It almost goes without saying, but generally blocking the best pass-rusher on the field is a good idea.
The Seahawks didn’t seem to get the memo on their final fourth-down try on “Thursday Night Football.”
Down 41-35 facing fourth-and-2 from midfield, quarterback Geno Smith took a snap out of shotgun but had little time to throw the ball as edge rusher Micah Parsons blew past the right side of the offensive line untouched.
Smith could do little as he was rushed and hit by the defender, and he just fired a desperate checkdown, which ended up at the feet of running back DeeJay Dallas, leading to a turnover on downs and giving the game to the Cowboys.
After the game, when asked about the last try by the News Tribune, Smith said the pass blocking — because of the blitz the Cowboys sent — was run correctly as designed, and right tackle Abraham Lucas kept to his assignment correctly.
“It was the design, the right tackle there had to squeeze right there against the 0 [blitz],” the quarterback told reporters. “So he did the right thing. Micah coming free, we knew that would possibly happen. I tried to get the ball around, just wasn’t able to.”
It was part of a bad trend for the Seahawks, who converted an impressive 9 of 14 third-down attempts, but went 0-for-4 on their fourth-down chances as they fell to 6-6.
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With the loss, their postseason chances become even more precarious as they sit in the 7th seed but hold a slim lead over three teams (Packers, Rams, Saints) who all sit at 5-6.
Smith, for his part, did have an overall strong game with 334 passing yards and three touchdowns on 23 of 41 attempts.
Parsons didn’t have a sack in the game, but he did record two tackles and caused havoc with three quarterback hits.