After Thursday's 34-9 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck revealed that coach Mike Holmgren told the team the night before the game that they were overmatched and that they would have to play a nearly perfect game to win. Still, he said, he wanted them to play hard.

"It's tough. I can't remember a time when we ever went into a game feeling like: 'Wow, they've got so much talent; what are we going to do?' " Hasselbeck said. "That team right there, if they keep playing the way they are, the definitely have a chance to win it all this year. They're a talented bunch.

"There was a time when we were that team, when we were the talented bunch and staying healthy and stuff. This year has not been like that."

Harrowing homecoming

Seahawks running back Julius Jones did not quite have the homecoming he envisioned.

Hoping to show the Cowboys that they were wrong to cast him aside in favor of Marion Barber, Jones - who spent four seasons in Dallas before signing the past offseason with the Seahawks in free agency - instead fumbled twice, the first coming on the Seahawks' first offensive possession and leading to Dallas' second touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

"I put the ball on the ground a couple times. It happens. It shouldn't happen, it's never really happened to me in my career before," Jones said. "I was just trying to make the play. That's never happened to me before. It's very uncharacteristic of me."

In his first season in Dallas, Jones was considered the replacement for Emmitt Smith.

But he eventually fell out a favor with the Cowboys, and apparently the fans, who booed him each time he touched the ball on Thursday.

"It's a term of endearment for me," Jones said. "I don't mind being booed. That just means they respect you. I wasn't baffled by it (the booing). These days you expect it. I never did anything wrong, but I expected to get booed. It's just part of the game."

Carlson breaks out

Seattle rookie tight end John Carlson had his best game of the season, making six catches for a team-high 105 receiving yards.

"I think the country might have gotten a glimpse of a pretty good tight end for the future," Holmgren said of Carlson.

Carlson's yardage production was close to that of Dallas Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten (nine catches, 115 yards). Carlson said he watches film of tight ends such as Witten to help him learn the game.

"I look at No. 82 on the other side (Witten), and you can see he's good at all facets of the game," Carlson said.

Hasselbeck connected with Carlson on a "hot" route against the blitz early on for a 33-yard gain.

The rookie from Notre Dame had a problem on pass protection a time or two, and when asked if that part of his game is still a work in progress, he conceded: "The whole game of Football is a work in progress for me. There's a lot of things I have to do better."

Ware beats Jones -twice

Perhaps the most stunning development of the game was that left tackle Walter Jones, a future Hall of Famer, was twice beaten by Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware for sacks.

Ware ended the game with three sacks.

"It's a shock," Jones said. "But it's the game of Football. You go out there, you don't want to give up sacks and stuff. But you have to move on. You can't harp on that. You can't focus long on that situation. It happened. You can't get down. I think you learn that as you go on."

Hill suffers injury

Linebacker Leroy Hill was forced to leave the game in the first half after a collision with Barber during a goal-line stand.

With the Cowboys trying to score from the 1, Hill met Barber in the air and knocked him back to the 2. But Hill appeared to dip his head just before the hit and suffered a stinger, losing strength in his right arm.

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