The Dallas Cowboys lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Arizona Cardinals, 19-13.
With two minutes to go, the Cowboys were in control of their own fate. Romo kept the Cowboys in the game and led them into the Cardinals side of the field. Then Garrett's conservative game plan started working against the team. Inexplicably, the offense started working in slow motion allowing the clock to run down. After Dez Bryant caught a pass for first down at Arizona's 31-yard line, the clock had 26 seconds remaining. The Cowboys still had two timeouts with enough time to run a couple of more plays and get a little better field position for a field goal. Instead, Garrett decides to run down the clock and go for a "sure" 49-yard field goal.
After the game, Garrett explained, "We very well could have taken a timeout there; we felt like we were in field goal range. We have yard lines that we use as guidelines before the game. We felt like we were in range at that point. Tony had them on the line of scrimmage quickly, so we went ahead and clocked it and used that as a timeout.”
“You see so many situations where you have negative plays in those situations. We felt like we were in his range to give him a chance to kick the game-winner.”
Maybe Jerry Jones can help us understand the tactic a little better, "My understanding is, the explanation I got is it was to let time run off the clock,” Jones said. “I’m not going to agree or disagree right here. But the point is it was to let time run off the clock.” Really? I am going to have to disagree, the results are clear and the blame falls fully on Garrett's shoulders.
Even with that horrible game calling by the head coach, the Cowboys still had a chance to win the game with that "sure" 49-yard field goal attempt. Once again Garrett commits one of his biggest block-head blunders by calling a timeout as the offence is about to execute. The field goal would have been good, but Dan Bailey was iced by his own coach. On the second attempt, he missed the field goal with a short kick. On to overtime and on to our fifth loss of the season. Thanks Coach.
After the Cowboys game, the Fox broadcast changed over to the Giants/Packers game. With one minute to go, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers showed how the offense should be run with an aggressive aerial attack. The Packers marched down to give their kicker a game-winning opportunity from 31 yards. The kick was good and the Packers won again, showing they are an elite coached team, unlike the Cowboys.
On a positive note, the Cowboys are still in first place thanks to the Packers and will need to improve quickly to play a Giants team that is clicking offensively.
