by GERRY FRALEY, gfraley@dallasnews.com , THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

On Sunday, they dropped Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck three times. That lifted the sacks total to 17 in the last five games. The Cowboys are 4-1 in those games.

The record and the flurry of sacks are not coincidental. Sacks are about more than wasted downs and lost yardage. They represent the surest way to cut off the head of an offense.

"You have to get pressure on the quarterback," said outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, whose one sack on Sunday brought his total to five in the last three games. "If you don't get to a guy like Matt Hasselbeck, they can beat you any time. When we're able to get pressure, it creates big plays."

The steady drumbeat of pressure can drive a quarterback to distraction.

That happened a week ago to Atlanta prodigy Matt Ryan. By the fourth quarter, he was flinching before rushers came close. Ryan completed only 13 of his final 27 passes while taking four sacks.

This time, it happened to the more savvy Hasselbeck. He wobbled away like a punch-drunk fighter.

"It doesn't really matter if the quarterback is good," inside linebacker Bradie James said. "He can't be too good, because somebody is going to hit him all the time. No quarterback likes to be hit, no matter what.

"Then the sacks start rolling in, and here we are. That's what happened today."

The Seahawks tried to protect Hasselbeck, playing with a broken rib, by going with a short-range passing game. The plan worked for about one quarter. With quick throws, Hasselbeck completed six of his first nine passes for 62 yards. The pressure caught up to him, disrupting the timing of the passing game. Hasselbeck completed only 16 of his final 30 passes for 187 yards. A large hunk of that came in garbage time.

"We're getting good pressure from the front seven," strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh said. "And the cover guys have been making good plays on the back end. That's how you're supposed to play defense."

It is the best way to eliminate big plays.

To keep their quarterback out of harm's way, opponents are junking the drop-back plays, which require stout pass protection, in favor of the quick-hitters that rarely produce big yardage.

Consider this: In the home-opener loss to the New York Giants, the Cowboys allowed six completions of 20-plus yards, two of which went for touchdowns, and 330 yards passing overall.

In the last five games, the Cowboys have allowed only 10 pass plays of 20-plus yards, with Hasselbeck's 249 yards the single-game high for passing in that span.

That helps explain why the first meeting of the season with Philadelphia has taken on such importance. The Cowboys are winning by taking quarterbacks out of the game.

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