Cowboys vs. Seahawks analysis: Stay healthy, tracking the Eagles and a prediction

You can’t blame the Dallas Cowboys (8-3) for being a little let down the past couple of weeks.

No, it’s not for what they’ve done on the field. They’ve dismantled their past three opponents by a combined score of 127-37. It’s because the Philadelphia Eagles (10-1) slipped past the Kansas City Chiefs (21-17) and the Buffalo Bills (37-34 in OT) to maintain their two-game lead in the NFC East. If things play out just right for Dallas in Week 13, the Week 14 matchup between the Eagles and Cowboys at AT&T Stadium could be a really, really big one.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Cowboys have their second Thursday night game in as many weeks. We asked The Athletic’s Jon Machota and Saad Yousuf their thoughts about the game against the Seattle Seahawks (6-5). Here’s what they said.

Machota: My biggest takeaway is that although those three teams have losing records, the Cowboys’ offense is in a much better place than it was entering the San Francisco game in Week 5. Dak Prescott continues to look much more comfortable, which is the most important aspect. His rapport with WR CeeDee Lamb is at an all-time high, and his connection with Mike McCarthy seems to have only grown over the last month. It’s also important to note that Dallas has finally had its best-five starting offensive line throughout the last four games (LT- Tyron Smith , LG- Tyler Smith , C- Tyler Biadasz , RG-Zack Martin, RT- Terence Steele ). Keep those five healthy and the offense should continue trending in the right direction.

Yousuf: There’s a balance to how these dominant performances should be perceived. If the Cowboys are the kind of contenders they aspire to be, dispatching opponents of that caliber with relative ease should be the expectation. In that sense, it’s merely the Cowboys doing their job. However, there is truth to the old adage of “any given Sunday” and the Cowboys found that out firsthand this season with their loss in Arizona in Week 3. It is important for them to not slip up in that way again. These are also still NFL teams and running teams off the field in this league isn’t common. Through 10 games, the Cowboys’ six wins of 20-plus points is only second to the 2007 Patriots’ eight. That is impressive.

Machota: Probably Seattle’s secondary. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon (6-0, 185) has the second-best odds to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, trailing only Philadelphia Eagles DT Jalen Carter . Witherspoon’s 14 passes defended are fourth-most in the NFL. Their other top corner is Riq Woolen (6-4, 210). He made the Pro Bowl last year as a rookie as he tied for the league lead in interceptions with six. Witherspoon and Woolen have combined for only three interceptions in 10 games, which might not seem like much for a team that has DaRon Bland , but they both can make Prescott pay if he makes a mistake.

Yousuf: The Seahawks are struggling right now but they are still a well-coached team with talent on both sides of the ball. Geno Smith , who is expected to play despite an elbow injury, isn’t one of the game’s elite quarterbacks but he’s no slouch, either. The Seahawks also have their prototypical big cornerbacks that present a different challenge. The Cowboys are still clearly the better team on paper and it’s no accident that they’re nearing double-digit favorites again. Their main concern should be the reduced margin for error. They haven’t been committing too many self-inflicted mistakes in recent weeks but the Seahawks are good enough to where one too many of those could make things more interesting than they need to be.

Machota: Bland has exceeded my expectations because no one could have expected five pick sixes (and seven total interceptions) in the first 11 games. But I expected Bland to play well and have a significant role. I did not expect that from Markquese Bell entering the season. Leighton Vander Esch ’s season-ending injury has opened the door for Bell to be an impactful safety-turned-linebacker. I certainly did not see him performing at a level where he could potentially have a top 10 Pro Football Focus grade among NFL linebackers. Linebacker depth is still an issue, but Bell has proven that he should have a spot on this defense for the foreseeable future.

(beyond the obvious) Cowboys trending up: DBs coach, Dan Quinn and Osa

Yousuf: There are some good unheralded candidates on defense, from Bland to Osa Odighizuwa to Markquese Bell and others but, as strange as it sounds, I would say Tyron Smith is near the top of the list for me. Obviously, Smith is extremely talented and potentially on his way to Canton, but given his history, I did not really have much expectation of Smith being on the field consistently. He missed three out of five games earlier in the season but he’s played the last four and has looked like his vintage self in those games. It seems the Cowboys have struck a formula of keeping him on the field on Sundays (or Thursdays) by reducing his practice time. If he continues to stay on the field and only misses three games this season, it would be a bigger impact from him than what I expected.

Markquese Bell, the second-year player out of Florida A&M, is second on the Cowboys in tackles this season with 57. (Kiyoshi Mio / USA Today)

Machota:

Yousuf: It’s a full 10 out of 10. If the Cowboys win and the Eagles lose, suddenly the Cowboys have a chance to match the Eagles’ record in the standings with a win over Philadelphia at home, where the Cowboys have been dominant. The Cowboys do have the far more difficult schedule down the stretch but to enter mid-December with the same record as the Eagles would keep them within striking distance of the division. They would have loved for the Kansas City Chiefs or Buffalo Bills to help them out in recent weeks to put them ahead but being in that position would keep hopes alive for some home-cookin in the playoffs.

Machota: The Cowboys have just been too good at home to pick against them here. It’ll likely be closer than Dallas’ previous five home games this season, but not by much. Geno Smith has combined to throw three touchdown passes in Seattle’s last four games. Prescott is averaging 3.4 touchdown passes per game over Dallas’ last five. Cowboys 31, Seahawks 20.

Yousuf: The Cowboys are the better team on paper and they’ve been on an absolute heater at home. There’s some element of peeking around the corner to the Eagles game that can be concerning but this Cowboys team has shown that it learned its lesson from the loss to the Cardinals . Cowboys 28, Seahawks 17.

(Top photo of DaRon Bland and Geno Smith:Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / ; Jane Gershovich / )

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