Dallas Cowboys face NFC West ‘has-been’ Week 16

The Dallas Cowboys line up against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, an opponent who has seen its best days as a championship contender.

The Dallas Cowboys don’t control their playoff destiny heading into the second-to-last week of the 2017 regular season.

But there’s no reason they can’t control their NFC West opponent, the Seattle Seahawks.

Remember the ‘Legion of Boom?’ Remember when Russell Wilson took the NFL by storm as a rookie back in 2012? Remember that ’12th Man’ stuff going on at CenturyLink Field, a venue where visiting teams just couldn’t win for almost three seasons? And what about all those punishing runs by running back Marshawn Lynch?

Ah, yes – the memories, which is exactly what they are: Memories.

If 2015 and 2016 made you wonder if the championship window for the Seahawks had closed, then Week 15 of 2017 should have left no doubt about that. Ten-win seasons over the last couple of years didn’t look exactly like those dominant records of 12 wins, or better, during two Super Bowl seasons in 2013 and 2014. But a 40-7 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams in front of the ’12th Man’ demonstrated just how far the ‘Hawks have fallen in an increasingly competitive NFC.

As far as that ‘Legion of Boom’ is concerned, it’s looking more like just an NFL secondary with Pro Bowl defensive backs Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor out of action.

Wilson was never a strong pocket-passer at the professional level, so without that stout defense of just a few years ago, he’s merely a good quarterback – but certainly not Peyton Manning.

The Dallas Cowboys handled the ’12th Man’ phenomena back in ’14 and the Seahawks have now gone 21-7 at home since then – still pretty good, but hardly invisible at home, which this team basically was during those two Super Bowl seasons.

Lynch is now a problem for the Oakland Raiders.

But there’s more at play here where the Seahawks troubles are concerned.

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