ARLINGTON, Texas — Although Micah Parsons and his fellow defensive linemen got home just one time for a sack on Geno Smith as an entire pass-rush unit on Thursday night, the pressure was generated – but it was anticipated.
Despite attacking the Seattle offensive line and initiating pressure, Smith and the rest of the Seattle offense operated at a much quicker pace post-snap than what they had throughout the season, which made the Dallas defense work on-the-fly both up front and in the secondary.
"I feel like I was doing a good job getting there fast all game," Parsons said postgame. "Geno was doing a great job getting the ball out fast, and that's not something we had on film. When they did throw it deep, it was max protection. There were some untrained looks that we didn't see on film. It's definitely something to look at again."
While the Seattle offense scored touchdowns on five of their first seven drives to take an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Dallas defense stood tall in the latter stages of the game and forced a turnover on downs on the Seahawks' final three possessions to come away with the six-point victory.
"It was a big adjustment coming off how it came off with shots and big explosive plays, [pass interferences]," he said. "We just got to the point where we had to keep everything in front of us and make them earn it. We made some big stops towards the end."
Heading into the final drive with Seattle needing a touchdown to win with just 1:43 on the clock and no timeouts, the mentality remained the same despite the lack of getting home throughout the night: attack Geno Smith.
"Get the quarterback," Parsons said. "Anytime I know that it's a true pass situation, I really live for those types of moments – those end of game types of series. We're not gonna beat ourselves. If the offense gives us a chance, we gotta end the game."
And ending the game, they did. While Seattle was able to move the ball to midfield, the Seahawks stalled behind a pair of solid coverage plays from Jourdan Lewis and a fourth down pressure from Micah Parsons that never gave Smith a chance to make an informed decision.
"This film lets us get a lot of film for what we will need next week," he said. "There are a lot of similar players and play styles. You can compare Tyler Lockett to Devonta Smith and DK Metcalf to AJ Brown. There's levels to it, but they're very similar. It allows us to get that adversity of a 12-round boxing match, get the weekend off and get ready to play next week."
