Seahawks win wild one in Seattle

The game had everything. It had great throws. It had big runs. It had safeties, hail maries, and, most significant, it had bobbled snaps.

Trailing the Seattle Seahawks 21-20 with 1:19 to play in regulation, the Dallas Cowboys lined up to kick what would seem to be an automatic 19-yard field goal on paper. But like they always say: the games aren't played on paper.

The Cowboys got off a perfect snap, but place-kick holder Tony Romo, also the starting quarterback, bobbled the snap, and kicker Martin Gramatica was not able to get a kick off. Romo picked the ball up and ran to the left side but was stopped just short of the end-zone by Jordan Babineaux.

The Seahawks got the ball back with 1:14 remaining, and after Shaun Alexander broke a 20-yard run, Seattle failed to get a first down for the remainder of the drive and was forced to punt to Dallas with eight seconds left in the game. Ryan Plackemeier got off a 26-yard punt that sailed out of bounds at midfield, and the Cowboys would have one more chance with two seconds left. Romo launched a hail mary to the end-zone, but it was deflected and incomplete, and the Seahawks advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs while the Cowboys are going to be forced to ponder what happened to their once promising season.

Dallas was 8-4 at one point this season and seemed to be in control of the NFC East. However, they lost three of their final four games, including three straight at home, and surrendered the division title to the Philadelphia Eagles. Many thought the Cowboys might even win 10+ games and earn a first-round bye, but they finished with a 9-7 record and with only the fifth seed in the NFC.

The game started off slow, the first three scores being field goals, two by Seattle's Josh Brown, one by Dallas' Gramatica. Dallas then had the ball on 4th and 2 from the Seattle 35-yard line. Bill Parcells decided to go for it, and Romo completed a 32-yard pass to Jason Witten at the Seattle 3 with 39 seconds left to play in the first half. A holding penalty drove Dallas back 10 yards, but Romo then threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton, giving the Cowboys a 10-6 advantage going into halftime.

The Seahawks took a 13-10 lead at the 6:15 mark of the third quarter, as Matt Hasselbeck capped a 12-play, 62-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jerramy Stevens. However, Dallas kick returner Miles Austin answered with a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and the Cowboys re-gained the lead, 17-13.

Hasselbeck was then intercepted to start the fourth quarter, and the result was a 29-yard field goal by Gramatica to give Dallas a 20-13 edge. That's when things started to get crazy.

Seattle drove down the field on their next possession and went for it on 4th and 2 from the Cowboys' 2-yard line, but could not convert. Dallas took over from their own 2. Romo completed a screen pass to Terry Glenn, but Glenn proceeded to lose the football after being hit by Kelly Jennings. The ball bounced into the end-zone, and after being knocked around a few times by several Seattle players, was eventually recovered by Michael Boulware for a touchdown. However, the play was challenged and reversed, as it was determined that Lofa Tatupu's foot was out of bounds in the end-zone when he tipped the ball to Boulware. The end result was a safety, cutting the Cowboys' lead to five, 20-15.

The Cowboys then punted off to the Seahawks because of the safety rule, and Seattle went on a quick four-play, 50-yard drive capped off by another Hasselbeck-to-Stevens connection in the end-zone. The Seahawks went for the two-point conversion but were stopped. The score was 21-20 Seattle with 4:31 to play in the fourth.

After the kickoff, Dallas started at their own 28 and eventually reached the Seattle 9, but their promising drive ended with the mis-handled snap by the 26-year old Romo. The Seahawks took this one by a final score of 21-20 in what could become one of the best, if not the best, games of the 2006-2007 NFL Playoffs.

The Seahawks will either travel to New Orleans or Chicago to play the Saints or the Bears depending on the outcome of the other NFC Wild Card match-up, the New York Giants and the Eagles, tomorrow. Should the Giants win, the Seahawks would play New Orleans. Should the Eagles win, Seattle would take on Chicago.