RENTON George Fant Color Rush Jersey , Wash. (AP) — It’s almost a given now that a Monday night game played in Seattle is going to include some sort of wackiness.The latest chapter came during Seattle’s 21-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings that has the Seahawks on the cusp of clinching an NFC playoff spot. The Seahawks need just one win against either of their final two NFC opponents — at San Francisco this week or at home to Arizona in Week 17 — to wrap up a wild-card berth.They didn’t get here without controversy, however, after officials failed to call a penalty on Bobby Wagner when he leaped the line of scrimmage to block Dan Bailey’s field goal attempt with 5:38 remaining.Wagner’s play was a marvel — clearing the Minnesota line without the benefit of a running start. But his hands clearly touched the backs of two teammates as he leaped. Wagner didn’t seem to care postgame whether his play was legal or not, and coach Pete Carroll emphasized on his weekly radio show on KIRO-AM on Tuesday morning that he considered it a judgment call.“They have to judge. You can place your hands on players. You can’t use it for leverage. That’s where the judgment comes in,” Carroll said.The leap added to a list of Monday night controversies that began with the 2012 “Fail Mary” game. The disputed touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Golden Tate on the final play of that game to beat Green Bay triggered an end to a dispute between the league and its officials.That was followed in 2015 by a 13-10 win against Detroit during which Kam Chancellor forced a fumble at the 1-yard line with less than two minutes remaining, and K.J. Wright illegally guided the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. Wright should have been called for an illegal bat and Detroit should have regained possession at the Seattle 1. Instead, the Seahawks ran out the clock.In 2016, officials failed to call a roughing the kicker penalty against Richard Sherman late in the first half against Buffalo. Eventually, Dan Carpenter missed a 54-yard attempt and Buffalo ended up losing by six.And then came Wagner’s leap. Had Wagner been penalized, the Vikings would have had a first down at the Seattle 15. As it stood, Wagner’s block sparked a quick drive by Seattle capped by Chris Carson’s 2-yard touchdown run that put the game out of reach.“He game-planned the hell out of it, so we already knew he was going to block it,” Seattle defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson said. “That was a great call and it worked. That’s what we save those things for. He made a great leap, blocked it.”The Seahawks almost can’t miss the postseason at this point. And it was Seattle’s defense that led the way against the Vikings.The Seahawks used a variety of coverages to stymie Kirk Cousins and keep Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen from being factors until late in the game. The Seahawks held Minnesota to 276 total yards after allowing 450 yards or more in three of the previous four games.“That’s the name of the game right now. Who can outlast the other opponent?” defensive end Frank Clark said. “Who can take the pain a little bit more right now? Who can thrive the best under the pressure of being great, the pressure of succeeding, the pressure of taking on the pressure when it’s all on you? I feel like that’s the one thing we’re doing right now.”NOTES: Carroll said on his radio show that LB Mychal Kendricks injured his knee during the game and was unsure if he would be able to play Sunday. Kendricks briefly went to the sideline during the second half but returned to the game. … Seattle rushed for 214 yards, second-highest total of the season. The Seahawks rushed for 273 yards against the Rams. Both of those performances came with Jordan Simmons filling in at right guard for D.J. Fluker, who missed Monday’s game with a hamstring injury. The Dallas Cowboys are 84% to get the 4-seed and the Seattle Seahawks are 94% to get the 5-seed so yes Rashaad Penny Color Rush Jersey , let’s talk about this matchup briefly. Or at least, let’s talk about the Cowboys.Dallas is on a five-game winning streak, improving from 3-5 to 8-5 as the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington footballs fail into nothingness this season. This all but assures the Cowboys the NFC East following a win over the Eagles on Sunday. Dallas is also now second in points allowed, fourth in yards allowed, and first in yards per carry allowed as they develop a reputation as the “new dominant defense” in the NFC. This is not me saying that the Cowboys are overrated, this is me asking: Why does FootballOutsiders say that the Cowboys are overrated?Despite a hot streak, Dallas is still only 17th in weighted DVOA (putting more emphasis on a team’s most recent games) and actually ranked below the collapsing Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and New York Giants. We should take a closer look at why DVOA would not care much about their winning streak.First of all, just before the win streak, the Cowboys lost back-to-back games to Washington (on the road) and the Tennessee Titans (at home). The Titans won 28-14 and shutout Dallas in the second half. In that game, Dallas had a negative offensive performance by EPA and their