and Dallas met in midseason, each entering the contest under .500. The Seahawks edged the Cowboys, 13-12, and their fates diverged from there. Dallas tanked to 4-12, while Seattle finished 10-6, won a wild card road game before losing to Atlanta in the divisional round.

This Sunday, the two teams meet in penultimate week of the regular season, each with identical 8-6 records and slim playoff hopes. A loss would conclusively doom either team's playoff hopes.

The Cowboys ride in on a three-game winning streak, while Seattle reels from a close loss in Jacksonville followed by a humiliating home blowout by the Rams.

Nothing went right for Seattle last week.

We learned that our run defense crumbles when All-Pro middle linebacker Bobby Wagner is hobbled by a hamstring injury and unassisted by his Pro Bowl counterpart KJ Wright (out with a concussion). And we learned that our defense will quit when it gets no help from the offense.

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell reverted to customary form as a playcaller early in the game. Normally, he gets a feel for the defense and calls better plays in the second half, but last week he innovated by deploying his reverse Midas touch until the game's bitter end.

Seattle fell behind early, abandoned the run prematurely, and threw too much.

After getting shut out against Jacksonville, Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham--instead of stepping up in the clutch--limited his production to one catch for a one-yard loss, plus a 15-yard personal foul penalty for pointlessly pushing a Ram in the back well out of bounds.

(Credit: #Go Hawks 24/7)

The Seahawks have endured Job-like bad luck with injuries this year, but on Sunday they have a chance to redeem themselves, the city, and the season by defeating Jerry Jones and evils for which he stands: violence against women, Donald Trump, and the oppression of people of color.

Go, Hawks!

Shedding last week's shame & playing hurt against the Rams

The Seahawks battled valiantly in Jacksonville last week and nearly pulled out a win. Seattle defenders had every right to crash into the Jaguars' victory formation in hopes of forcing a fumble, but--no matter how dirty the Jaguar O-Line played--Michael Bennett brought enduring shame upon our city and team by taking outrageous cheap shots at the Jacksonville center's knees both before and after the whistle. The NFL should suspend Bennett and any other player who so obviously attempts to inflict gratuitous and potentially crippling injuries on opponents--and couple those suspensions with stiff fines.

Quinton Jefferson's efforts to climb into the stands to get at a fan who threw stuff at him only deepened our shame.

Fined and penalized for his own part in the proceedings, Pete Carroll needs to master himself and get control of his team.

While the penalties last week came after the contest's outcome had been decided, indiscipline is a familiar feature of Carroll's coaching style; it compromises our competitiveness and has blown games for us. Seattle gets flagged both for the penalties our players actually commit, and sometimes also for imaginary penalties that officials call under the influence of our longstanding bad reputation. Since Sunshine Pete came to town, the Seahawks have perennially ranked among the most penalized teams in the league, and this year's squad remains in contention to claim the shameful title of the most flagged team in NFL history.

We're supposed to be the Seattle Seahawks, not the Oakland Raiders.

Carroll's apologists sometimes assert that this indiscipline is an acceptable side effect of the emotional intensity he reliably elicits from the team. Nonsense. That argument posits a false choice between playing hard and playing within the rules, and treats football players as mere animals rather than thinking men capable of complex learning. In actual fact, player indiscipline stems from sloppy, permissive coaching, and bad team culture. This will take time to fix, and it is far from clear that Carroll even recognizes the need to fix it.

Everyone, however, recognizes that the Seahawks must beat the Rams tomorrow to have any chance of winning the NFC West.

Seattle effectively contained the potent Los Angeles offense earlier in the season, but injuries have decimated the Seattle defense since then.

Despite the loss of Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman, the Legion of Boom has met expectations by holding up relatively well, with the continued leadership of Earl Thomas, the reintegration of Byron Maxwell, the rapid development of Shaq Griffin, solid safety play by Bradley McDougald, and the fortunate retention of Jeremy Lane.

But the Legion of Whom still needs help from the rest of the defense. No secondary can cover receivers indefinitely.

A few weeks ago, the Seahawk defensive line looked so deep that Seattle ditched Dwight Freeney--a foolish choice, in retrospect. Soon after parting ways with him, injuries wracked the unit. Last week against Jacksonville, our front four failed either to stuff the run or mount much of a pass rush. Blake Bortles emerged from the game not only unsacked, but almost entirely unpressured. Seattle hit him just once the entire game.

Attrition at linebacker--the devastating losses of Pro Bowlers Bobby Wagner and KJ Wright in Jacksonville--further hobbled our already-reeling defense, causing the normally stingy Seahawks to forfeit 156 rushing yards and surrender 30 points.

Expect the red-hot Rams offense to experience even greater success against an even weaker Seattle defense.

Still concussed, KJ Wright will not play. Hamstring-hobbled Bobby Wagner has not practiced all week and is listed as questionable. Seeing our defense play without Wagner only bolsters his case for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The return of Dion Jordan should help the defensive line.

Seattle's offense, on the other hand, is mostly coming together. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell--who I often troll here--is calling better plays.

Russell Wilson continues to frustrate defenses by eluding sacks, running for first downs, heaving long bombs, and lighting up the scoreboard--especially in the fourth quarter. However, he needs to stop throwing at covered receivers, especially early in game, because those picks hurt.

As I predicted a few weeks ago, Seattle is now fielding the best left-side offensive line since Super Bowl XL. Duane Brown already rivals Walter Jones at left tackle. Justin Britt plays better than Robbie Tobeck ever did at center. Grossly overpaid, Luke Joeckel is unfit so much as to gather up the crumbs under Steve Hutchinson's table, but he's good enough when playing between Britt and Brown to blast open some holes for our runners, and help provide decent protection for DangeRuss on most plays.

Mike Davis appears determined to stick as our starting running back. JD McKissic provides a nice change-up with his speed and receiving skills. Thomas Rawls and the obscenely overpaid Eddie Lacy have had plenty of rest and should be able to offer fresh legs if Seattle were able to

Seattle has not yet reaped the benefits of our improved rushing attack because falling behind early forces us to abandon the run.

Jon Ryan's clutch punts make him the real 12th Man of the Seattle defense. He can even tackle. Did anyone else notice him make a tackle and nearly strip the ball last week?

Sadly, Blair Walsh remains the Anti-Clutch. The slumping kicker is still shanking fairly routine field goals, but Seattle is stuck with him because we lack the salary cap space to cut and replace him.

Beating the Rams will require an inspired performance like the one Seattle mounted just two weeks ago against Philadelphia. I hope, but I do not believe.