The Dallas Cowboys will now face the Seattle Seahawks in the next phase of the Bird Gauntlet.
The Dallas Cowboys shouldn’t have advanced in the Bird Gauntlet to play the Seattle Seahawks. America’s Team was so dead in Run 1 of the 2020 Bird Gauntlet vs. the Atlanta Falcons at home in Week 2.
Yet with a less than zero percent chance of surviving, the Cowboys did thanks to so many self-inflicted wounds by the Dirty Birds. With the special teams blessings of the most sacred Watermelon Man John Fassel, the Cowboys take their first victory up to the Pacific Northwest.
Does Dallas have what it takes to advance past Run 2 of the Bird Gauntlet?
Though the Seahawks are 2-0 and have an NFL MVP frontrunner in quarterback Russell Wilson, these aren’t the same osprey from yesterday. Seattle has given up a combined 55 points in the first two weeks of the season. While the defense isn’t as bad as what Dan Quinn is running into the ground at Flowery Branch, Seattle has won the last two weeks because of its offense.
The good news for Dallas in being able to survive Run 2 of its 2020 Bird Gauntlet is you can run and throw on this Seattle defense. Matt Ryan and Cam Newton looked great in their games vs. Seattle, regardless of the Falcons and the New England Patriots falling to the Seahawks. If Quandre Diggs gets ejected again, Jamal Adams said he’d ghost him, so that’s in play as well.
If this game were played in front of a packed house of 12s, you could not trust the Cowboys to win this one on the road. Yes, they may have a bit of a letdown game on Sunday, as they will come down from the false high of beating a Falcons team that lives to beat itself. However, the Seahawks were a play away from losing on Sunday Night Football last week. They are vulnerable.
For Dallas to advance, here is what the Cowboys must do. They cannot turn the football over at will in the first half as they did against Atlanta. Seattle has a bad defense too, but the Seahawks have a winning football culture in place, while the Falcons do not. If you allow an extra possession or two in the hands of Wilson, you will get burned because Russ is being allowed to cook in 2020.
This is an opportunity for Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott to really shine. He hasn’t been as dominant as we hoped he’d be at the start of the year. However, a physical runner like him, as well as a mobile quarterback like Dak Prescott, could have success against this underwhelming run defense of Seattle. By winning time of possession, it aids in the Cowboys’ chances at an upset.
In terms of being able to run the 2020 Bird Gauntlet, Run 2 will be one of the Cowboys’ toughest tests. Atlanta may be the easiest of the six runs, but a lot of that remains to be seen on what becomes of the arch-rival Philadelphia Eagles in the coming weeks. We should expect the Baltimore Ravens to be menacing and the Arizona Cardinals to be tough. Seattle is a challenge.
Ultimately, Sunday is the game many of us expected the Cowboys would die in the 2020 Bird Gauntlet. Seattle is an NFC West favorite and a major contender to get to Super Bowl 55 in Tampa. However, this isn’t the same Seahawks team from years past. If you can win a shootout as you did against Atlanta, then you’ve got a shot at upsetting Seattle and its vaunted offense on Sunday.
The Cowboys have the tools to survive and advance past Run 2 of the sacred 2020 Bird Gauntlet.