Cowboys, Seahawks combine for fifth regular-season game with zero punts

Punters’ legs got the night off Thursday night in Dallas.

The Cowboys and Seahawks combined to punt zero times in the 41-35 Dallas win. It marked the fifth regular-season game in NFL history with no punts, per NFL Research. The most recent zero-punt game was Philadelphia-Kansas City in 2021.

Thursday’s punt-free affair was the first in NFL history in which both teams scored 35-plus points.

The win boosted Dallas to 6-0 at home in 2023 and gave Jerry Jones’ club 14 straight home wins, the longest active streak in the NFL. The Cowboys’ 41.0 points per game at home are the most in franchise history and currently sit third-most by any team in NFL history (1950 L.A. Rams, 46.5; 2011 New Orleans Saints, 41.1).

The Cowboys generated four touchdown drives, four field goals, a turnover on downs, and a kneel-down on the night. Seattle earned five TDs, an interception, a missed field goal, and three consecutive turnover-on-down drives to close the contest.

While the offenses move the ball up and down the field, combining for 817 yards and 58 first downs, the Dallas defense came up huge down the stretch, keeping the Seahawks from adding to and re-taking the lead late.

On the final snap, Micah Parsons came free off the edge to force an incomplete pass from Geno Smith to end the threat at midfield. After the contest, Smith said it wasn’t a blown assignment that led to the game-ending pressure. With the Cowboys showing heavy blitz, Seattle was a man short on the line and hoped to beat the pressure by slipping running back DeeJay Dallas around Parsons for a first down on fourth-and-2.

“You know, it is a zone,” Smith said. “The right tackle had a squeeze right there versus zero. So, he did the right thing. Micah coming free, we knew that would possibility happen. We tried to get the ball around him. I just wasn’t able to.”

The play was a good design by Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to get his best player free to win the game. In a back-and-forth high-wire act, that defensive play made the difference in the end.

The Cowboys moved to 9-3 ahead of a massive Sunday night home game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14. Seattle fell to 6-6, clinging to the No. 7 seed in the NFC with a rematch against the San Francisco 49ers next week.