Consistent Cowboys cruise past Seattle Seahawks 38-17

Published on November 1, 2009 by

Seattle (2-5) was coming off its bye and had cornerback Marcus Trufant for the first time all year. The Seattle Seahawks led 3-0 and were within 14-10 late in the second quarter, but did little right after that. Trufant was flagged three times for pass interference and the injury-riddled offensive line allowed three more sacks of Matt Hasselbeck.

At last, the Dallas Cowboys are showing the consistency they sought.

Miles Austin caught a touchdown pass for the third straight game and Patrick Crayton returned a punt for a score for the second consecutive week, sending Dallas past the Seattle Seahawks 38-17 and into a share of first place in the NFC East on Sunday.

Tony Romo went a third game in a row without an interception. Since a herky-jerky first month, the Cowboys (5-2) have found quite a groove, winning three straight, setting up a showdown next Sunday night against the co-leading Eagles in Philadelphia.

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Romo threw for 256 yards, with touchdowns to Austin, Sam Hurd and Roy Williams. Marion Barber added a TD run and Crayton broke open the game with an 82-yard punt return, one week after a game-breaking 73-yarder. DeMarcus Ware had a sack for the third straight game, this one coming a few days after cashing a $20 million signing bonus as part of a $78 million, six-year contract extension.

Hasselbeck was 22 of 39 for 249 yards, with touchdown passes to Deion Branch and Justin Griffith. Julius Jones ran 15 times for 56 yards.

Romo was 21 of 36, hitting 10 different receivers while doing his best to avoid any careless mistakes. He still made one, losing a fumble inside his 10 midway through the fourth quarter, leading to Seattle’s final touchdown. But the fact he didn’t throw any passes to the other team for yet another game is a milestone for him. Romo had only three interception-free games last year and has now done so that many games in a row, and five times on the season.

Austin continued his emergence with five catches

for 61 yards, including a 3-yarder for a touchdown. He might’ve had more yards if Trufant hadn’t interfered with him twice. But Austin wasn’t perfect; he fumbled at the end of an end-around run (although he recovered it) and failed to get over the crossbar on a celebratory dunk after his touchdown. Teammates ribbed him for it when he reached the sideline.

When the Cowboys were alternating wins and losses over the first four games, coach Wade Phillips talked about needing to become consistently good. Since p

ulling out a win in overtime at Kansas City, they have.

Hurd turned a short pass into a 36-yard touchdown, his first from scrimmage since the 2007 opener. Williams got the next touchdown, his first since this year’s opener. In between, linebacker Bobby Carpenter racked up his first sack since December 2006.

Seattle put left tackle Walter Jones and linebacker Lofa Tatupu, two of its mainstays, on injured reserve last week. In a play typical of their season, Seahawks backup quarterback Seneca Wallace took a snap, handed off to a running back, who then handed off to Hasselbeck for a pass to Wallace. Everything worked out perfectly, including Wallace being wide open – except that he fell while the ball was in the air.

In the third quarter, Hasselbeck was sacked on consecutive plays and appeared to aggravate a rib injury on the second one, which forced Seattle to punt. He hardly had any time to recover, though, because Crayton returned the kick for a touchdown. Hasselbeck made it back, but cornerback Ken Lucas didn’t return following a third-quarter collision with Dallas’ Felix Jones.

Seattle Seahawks (2-5-0)

Dallas Cowboys (5-2-0)

Passing	CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
M. Hasselbeck	22/39	249	2	0
Rushing	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
J. Jones	15	56	0	11
E. James	6	17	0	5
J. Forsett	1	6	0	6
Receiving	REC	YDS	TD	LG
N. Burleson	6	89	0	36
D. Branch	3	36	1	23
J. Carlson	3	36	0	18
J. Jones	2	32	0	31
T. Houshmandzadeh	4	24	0	11
J. Forsett	1	14	0	14
J. Griffith	2	12	1	8
E. James	1	6	0	6
Fumbles	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
N. Burleson	1	1	0	0
J. Forsett	1	1	0	0
C. Cole	0	0	1	2
D. Hawthorne	0	0	0	0
Kicking	FG	LG	XP	PTS
O. Mare	1/1	43	2/2	5
Punting	NO	AVG	I20	LG
J. Ryan	6	21.0	2	53
Kickoff Returns	NO	AVG	TD	LG
J. Wilson	3	22	0	29
Punt Returns	NO	AVG	TD	LG
N. Burleson	2	4	0	5
J. Forsett	1	1	0	1
Defense	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
K. Lucas	7-0	0.0	0	0
D. Hawthorne	5-3	2.0	0	1
L. Hill	5-0	0.0	0	0
J. Babineaux	4-2	0.0	0	0
M. Trufant	4-0	0.0	0	0
A. Curry	2-1	0.0	0	0
D. Grant	2-2	0.0	0	0
L. Jackson	2-1	0.0	0	0
B. Mebane	2-2	0.0	0	0
D. Tapp	2-1	0.0	0	0
R. Bryant	1-0	0.0	0	0
C. Cole	1-2	0.0	0	0
C. Redding	1-0	0.0	0	0
J. Wilson	1-0	0.0	0	0

