Thursday Night Observations
I was on the fence between the Cowboys -9.5 and the Seahawks, wound up taking Dallas and watched the Seahawks outplay them, though it was hard to tell amidst such an absurd flag-fest. The difference was the Seahawks were in Dak Prescott’s face much more than the Cowboys were in Geno Smith’s. It felt like the Cowboys won on turnovers, one interception and three more on failed fourth downs. The Cowboys converted one of two fourth downs.
I had Prescott and CeeDee Lamb going, and while I’ll never complain about that output, it felt like it should have been more — a couple near misses in the end zone and some PI penalties that don’t accrue to either player. I also had Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the Steak League, and while he did fine, he had three end zone targets and converted on none. On one of them, the referees said he didn’t retain control of the ball to the ground, but from what I could tell by the 40-minute version, he let go of it voluntarily, a lazy spike of sorts. But they didn’t show any replay or follow-up, so I don’t know. But a big takeaway from that game was JSN got 11 targets, the most among Seattle’s receivers including the three in the end zone. Unlike the Chargers, the Seahawks used a first-round pick on a receiver for a reason.
I also had Metcalf going in three drawing-dead leagues. I should probably be rooting against him at this point, but was happy about it out of habit.
Geno Smith threw the ball well. Metcalf wasn’t even open on his two longest catches, but the ball was placed perfectly.
Prescott played a great game — he was under pressure throughout, nimble in the pocket and made excellent decisions. He’ll have to play like this under similar conditions against teams like the Eagles and 49ers in the playoffs if he ever wants to take his place among the league’s elite. (He’s not there until he does.)
Tony Pollard scored a TD and ran hard. He showed a little of the juice from last year, but the Cowboys are built around Prescott and the passing game.
Jake Ferguson is a player. When I stacked Cowboys in my Primetime draft, I passed on him because I already had George Kittle and Evan Engram, but he’s the No. 2 after Lamb. Brandin Cooks has shown up of late too.
The Seahawks defense looked better than the Cowboys this game.