New year, same old Dallas Cowboys. Despite having one of the best defenses in the NFL, America's Team once again fell short in their first game of the postseason, losing 23-17 at home to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cowboys struggled to move the chains all afternoon until their defense got them right back on track.
They even had a shot at winning the game on the last play, but Mike McCarthy couldn't help himself from blowing it up, calling a QB draw with no timeouts left.
The Cowboys tried to snap the ball quickly and the center blocked the umpire from touching the football, thus leading to the end of the game.
Former Cowboys QB Tony Romo, who was calling the game for CBS, just couldn't believe what he had seen:
“It’s a ridiculous way for a football game to end," Romo said, per the Dallas Morning News.
“The umpire has to touch the ball,” Romo explained. “You can’t spot your own ball. You can’t give it to the center there. You’ve got to find the official and give it to him.”
It's not that Romo disagreed with the play but he thought that Prescott tried to do too much and forgot about the clock:
“They had time,” Romo said. “Dak is supposed to go, but you’re not supposed to go past 10-12 yards. Once you get into the 13-14 yard range, the clock gets away from you.”
Romo praised the 49ers for their execution and how they managed the clock. Then again, he also thought the Cowboys failed to put themselves in a good position with all the penalties:
“The 49ers earned [the win],” Romo said. “But the Cowboys hurt themselves so much.”
The Cowboys had 14 penalties for 89 yards, and Romo pointed that out as a season-long issue:
“This was one of the keys,” the former QB added.“They [pre-snap penalties] don’t seem like big things, but they catch up to you when they catch up to you. They haven’t been good at it. They need to change some things up on that.”
Despite all the criticism for such a questionable call, Dak Prescott still thought it was a good decision. If anything, it was the official's fault that it didn't work out:
"We've practiced it," Prescott said, per NFL.com. "You hand it to the center. The umpire, all he has to do is usually come in and tap the ball. Don't necessarily know exactly … why the hit (with the official) happened, I guess. Yeah, I know he's going to come in and touch the ball. We could say, yeah he needs to be closer to the ball or whatever, but in hindsight it's just tough. Just tough to accept."
Later, the QB gave the fans credit for throwing trash at the officials, in perhaps the most controversial remark of the day.
Mike McCarthy also blamed the official for the epic blunder, as he said the referees ought to put more time on the clock after a play like that:
"I've never seen that come down the way it came down, as far as the collision between the umpire and the quarterback," the coach said. "We were trying to get inside the 30-yard line to set-up the last play. The mechanics were intact from our end of it. The communication that I was given on the sideline was that they were reviewing it, they were going to put time back on the clock. The next thing I know, they're running off the field. That's the only facts I have for you."
That's just the Mike McCarthy special, everybody.
