Cowboys countdown to kickoff: The win at Seattle that defined the 2014 season’s early message

The Cowboys are using their final stretch toward kickoff to revisit the franchise’s most memorable games, and Day 73 of the countdown spotlights the one Dallas fans still use as shorthand for a turning point. The premise of the list is not tied to a single metric, the editors say, but instead to a blend of stakes, lasting impact, unusual swings, Cowboys firsts, and the sense that Dallas simply imposed its will.

In the featured entry, the Cowboys arrive in Week 6 of the 2014 season sitting at 4-1. Even with that strong start, there was still skepticism about whether Jason Garrett’s team was a legitimate contender or merely riding an early run. The matchup at Seattle, according to the countdown description, offered a high-pressure stage and a direct test against the defending Super Bowl champions in their home setting.

The game begins in a way that looks, at least initially, like the kind of control the Seahawks are built to impose at home. Seattle takes a 3-0 lead on a Steven Hauschka field goal. Soon after, the Cowboys fall further behind when a Chris Jones blocked punt is returned for a touchdown, pushing the Seahawks to a 10-0 advantage. Dallas is forced to absorb a double-digit deficit in a building known for turning mistakes into momentum, right as the early narrative risk peaks.

Dallas’s response is what the countdown treats as the defining counterpunch of the Tony Romo era. The description says Dallas answers with a long drive capped by Romo’s two-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Escobar. The Cowboys then extend their closing margin with a Dan Bailey field goal, and they add another score before halftime when Romo finds Jason Witten for a touchdown, giving Dallas a 17-10 lead at intermission.

The second half becomes the part of the story the countdown labels as chaotic, noting that the third quarter got messy. While the full arc beyond halftime is not laid out in the excerpts available here, the emphasis remains clear: Dallas did more than survive. It turned a deficit in an unfriendly environment into a lead, then kept the game in a state that demanded the kind of late-season mental toughness that fans associate with the best teams.

For the Cowboys’ identity, a win like this matters in a way that regular standings cannot fully capture. It is the kind of performance that changes how a team is perceived, even while the season is far from resolved. As the countdown runs toward the season opener, Day 73 functions as a reminder that Dallas’s most iconic games are often remembered not only for what they produced on the scoreboard, but for what they indicated about a team’s seriousness in the moments when doubts are loud.