Cowboys Look Good Until the Final Minutes

With the Dallas Cowboys moving the ball near midfield, 14 seconds remaining and the score tied, Seattle kicker Josh Brown was preparing for overtime.

“I’m on the sideline trying to get mentally ready, trying to be by myself,” Brown said. “It’s one of those moments where you know what’s coming. You know it’s going to come. You just have to win the coin toss.”

Instead of a coin toss, Seattle nickel back Jordan Babineaux tossed Brown’s -- not to mention the Seahawks’ and Cowboys’ -- worlds upside down.

Babineaux intercepted Drew Bledsoe’s sideline pass intended for Terry Glenn with five seconds left and returned it 25 yards to the Dallas 32.

Brown rushed onto the field and made a 50-yard field goal with no time left to give Seattle a 13-10 victory.

Dallas had controlled the first 58 minutes of the rainy game between NFC division leaders and even led, 10-3, on a Jose Cortez field goal with 2:08 remaining.

The thrilling turnabout was Seattle’s third win in a row and kept the Seahawks two games ahead of St. Louis atop the NFC West. They go into their bye week 5-2 for the sixth time in their 30-year history. Four times, they have made the playoffs after such a start. The fifth time, in 1986, they finished 10-6.

Dallas (4-3) fell out of the NFC East lead, half a game behind Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Giants. The frantic finish -- the opposite of the Cowboys’ 10-point rally in the final two minutes here last December that beat the Seahawks, 43-39 -- also denied the Cowboys their first three-game winning streak since October 2003, Bill Parcells’ first season in Dallas.

It was the second late-game collapse for the Cowboys this season. In Week 2, Washington scored two touchdowns in the final 3:46 to beat Dallas, 14-13.

Seattle had to wait a while -- 57:59 of game time, actually -- before its league-leading offense generated much against the Cowboy defense. Seattle tied it at 10 with 40 seconds left when backup tight end Ryan Hannam caught quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s one-yard touchdown pass.

A 22-yard pass-interference penalty on Dallas’ Aaron Glenn with 1:40 remaining moved the Seahawks to the Cowboy 25 and in position for the score.