SEATTLE – On an afternoon when Mother Nature finally unleashed on Qwest Field, the football gods provided a rainbow of hope.
The team that never seems to catch a break caught a big one Sunday afternoon and made the most of it. The Seattle Seahawks’ 13-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys came complete with the kind of finish that usually leaves them wondering where it all went wrong.
Just like last season, when the Cowboys shocked Seattle 43-39 on national television, this game saw one team control most of the game but lose in the end. Fortunately for Seahawks fans, it was Dallas that couldn’t hold on.
After the Seahawks put together an unlikely touchdown drive to tie the score in the final minute, cornerback Jordan Babineaux intercepted a pass with 10 seconds left and returned it 25 yards to set up Josh Brown’s game-winning field goal. Brown’s 50-yard kick as time expired set off the kind of over-the-top celebration that Qwest Field hasn’t seen all season.
”I think it is just the win we have been waiting for as a team,” tight end Jerramy Stevens said. ”We have had a bunch of tough losses the last three years, and I think this one is going to give us some momentum for the rest of the season. We should be able to look back at this game and say, ‘That is when we turned the page and became a championship team.’ ”
Unlike last year’s offense-dominated matchup, this game between the Seahawks and Cowboys was lacking both yardage (a combined 564) and points (a combined 23). Seattle’s offense came alive in time to put together a six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter before Babineaux’s interception set up the game-winning field goal.
Tight end Ryan Hannam’s 1-yard touchdown reception with 40 seconds left marked the first time Seattle got into the end zone and also tied the score at 10. While Dallas looked as if it would have the last shot at a game-winning drive in regulation, Drew Bledsoe’s third-down interception gave Seattle a chance to win it.
When Babineaux was pushed out of bounds at the Dallas 32-yard line with five seconds left, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren immediately sent Brown onto the field. Even though Brown had missed in a similar situation three weeks earlier – his 47-yard attempt against Washington hit the upright, and the Redskins went on to win in overtime – his coach had plenty of faith that the kicker would come through.
“If we have a good snap and a good hold, he’ll make most of them,” Holmgren said. “That was a long one, but we had no choice.”
Brown nailed the field goal and immediately threw his helmet, touching off a celebration at midfield.
“I have been here three years, and I don’t remember anything like this in the past,” said Brown, whose only other NFL game-winner came with three minutes remaining in a 2003 win over San Francisco. “I know I hit a game-winner my rookie year, but it wasn’t anything like this. This is special.”
In rare conditions – Seattle’s home field had amazingly gone 27 regular-season games without a rainstorm before Sunday – the Seahawks’ offense was mostly swamped. Seattle drove down the field 62 yards on its opening drive before an interception at the Dallas 7-yard line, and had 80 on its final drive, but in between the Seahawks were held to just 147 yards and 10 first downs.
“It was tough, mostly because we started so well,” said quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who completed 23 of 42 passes for 224 yards. “… We had (five) three-and-outs that just weren’t good enough. We got the win, and we can just learn from it and move on.”
While Seattle’s offense was held well below its average – the Seahawks led the NFL at 407.2 yards per game entering the contest but had just 289 Sunday – the defense picked up the slack. The Seahawks held the NFL’s seventh-ranked offense to just 275 yards.
Most important of all, Seattle’s defense limited Dallas to three total points off three turnovers. Twice in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys got the ball inside Seattle’s 15-yard line yet got only field goal attempts (one made, one missed).
“We were put in some pretty tough situations, and we battled our way out of them,” Seahawks defensive end Grant Wistrom said. “As games go on like that, you build confidence.”
The Seahawks overcame a subpar performance from running back Shaun Alexander, who was held to 61 yards on 21 carries and was kept out of the end zone for the first time since the season opener.
“They just moved everybody up,” Alexander said of a Dallas defense that often included one or both safeties near the line of scrimmage. “I think it was better for (the Cowboys) that it rained, because their schemes really changed us up.”
The rain came as an unusual sight at Qwest Field, but it didn’t wash out the Seahawks’ parade.
“That was a big game,” Hasselbeck said. “That was a big game for both teams; we were aware of it, and I’m sure they were aware of it. We really respect those guys, and they’re the kind of team we could see again.”
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