Three takes: Patchwork Seahawks put an end to Cowboys’ season using defense

It’s not Pete Carroll’s team. It’s Dr. Frankenstein’s.

The Seattle Seahawks cobbled together some spare parts to put together one of their best defensive performances of the season Sunday in a 21-12 victory at Dallas.

The monster effort kept the Hawks (9-6) in the NFC playoff picture, if not as a main focus but not in the background anymore, and ended the Cowboys’ hopes.

And, if owner Jerry Jones’ facial expressions meant anything after Dallas squandered another fourth-quarter chance, may have been the final nail in coach Jason Garrett’s coffin.

But that’s for the Dallas area to worry about. In the Northwest, the only question anyone is asking is, can the Seahawks lurch into the postseason?

It will take a confluence of events next week, starting with the Falcons (9-6) having to lose at home to the playoff-bound Carolina Panthers (11-4). Then the Seahawks will have to take care of business against the Arizona Cardinals, which shut out the woeful New York Giants on Sunday.

Defense saves the day

As per usual with Carroll’s Seattle teams, this Christmas Eve present was wrapped by the defense.

Not only did the group harass Dak Prescott into one of his worst games as a pro – 21-of-34 passing for 182 yards, four sacks for 27 yards, two interceptions and a quarterback rating close to Sheldon Richardson’s waist size – they also had a hand in 14 of the Hawks’ points.

And the names of the guys who came up with the big plays are either out of the past – Byron Maxwell with the right cross that forced a Dez Bryant fumble – or new this season – Justin Coleman with a 30-yard pick-six on a poor Prescott throw – or were not available last week – K.J. Wright, whose interception in the red zone off a Bryant deflection kept Dallas out of the end zone.

That was the key. Even with Ezekiel Elliott returning to the Cowboys’ active roster – he had been suspended six games for a domestic violence accusation – the Hawks kept Dallas from scoring a touchdown.

They bent a bit – Dallas had 5 more minutes of possession and almost 150 more yards of total offense – but they forced the Cowboys to attempt six field goals.

Dan Bailey made four of them, the longest from 51 yards. But he missed two in the final quarter, sealing Dallas’ fate.

Bad bet for Elliott

Thanks to those intrepid reporters at TMZ, we discovered this week Elliott had a bet with former Rams running back Eric Dickerson concerning Elliott’s first game back from suspension.

Seems if Elliott ran for more than 200 yards against the Seahawks, who were blitzed for 152 yards last week by the Rams’ Todd Gurley, then Dickerson would send one of his game-worn jerseys Elliott’s way. If not, then Elliott had to pay up.

Wonder where Dickerson is going to hang the No. 21 Dallas jersey? In the garage maybe?

Because the Hawks defense trucked Elliott all game. With Wright back and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner better (if still not 100 percent), there weren’t the holes available for Elliott that Gurley saw.

Elliott finished with 97 yards on 24 carries, OK statistics but not game-changing. And the Cowboys (8-7) needed him to be game-changing.

At the half, Elliott had carried 15 times for 76 yards. But his longest run had gone for 9 yards. And that would remain his longest. In the second half, as the Hawks took control, Elliott had runs of 3, 1, 5, 2, 2, 4, minus-2, 5 and 4 yards.

Not Dickerson-esque, that’s for sure.

Wilson plays managerial role

Russell Wilson wasn’t great Sunday. But he also wasn’t awful. He managed.

Which is something you usually don’t say about the Seahawks’ quarterback. But that’s what Seattle needed.

When Dallas made mistakes, Wilson made plays.

Given a short field in the first half, he marched the Hawks 43 yards in four plays, including his 14-yard run. He then found Jimmy Graham posted up in the end zone for a 7-6 lead.

And when the Seahawks needed a drive to get some breathing room, Wilson engineered that. He led them on a 13-play, 79-yard scoring drive that spanned the gap between the third and fourth quarters.

That one ended when Doug Baldwin put on as pretty a move as he anyone could, getting about 10 yards of separation in the end zone to catch a 6-yard toss.

Wilson was just 14-of-21 passing. He had just 93 yards through the air. But he ran for another 29 and, most importantly, threw two touchdown passes – and never turned the ball over.