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Seahawks’ final play was designed to leave Micah Parsons unblocked

The Seahawks got exactly what they wanted on their last snap of the game.

Seattle faced fourth-and-two at the 50 when Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons came unblocked and pressured Geno Smith into an incompletion at the feet of running back DeeJay Dallas.

Smith was asked after the game what was supposed to happen on that play since the design of the play wasn’t to leave Parsons unblocked.

“It is the design,” Smith said. “He had to squeeze, the right tackle had to squeeze [block inside out] right there versus zero [blitz], so he did the right thing. Micah came free. We knew that would possibly happen. Tried to get the ball around him and just wasn’t able to.”

The scheme was a disaster for the Seahawks, who turned it over on downs out out of timeouts with 1:07 left.

“We were expecting DeeJay to be able to slip out of there,” Smith said. “Usually sometimes teams have what they call a peel, with the end where if the back releases, then the end will peel. Parsons will peel. On that play, it was an all-out so he continued to rush. We thought DeeJay could slip through there, and we could get him the ball in the flat. Wasn’t able to get through there. Kind of got held up, and that’s kind of how the play went.”

Parsons ended up with two tackles and three quarterback hits, the biggest coming on the final play with the game on the line.