Cowboys: Seahawks made the dumbest bet you can make in football in Week 13
The Dallas Cowboys left the door open for a last-second comeback from the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13 when Geno Smith took over with a little under two minutes left in the fourth quarter on Thursday night. Down 41-35, it was a tall task for Smith and the Seahawks offense to march down the field […]
The Dallas Cowboys left the door open for a last-second comeback from the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13 when Geno Smith took over with a little under two minutes left in the fourth quarter on Thursday night.
Down 41-35, it was a tall task for Smith and the Seahawks offense to march down the field but based on how the game had gone up to that point, everything seemed possible.
But when the Seahawks faced fourth-and-two yards to go, they made the worst bet you can make in football: Leave Micah Parsons unblocked.
There are situations where it makes sense to go ahead and something like that. For example, the Philadelphia Eagles will probably run zone read option plays (and RPOs) while using the threat of Jalen Hurts' legs to leave Parsons on an island. They've successfully done it in the past.
But the Seahawks did it in a must-pass situation where Geno Smith was always going to drop back to pass.
With Parsons lined up against the right tackle, the Seahawks slid their full offensive line to the left, leaving Micah completely unblocked by design while the running back faked a block to run out to the flat. The idea probably was to get the ball to the back as he worked his way out of the backfield. You can watch the play in the tweet below.
The problem with the Seahawks' thinking is that Parsons is much faster than they expected (which is something they should've known, by the way). Parsons recorded a pressure in 1.4 seconds per Next Gen Stats.
The play worked out so poorly that the running back isn't even outside of the tackle box when Micah is already in Geno's face to spoil their plan.
It also helped that DeMarcus Lawrence crossing the face of the tackle helped interrupt the back's route to give Parsons an extra tick of a second to get to Geno.
This was a long game for the defense but the Cowboys got the stop when it mattered most for Dallas to improve to 9-3.
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Fans should beware of falling for the trap.