Passing	CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
T. Romo	21/36	256	3	0
Rushing	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
M. Barber	14	53	1	16
F. Jones	8	39	0	11
M. Austin	1	11	0	11
T. Choice	4	11	0	5
T. Romo	1	10	0	10
P. Crayton	1	-11	0	-11
Receiving	REC	YDS	TD	LG
M. Austin	5	61	1	17
P. Crayton	3	39	0	17
S. Hurd	1	36	1	36
J. Witten	4	36	0	18
F. Jones	1	30	0	30
K. Ogletree	1	19	0	19
R. Williams	2	19	1	12
M. Bennett	2	18	0	13
J. Phillips	1	0	0	0
M. Barber	1	-2	0	-2
Fumbles	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
P. Crayton	2	0	2	0
T. Romo	1	1	0	0
V. Butler	0	0	1	0
B. James	0	0	0	0
T. Newman	0	0	0	0
O. Scandrick	0	0	1	15
Kicking	FG	LG	XP	PTS
N. Folk	1/2	40	5/5	8
Punting	NO	AVG	I20	LG
M. McBriar	4	44.8	2	58
Kickoff Returns	NO	AVG	TD	LG
F. Jones	3	15	0	25
Punt Returns	NO	AVG	TD	LG
P. Crayton	4	29	1	82
Defense	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
K. Brooking	8-3	1.0	0	0
T. Newman	6-1	0.0	0	1
G. Sensabaugh	5-0	0.0	0	0
B. James	4-5	0.0	0	1
B. Carpenter	3-1	1.0	0	0
K. Hamlin	3-1	0.0	0	0
S. Bowen	2-1	0.0	0	0
J. Hatcher	2-0	0.0	0	0
D. Ware	2-0	1.0	0	0
M. Jenkins	1-0	0.0	0	0
I. Olshansky	1-0	0.0	0	0
J. Ratliff	1-2	0.0	0	0
O. Scandrick	1-0	0.0	0	0
M. Spears	1-1	0.0	0	0

Total First Downs	18	Total First Downs	26
By Rushing	4	By Rushing	7
By Passing	11	By Passing	15
By Penalty		By Penalty
Third Down Efficiency	6/14 – 42%	Third Down Efficiency	7/13 – 53%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0/0 – 0%	Fourth Down Efficiency	0/0 – 0%
Total Net Yards	308	Total Net Yards	362
Total Rushing/Passing Plays (includes Sacks)	64	Total Rushing/Passing Plays (includes Sacks)	67
Average Gain per Offensive Play	4.8	Average Gain per Offensive Play	5.4
Net Yards Rushing	79	Net Yards Rushing	113
Total Rushing Plays	22	Total Rushing Plays	29
Average Gain per Rushing Play	3.6	Average Gain per Rushing Play	3.9
Tackled for a Loss (Number-Yards)	1–1	Tackled for a Loss (Number-Yards)	6–20
Net Yards Passing	229	Net Yards Passing	249
Times Sacked (Number-Yards)	3 – 20	Times Sacked (Number-Yards)	2 – 7
Gross Yards Passing	249	Gross Yards Passing	256
Pass Comp-Att-Int	22 – 39 – 0	Pass Comp-Att-Int	21 – 36 – 0
Average Gain per Passing Play (includes Sacks)	5.5	Average Gain per Passing Play (includes Sacks)	6.6
Kickoffs (Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks)	4 – 3 – 1	Kickoffs (Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks)	7 – 7 – 4
Punts (Number-Average)	6 – 40.3	Punts (Number-Average)	4 – 47.3
Blocked	0	Blocked	0
Net Punting Average	21.0	Net Punting Average	44.8
FGs Blocked – PATs Blocked	0 – 0	FGs Blocked – PATs Blocked	0 – 0
Total Return Yardage (excludes Kickoffs)	10	Total Return Yardage (excludes Kickoffs)	116
Punt Returns (Number-Yards)	3 – 10	Punt Returns (Number-Yards)	4 – 116
Kickoff Returns (Number-Yards)	3 – 68	Kickoff Returns (Number-Yards)	3 – 45
Interception Returns (Number-Yards)	0 – 0	Interception Returns (Number-Yards)	0 – 0
Penalties (Number-Yards)	6 – 53	Penalties (Number-Yards)	5 – 43
Fumbles (Number-Lost)	2 – 2	Fumbles (Number-Lost)	3 – 1
Touchdowns	2	Touchdowns	5
Rushing	0	Rushing	1
Passing	2	Passing	3
Interceptions	0	Interceptions	0
Kickoff Returns	0	Kickoff Returns	0
Fumble Returns	0	Fumble Returns	0
Punt Returns	0	Punt Returns	1
Extra Points (Made-Attempted)	2 – 2	Extra Points (Made-Attempted)	5 – 5
Kicking (Made-Attempted)	2 – 2	Kicking (Made-Attempted)	5 – 5
Two Point Conversions (Made-Attempted)	0 – 0	Two Point Conversions (Made-Attempted)	0 – 0
Field Goals (Made-Attempted)	1 – 1	Field Goals (Made-Attempted)	1 – 2
Red Zone Efficiency	1/1 – 100%	Red Zone Efficiency	3/3 – 100%
Goal To Go Efficiency	1/1 – 100%	Goal To Go Efficiency	3/3 – 100%
Safeties	0	Safeties	0
Final Score	17	Final Score	38
Time of Possession	25:15	Time of Possession	34:45

via News from The Associated Press.

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Tags: Careless Mistakes, Catche, Contract Extension, Dallas Cowboys, Deion Branch, Demarcus Ware, Julius Jones, Justin Griffith, Marcus Trufant, Matt Hasselbeck, Nfc East, patrick crayton, Roy Williams, Sam Hurd, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Second Consecutive Week, Straight Game, Third Game, tony romo, Touchdown Pass, Yard Punt Return

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