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Hello Seahawks fans from wherever you may be, it’s time for the New Years edition of the Hawks Playbook Podcast! Happy New Year! The new year does start off rather well, with your team as the 5th seed in the NFC playoffs and a trip to visit the East division winner, the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday afternoon at 5:15pm Pacific start time.

Before Keith and I get to the Dallas game preview, we will have a look back to the last regular season game of the year which saw the Seahawks squeak by the lowly Arizona Cardinals team by a last second field goal. All in all, it was a terrible game with lots of mistakes on special teams that allowed the Cardinals to maintain superior field position and gift them a touchdown that made the game closer than it otherwise would have been.

We also take a brief look back across the entire regular season. What transpired this season that led to the Seahawks exceeding expectation? What were the key moments along the way? Our overarching conclusion? Pete Carroll is one hell of a football coach and we are damn glad to have him. Enjoy the ride!

Finally, Keith and Bill breakdown the NFC Wildcard match up between the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys. It’s a Wildcard weekend prime time match up that will feature two teams that finished the season strong. While the Seahawks finished by winning 5 of their last 6 games, the Cowboys have won 7 of their last 8. While Dak Prescott can be forced to make some mistakes, there is no question who the star of the Cowboys offense is: Ezekiel Elliott. The multi-talented running back is a force, rushing for a league best 1,434 yards on 304 carries as well as catching 77 throws out of the backfield. Amari Cooper at WR has also been a good mid-season trade pick up for them as he totals 72 Rec. for 1,070 yards and 6 TD’s. On Defense, the Cowboys have a really solid front 7 to begin with. Players like Demarcus Lawrence DE, Randy Gregory DE, Tyrone Crawford DT, Jaylon Smith LB, Sean Lee LB, Leighton Vander Esch LB can all play high level football. Their secondary is not bad either starting with their safety tandem in Xavier Woods and Jeff Heath, followed by Chidobe Awuzie and Anthony Brown at Cornerbacks.

Seattle Should be able to move the ball just enough to tip the balance into their favor during the game. Dallas will struggle to score points and Keith and I can’t envision them scoring more that 20 points in this game. The Seahawks have proven through the coarse of the season that they can put up yards and points against most defenses, and that’s the difference in this one.

Go Hawks!!