Seahawks HC Pete Carroll: Geno Smith (elbow) 'night and day' difference heading into Cowboys showdown 

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith played at less than 100 percent in his team’s Thanksgiving night loss to the San Francisco 49es, battling an elbow injury suffered in Week 11

Smith completed 18 of 27 passes for 180 yards and an interception in the 31-13 blowout while dealing with the injured elbow. A week later, things seem much better for the quarterback physically.

“The difference was night and day,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on Tuesday, via the team’s official website. “He was out there running practice and putting on a show for us as he does every week, throwing the football all over the place. He did that exactly. He was full go the whole time, and that was not the case (last week). We don’t want to make a big deal about it, but it was pretty obvious it was a big difference.”

A week ago, Smith sat out practices nursing the injury on a short week. The Seahawks hope a full complement of rest and reps before this Thursday night tussle will be the difference this time.

Seattle desperately needs a big game from its offense to bust through a good Cowboys D. The Seahawks offense has gone 20 straight drives without a touchdown, the longest active streak in the NFL. Seattle has not gone longer than 20 consecutive possessions in a season without an offensive TD since Weeks 5-8, 2011 (with Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst at QB), per NFL Research.

Having a healthy Smith doesn’t guarantee an up-and-down offense gets back on track, but it certainly is better than the alternative.

Seattle continues its brutal stretch of games with Thursday’s showdown against Dallas. Then comes the rematch with the Niners and a battle with the top-seeded Eagles. Carroll’s crew must find a win or two to keep from floundering their playoff positioning before Christmas.