The Seahawks won their penultimate preseason game 27-17 over the Dallas Cowboys in what is likely the final tuneup for the team's starters. The Seahawks played well and looked like the contenders we at this point expect them to be. But this blog post isn't about how good things are. It's the opposite sort of blog post.

I want to look at the cracks in this Seahawks team. Reasons to despair despite winning. I want to temper expectations all the way, so that when the Seahawks go 16-0 before winning the Super Bowl, we won't be like, "duh, obviously that was what was destined to happen." Let's do it.

Second year defensive lineman Frank Clark spent the whole first quarter getting swallowed up by the Cowboys meaty offensive line. This is not ideal. Cliff Avril was chewing up Cowboys right tackle Doug Free and Michael Bennett was doing his Michael Bennett thing on the inside and disrupting the entire center of the offensive line. If Clark had been able to get free he would have dominated the game early. He didn't do that. Instead he was getting blown up by Tyron Smith over and over again.

But then the Cowboys took out their superstar left tackle Smith and Clark devoured Dallas' rushing game in the second quarter. This is, probably on balance, fine. There are few players who can dominate the point of attack at Tyron Smith's level, and Clark will feast on the rest of the league. This could be better (the likes of Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett do not pick and choose who they'll snack upon, as they eat regardless), but it's fine.

Cornerbacks not named Richard Sherman? It would be great if one of you could step up. Jeremy Lane should be peaking physically after recovering from his gruesome Super Bowl XLIX injuries late last year, but still seems a bit off. Tharold Simon and Deshawn Shead continue to unimpress. Tye Smith has yet to flash. The whole unit (aside from Richard Sherman, duh) is just okay. Dez Bryant and Tony Romo were both essentially absent from this game and the Cowboys were still able to make plays in the passing game.

It's not that these guys are bad, or that having merely average secondary cornerbacks is a huge problem to have. It's just, it would be better if that weren't a problem. And heading into the season the secondary still does not look settled, which is just weird for a Pete Carroll coached team. It's just plain weird.

Add Bobby Wagner and Kam Chancellor to the list of defensive guys who have looked just okay this preseason. Again, this hasn't been a disastrous preseason for the defense, but while the offense looks to take a step forward the Seahawks historically stronger defense looks like it will struggle to maintain its level of success from the last few years. Also, while K.J. Wright has been great, he did get beat for a touchdown by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. K.J. Wright playing great and then getting beat by a tight end for a touchdown is the hell from which we Seahawks fans will apparently never escape. Oh well, as hells go, it's not such a bad one.

Cliff Avril blew up Tony Romo on a relatively simple rundown from the weak side, which was a reminder to us all of our mortality. Come on, Cliff! Football's supposed to be fun!

Speaking of fun: backup quarterback Trevone Boykin is fun. He looks like Russell Wilson while running around and making plays. However, when looking at his stat line? He no longer looks like Russell Wilson. Wilson pairs his athleticism with accuracy, something Boykin does not do at his level. As backup QB's go? Boykin rates high for fun but low for ability to actually replace Russ if the worst were to happen.

The good news in this? If one of the biggest issues with a team is the accuracy of the super fun backup quarterback, said team is in good shape.

The starting offensive line looked great. Russell Wilson had all sorts of time to make plays against the Cowboys, and it was a treat to watch. How could this be a bad thing? Surely even a naysaying column can't spin Russell Wilson operating out of a clean pocket against the Seahawks to be a negative?

Well, Dallas' defensive line is garbage. Beating them is like beating Bobby Jindal in a presidential primary; a good and necessary thing but not a meaningful measuring stick. We're heading into the season with the offensive line in decent shape, but still pretty much totally untested.

So yeah, lower your expectations, Seahawks fans. And then raise them again, because real football is coming in two weeks against the Miami Dolphins, and as we all know, stepping on a Dolphin is the first step to winning the Super Bowl.