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ARLINGTON, Texas — Micah Parsons flashed a big smile when thinking back to what Dak Prescott said to the defense. With 4:37 remaining Thursday night, the Dallas Cowboys took their first lead of the second half. Prescott led Dallas on a seven-play, 54-yard touchdown drive that included a two-point conversion.
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The Cowboys led 38-35 and Prescott wanted the defense to know it was their turn to come up with a critical stop.
“Turn the eff up,” Prescott shouted, Parsons recalled. “Y’all get a motherf——’ stop now! It’s y’all’s turn!”
Parsons loved that enthusiasm coming from Dallas’ team leader.
“Damn, that s— made me blush a little bit,” Parsons added. “That’s my quarterback right there. That’s always exciting, that energy he brings, that fire. He’s at a different pace. This is the type of quarterback that’s going to win us the Super Bowl.”
For the seventh consecutive game, Prescott was outstanding, throwing for 299 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while posting a 115.8 passer rating as the Cowboys held on for a 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks at AT&T Stadium. Dallas’ league-best home-winning streak is now at 14 games.
On 4th & 2, with just over a minute left in regulation, Micah Parsons pressured Geno Smith in 1.4 seconds. This was Parsons' league-leading 46th quick pressure of the season, 13 more than the next closest player.#SEAvsDAL | #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/KXRiTQPWaO
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 1, 2023
Prescott said he didn’t remember exactly what he said to Parsons and the defense as he came off the field.
“Probably just go win the effing game,” he said. “And then they did, and they did. That’s a group that I go against every week. And when we talked about being in those situations and practicing those situations, it’s the ones versus the ones. That’s the thing, iron sharpens iron. That’s the deal is that they’ve beat us numerous times and we’ve got them some times. So it’s like, I know how good y’all are. ‘Flip the switch. Lock your focus in, and go get it done. … Don’t wait around, go make the play. I’ve seen you do it over and over again.’
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“I expected that. I really did. I said that in the sense of, ‘I trust y’all. We went and did our job. Now, it’s your turn to return the favor. And we’ll end this thing in some kneels.’ And that’s exactly what they did. And I’m proud of that group. We are who we are because of the way that they practice and the way that they compete against us every opportunity that we get in practice.”
Dallas’ defense was the team’s strength entering the season. While that continues to be the case, it wasn’t always Thursday night. Standout second-year cornerback DaRon Bland, fresh off being named NFC Defensive Player of the Month, struggled throughout the first half, getting beat on two touchdown passes to Seahawks star wide receiver DK Metcalf. The first went for 73 yards, giving Seattle an early 7-3 lead. The next was on a 1-yard toss that immediately followed Bland getting called for pass interference in the end zone on a deep ball to rookie WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Dallas went from leading 17-7 to trailing 21-20 at halftime. One of the halftime adjustments was to have veteran CB Stephon Gilmore cover Metcalf in the second half. Metcalf had three receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns on four targets in the first half. He had three catches for 26 yards and a touchdown on four targets in the second half.
“Adversity is a good thing,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said when asked about Bland. “You have to have it. You’re going to have it, you can’t avoid it, it’s the National Football League. This will be a great experience for him. He’s wired the right way. I mean, he didn’t change. He played all the way to the last whistle there. So, this will be a good experience for him.”
Seattle got the ball to start the second half and responded with a 10-play scoring drive to build a 28-20 lead. At that point, Dallas’ defense had allowed touchdowns on four of its previous five times on the field. The group looked like it would be the reason for the Cowboys potentially losing their fourth game of the season.
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But following Dallas’ own TD drive, Bland stepped up to record his league-leading eighth interception of the season on the following series.
“It ain’t nothing special,” Bland said. “(I) didn’t have a great first half. Just tried to make it up in the second half. That’s all (that interception) was.”
The Cowboys did not get any points off the takeaway and the Seahawks answered with another touchdown drive. But it would be the last of the night as Dallas’ defense came up big the final three times it was on the field. On those final three Seattle possessions, DE DeMarcus Lawrence, CB Jourdan Lewis and Parsons each made key fourth-down stops to force a turnover on downs.
Lawrence’s came on a brilliant run stop to shed his blocker, move to the inside and bring down RB Zach Charbonnet for no gain with 7:04 remaining.
“DeMarcus Lawrence has that knack to cross face and make plays,” McCarthy said. “He’s been doing this his whole career.”
Lewis had two impressive pass breakups while defending Smith-Njigba in key moments on the final two possessions. The one on the second-from-last Seattle possession got the defense off the field. The second one set up fourth-and-2 with 1:07 remaining.
“I know that we have the talent and the will to go out there and compete with anybody and get a stop with anybody when we need one,” Lewis said. “It’s always good when you can help your teammates in crucial situations. It really felt good that I could get those crucial stops for those guys.”
Parsons made the final play as Seattle mistakenly left arguably the NFL’s best defender unblocked as QB Geno Smith dropped back to pass. All Smith could do was throw the ball into the ground.
“I think they left the (running) back on me,” Parsons said. “I mean, that’s not a good strategy, either. It’s cool though. … I really live for those types of moments, those types of end-the-game series. Coach wanted to get into some things and I was like, ‘Nah, man, we can get the best of these guys doing basic stuff. Let’s just be us. Let’s be great.’ If the offense gives us a chance, we got to end the game.”
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Parsons commended Smith for how quickly he was delivering the ball to his receivers, something Dallas didn’t see much of from him on film.
Dallas has now scored 246 points in its six home games, the most in the first six home games in team history. Thursday marked the first time in franchise history that no punts were recorded in a Cowboys game. It was only the fifth time it has happened in NFL history.
“I told the team after the game, we need games like this,” McCarthy said. “This is what December football looks like. And we all understand what’s in front of us. … To get to where you want to go, you have to win these kinds of games. And this was a great example of how you just keep hanging in there and keep playing.
“At halftime, we were frustrated. We had a lot of penalties called and I think our guys just knuckled down and played and they had some big plays there in the third quarter. But once the fourth quarter came our guys got it done at the most important time.
“I can’t say enough, your team has to learn, has to be in tight games. I mean, how are you going to be good at winning close games if you’re not in them? We’ve had our share of big wins. This will serve us well moving forward.”
(Top photo of Micah Parsons: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
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