IRVING, Texas — Hope the turkey was good.
When it came to Thanksgiving Day entertainment, Seattle Seahawks fans had very little on their plate Thursday afternoon. A 34-9 loss to the Dallas Cowboys was not only a nationally-televised embarrassment, but also may have ruined a few Thanksgivings in the Pacific Northwest.
If nothing else, the one-sided game might have brought a few families closer together after the click of the television set.
Dallas (8-4) cruised out to a 21-3 lead by scoring touchdowns on its first three drives of the game. That span included 194 yards of offense, 14 first downs and only two third downs.
That was the part Seattle fans saw. After the television sets were turned off, the game got — as hard as this might be to believe — even less exciting. The Seahawks’ offense got going but still couldn’t get into the end zone. Dallas sputtered on offense but still put together another scoring drive that resulted in a Terrell Owens touchdown reception.
The Owens touchdown, which gave Dallas a 31-9 lead late in the third quarter, came after the 6-foot-3, 212-pound receiver got isolated against Seattle linebacker Julian Peterson in the slot. The 240-pound Peterson tried to jam Owens at the line, but the Dallas receiver threw him aside and ran into the open Seattle secondary for a 19-yard touchdown reception.
That marked the third TD pass of the day for Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, who was on mark all afternoon. Romo fell in love with the deep ball, continually testing Seattle’s secondary with long passes. He completed 22 of 34 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns, but perhaps his most impressive statistic came in the form of zero sacks. Romo eluded pressure all afternoon to keep Seattle’s defense on its heels.
The final totals made it look like a closer game, with the Cowboys gaining advantages in total yards (447-322) and first downs (24-19). But the statistics were somewhat misleading in a game that was never in doubt.
From the outset, the Seahawks were all bark and no bite. They did a lot of on-field talking in the opening minutes, but were unable to back it up.
Defensive tackle Rocky Bernard hit Romo on the first play, then stood over him and made sure that the Dallas quarterback heard about it. Two plays later, 5-foot-9 cornerback Josh Wilson got in the face of 6-3 Dallas receiver Roy Williams at the end of a play.
But after the Cowboys marched 71 yards in five plays to score a quick touchdown, the Seahawks fell silent.
Dallas went on to take leads of 14-0 and 21-3 before the game mercifully reached halftime.
While Seattle (2-10) eventually stopped the bleeding, it wasn’t enough.
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck rebounded from back-to-back poor starts to complete 22 of 38 passes for 287 yards. But he was sacked a season-high seven times.
Afterward, Hasselbeck admitted that the Seahawks were simply overmatched. He talked about a Wednesday night speech from coach Mike Holmgren that mentioned how much talent the Cowboys have and included a line about the Seahawks needing a perfect game to have a chance.
“It’s tough,” Hasselbeck said. “I can’t remember a time when we ever went into a game feeling like: Wow, they’ve got so much talent; what are we going to do?
“That team right there, if they keep playing the way they are, they definitely have a chance to win it all this year. They’re a talented bunch. There was a time when we were that team, when we were the talented bunch and staying healthy and stuff. This year has not been like that.”
The loss guarantees the eighth season of double-digit losses in franchise history and only the second of Holmgren’s 16-year career as a head coach. His Seahawks went 6-10 in 2000.
His 2008 Seahawks are looking more and more like the least successful team he will have coached in Seattle.
“It’s a tough year for us,” Holmgren said Thursday, “but we are going to keep it going.”
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