SEATTLE — Seattle reached the Dallas 5 with 8:21 left Saturday night and lost 10 yards on four snaps. Christian Parker was calling plays for the first time as Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator, and his defense finished a 17-7 preseason win over the Seattle Seahawks without giving up a point after the opening drive.
The Seahawks went 80 yards on 13 plays to start the game. They gained 76 total over their final seven possessions.
The Goal-Line Stand
A muffed punt by Traeshon Holden gave Seattle the ball at the Dallas 5.
The Seahawks gained 3 yards on first down and 1 on second. Tyleik Harden was stopped for no gain on third-and-1. On fourth down, Isaiah Land sacked Jalen Milroe at the 15, a 14-yard loss.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was on the second channel listening. Parker was calm, cool, and convicted, and there is adversity coming this season.
“I thought he was really good,” Schottenheimer said. “And I was over there listening on two. And he is what he is, man. He’s calm, cool, convicted. Again, when we gave him the ball on the muffed punt down there late, he said, ‘They ain’t in.’
“There was zero,” Schottenheimer continued. “We need that. We need the adversity. There’s going to be adversity, and it’s going to happen in this season. And so it was really cool for our guys to respond, but I thought he did a great job.”
The guys on the field for that series were young, out there on a sudden change, and dead tired.
“In general, a bend-don’t-break mentality is obviously what you’re thinking about when you’re that deep in the red zone,” Curtis Robinson said. “But it just kind of shows the character of the guys that were out on the field at that point in time and the things that we preach as a defense and the coaches have preached to us so far.
“In a lot of situations, a sudden change thing where they’re (inaudible), guys are dead tired,” Robinson added, “and it seems like it’s like, all right, they’re just going to walk in. To go down there and in four snaps pretty much move them backwards, it’s a good sign as far as the young guys having great character, but also just the philosophy of the defense and playing attack football.”
It was the second short field Dallas survived after halftime. Rashad Rochelle returned a punt 52 yards to the Cowboys’ 27 late in the third quarter, and Seattle reached the 6 before Drew Lock threw to Velus Jones Jr. on fourth down and Dallas stopped him 4 yards behind the line.
Seattle made four red-zone trips and scored once.
What Christian Parker Sounds Like On The Microphone
Preseason is funny. The mixtures of groups keep changing, people sub in and out from series to series, and Robinson has to communicate differently with different guys.
“It was good,” Robinson said. “I mean, we’ve obviously gotten a lot of reps now through OTAs and through training camp, so we all have a pretty good feel as far as how he’s going to go with the flow of game and flow of practice and stuff. So it was cool to see him kind of just continue that when it was live bullets. But it was a good experience overall.”
Parker had never called plays in an NFL game before Saturday. Everything that comes through the headset is urgent.
“He’s super urgent with all the communication,” Robinson explained. “Like, when I’m on the mic, he’s talking through, like, hey, let the safety know this. Let the corner know that. Tell the D-line such and such if we get such and such.
“For me, it’s a lot of process,” Robinson noted, “but it’s also good, because I can relay the coaching to the guys in those scenarios that you might not necessarily get from every type of coordinator.”
Jonathan Mingo made a play stopping a punt return in the first half, Schottenheimer said. After the muff late, the defense went right back out there.
“The defense’s job is to keep people out of the end zone,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s what we’re tasked to do. And I’m fine winning games 7-3, 10-7. I don’t care. But I thought they were terrific.
“I thought we were a little sloppy early on, and we gave them some hidden yards with penalties early on,” Schottenheimer continued. “But I thought they really buttoned down, and I thought the pass rush was really good. We let Milroe get out a few times, which he’s very athletic, but overall, I was very, very pleased. Anytime you can get three-and-outs and four-and-outs and the red zone stops, it’s what you want.”
Seattle finished with 156 yards and 49 net passing yards. Dallas had 3 sacks for 27 yards, from James Houston in the second quarter, Land in the fourth, and Tyrus Wheat and Reddy Steward splitting one in the fourth. The Seahawks went 6-of-12 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth.
Robinson had a team-high 8 tackles. Malachi Lawrence had 3 in his first preseason game, and Caleb Downs started in the secondary.
Dallas plays at the Arizona Cardinals on Aug. 22, with kickoff set for 9 p.m. CT.