second-worst defensive performance of the season, failing to keep Marcus Mariota from going 21-of-29 for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He consistently tore through the Cowboys secondary in that game and it did come in Dallas.But the Cowboys haven’t lost since.Dallas next went on the road and beat the Eagles 27-20, again posting a negative EPA on defense. The game was tied 20-20 late as a 75-yard touchdown drive gave the Cowboys a lead with 3:19 left. Carson Wentz had two more opportunities, but both drives fell short. Note: Dallas did a terrible job of putting the game away on the final drive, losing six yards and running off just :16 seconds as Philly had all three timeouts. The Eagles are 20th in DVOA and 21st in weighted DVOA.Next, they beat the Falcons in Atlanta Doug Baldwin Color Rush Jersey , 22-19. They blew a 19-9 fourth quarter lead as Matt Ryan found Julio Jones in the end zone to tie it with 1:52 remaining. Dak Prescott led a game-winning drive (42-yard field goal), but the Falcons are 22nd in DVOA and 20th in weighted DVOA. Atlanta is 4-9, 3-4 at home, and have lost five straight.On four days rest, the Cowboys next hosted Washington on Thanksgiving. Washington started Colt McCoy at QB, his first start since 2014. We’ll never know how good McCoy really could be this season, it was his only full game, but he had two touchdowns in the first 36 minutes as Washington led 13-10 midway through the third quarter. Then Dallas reeled off 21 straight points and asserted dominance. It got out of hand when Prescott got a 90-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper, then McCoy was picked off two plays later which eventually turned into seven more points for the Cowboys. They closed the gap to 31-20 early in the fourth quarter and I’ll note again that Dallas couldn’t get the game-sealing type drive they wanted: 3 plays, 0 yards, :28 seconds off.Washington is 26th in DVOA and 27th in weighted DVOA.Now the game most people will point to: 13-10 win over the New Orleans Saints. And let’s point out one weird thing — this game was also on Thursday. The NFL set up both the Cowboys and Saints for a Thursday Night game with seven days rest in order to try and avoid those awfully short turnarounds they usually force on teams. But I think playing on Thursday could be weird either way. Not to ignore the job they did on Drew Brees, who went 18-of-28 for 127 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.Strangely, Brees fell flat again the next week too against the terrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 24-of-31, 201 yards, one touchdown, one interception. It’s fair to ask if something is up with Brees or that offense right now.Perhaps most importantly C. J. Prosise Color Rush Jersey , Dallas did a number on containing Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, holding the Saints to a by far season-low of 10 points. Prescott, on the other hand, went 24-of-28 for 249 yards and one touchdown. Still, this was a very close game, and Dallas had one of their worst offensive performances of the season, not even scoring a point in the second half. That’s the dark lining on the cloud, but they beat the team ranked fourth in DVOA and third in weighted DVOA. That’s not to be discounted.Finally, they beat the Eagles this Sunday, but offensive struggles continued. They managed just six points in the first half (that’s six points and zero touchdowns over a stretch of four quarters if going back to New Orleans) and led 9-6 going into the fourth quarter. Then: scoring. It was 16-9, 16-16, 23-16, and 23-23 after a touchdown pass by Wentz with 1:39 remaining. On the final drive in regulation, they got as close as the PHI 41, but despite two timeouts remaining at the start of the drive, poor ball control (fumble), protection (final play was a sack) hurt Dallas, while a critical defensive holding call gave them a first down.The Cowboys were the only team to have the ball in OT Tre Madden Color Rush Jersey , using an eight minute drive, a conversion on 3rd-and-9, and a conversion on 4th-and-1 to finally get a game-winning touchdown from Dak to Cooper. And that’s a review of the five-game winning streak. Oddly, I don’t see a strong defensive performance in any of these games other than against by far the best offense they faced. How do you quantify the value of that? These are five wins over four teams, three of which are bad teams, and one of whom is great. Three of the wins are also at home, where the Cowboys are 6-1 outside of that weird loss to Tennessee. Four of the wins were close enough to go either way, and I actually wouldn’t say Dallas played great fourth quarters in any of them. The offense could have done more in the game in Philly, the game in Atlanta, and at home vs New Orleans, while the defense couldn’t get a stop in the rematch against the Eagles.This is not me telling you the Cowboys are overrated, this is me going over why DVOA might suggest they are overrated with an evaluation of their five-game win streak. At home they are certainly better and that’s where any wild card playoff game will take place … which could be the Seahawks, unless maybe the Chicago Bears fall a notch.That’s a whole different article.
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