Cowboys dropped the ball in one specific, inexcusable sequence
After four quarters of hard-fought football in the November Green Bay cold, Lady Fortune smiled upon the Dallas Cowboys and erased all of the problems that had haunted them for most of a 28-28 game. In winning the coin toss to open overtime, the Cowboys would be in full control of the game. At that […]
After four quarters of hard-fought football in the November Green Bay cold, Lady Fortune smiled upon the Dallas Cowboys and erased all of the problems that had haunted them for most of a 28-28 game.
In winning the coin toss to open overtime, the Cowboys would be in full control of the game. At that point, the run defense woes didn't matter anymore. Nor did it matter that the defense was playing two backup cornerbacks against Aaron Rodgers. Two first-half interceptions were in the rearview mirror.
The Cowboys had the ball. It was up to them to finish it. Period.
And wouldn't you know it, things started off on the right foot. Tony Pollard rushed right for a seven-yard gain. Dak Prescott found CeeDee Lamb over the middle for 15 yards. Pollard again for seven, this time behind the left guard.
The Cowboys were at their 47-yard line and looking good. For a brief moment, they settled down as a true contender does after an evening filled with mistakes.
Then came the collapse. The breakdown. Whatever you want to call it.
At first, Jalen Tolbert was called for an inexcusable offsides penalty on second and seven to erase a nine-yard gain by Tony Pollard. The rookie claimed he checked with the ref as every wide receiver has done since peewee football but the reality is he didn't turn to the ref until there were 11 seconds in the play clock and Peyton Hendershot was already in motion.
The Cowboys have shown time and time again that they don't trust Tolbert yet and this couldn't have been a worse time to exemplify why is that. Pollard kept it from costing the game as he picked up nine yards in a screen pass to move the chains one more time.
Finally in enemy territory, the Cowboys faced first and ten. Kellen Moore dialed up a designed play-action rollout play that resulted in an incompletion as the Packers were not faked out.
On second and 10, Malik Davis stepped up with a 16-yard gain to put the Cowboys at the Packers' 26-yard line and the Cowboys in the driver's seat. Of course, a flag was on the play due to a Connor McGovern holding.
2nd & 19. If you ask me, that's exactly the moment in which it felt like Dallas wouldn't fly back home with the win. However, the real controversy came moments later after Dak Prescott found Dalton Schultz to set up third and four.
On a short pass to CeeDee Lamb, Jaire Alexander essentially tackled the wide receiver outrageously early. No flag. Listen, zebras will mess up several times over the course of a football game. It shouldn't be used as an excuse.
But that doesn't mean this is okay:
That made it fourth-and-four and big decision time for Mike McCarthy, who knows the Lambeau weather and understands its effects like few people in this world do. Kick the 53-yard attempt or go for it?
As you know, Dallas went for it and with both tackles failing to hold up in pass protection, the play was broken as Prescott threw an incompletion while going down.
Was that the right call to go for it? It's difficult to argue against it. After all, it wasn't only a long, hard-to-make attempt in the cold. The thing is the best-case scenario was for Brett Maher to make it and still give the Packers the football back right away.
But if you knew you were treating it as four-down territory, you could argue the Cowboys could've kept running the football since it was clearly working. More than arguing if a pass was better than a run, it just didn't feel as if Moore and the coaching staff had something in their back pocket for such a critical moment.
At that point, the game was over. The conversation this week will likely center around the run defense, the two interceptions, and Dak Prescott (that's the life of an NFL quarterback).
But the toughest part about this loss is that none of it mattered once the Cowboys won that coin toss. Yet they still lost the game.
Featured image via Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
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