IRVING, Texas - On Thanksgiving Day the Cowboys defense was hungry, and Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck turned into the main course in the team's 34-9 victory here at Texas Stadium.
The Cowboys knocked Hasselbeck down nine times and recorded a season-high seven sacks, the most sacks in a game since getting nine against the Arizona Cardinals in 1997.
"We have a good rush team," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said after the Cowboys improved to 8-4. "We get a lot of hits on the quarterback. It's something that you have to do, I think, to be able to win. Our pass rush was really good. Hasselbeck had not been sacked that much (12 times). Their team overall had, but he hadn't. I thought we really got after him and got after the passing game."
Leading the attack was DeMarcus Ware, who now leads the league in sacks after picking up three in Thursday night's win to bring his season total to 15. Ware's 15 sacks are a single-season career high, surpassing the 14 sacks he had in 2007. He has increased his sack production every year since the Cowboys selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft.
"D-Ware was D-Ware," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said. "He's definitely one of the purest pass rushers in the game, made plays when it counts. That's what we need from him, that's his role and he did what he was supposed to do."
Ware did leave the game with 16 seconds left in the third quarter with a hyper-extended left knee and did not return. But he was able to walk off the field under his own power. He will receive an MRI on Friday to further check the extent of the damage.
James collected two sacks in the game as well. This was his first multiple-sack game in the NFL, and gives him five this year, a career high. Each of James' sacks came on the heels of a previous Cowboys sack.
The first was in the second quarter following a Tank Johnson sack on first down and an incomplete pass on second down. James' third-down sack of Hasselbeck forced a Seattle punt.
The second came on the following Seahawks drive. Hasselbeck's first-down pass attempt was incomplete, Ware sacked him on second down and James forced another punt after another third-down sack.
"I've been pressuring a little bit more this year. Now I'm getting there, actually beating guys, so that helps," James said of being able to blitz more on the nickel defense. "I knew I had to capitalize because I knew if I didn't get the quarterback down D- Ware would."
Linebacker Greg Ellis joined Ware, James and Johnson in the sack parade.
"Obviously it's good to get pressure on the quarterback and help the team out like that," Ellis said. "I just want to be able to keep doing that. Right now we're playing good team football."
The Cowboys now have s 40 sacks this season, averaging just more than three sacks a game, and are on pace to record the most sacks since they had 53 in 1986. The Cowboys' record for sacks in a season is 62 in 1985.