What Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said about all the close calls in Sunday’s game

The Dallas Cowboys survived a wild game on Sunday.

Plenty of drama and controversy marked the Cowboys’ 20-17 victory over the Oakland Raiders. A piece of paper helped keep the Cowboys’ playoff hopes alive. The most debated parts of today’s game — catch/no catch and the touchback rule — were part of it.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett revisited them all during his day-after news conference on Monday.

▪ Owner Jerry Jones wondered openly about whether the Cowboys should have gone for a touchdown instead of a field goal with a fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 1:47 left in the game. At that point, the game was tied 17-17.

Jones thought there might be too much time on the clock to settle for a field goal in that moment. But Garrett made what many would consider a no-brainer decision in taking the lead.

Said Garrett: “Just felt like at that point in the game we had to kick the field goal and assure that we were going to be ahead in the game. I think there was 1:43 to go and they were going to have one time out, so let’s go ahead, let’s make it 20-17, let’s go play defense. And certainly it crosses your mind, but the right thing to do is kick the field goal for us at that point.”

▪ Earlier on that drive, the Cowboys made the decision to go for it on a fourth-and-inches from their own 39. Quarterback Dak Prescott sneaked it and barely moved the pile. But the Cowboys got just enough yardage for the first down.

Referee Gene Steratore used a piece of paper to affirm his initial thought of a first down, a move that already ranks as one of the most memorable officiating moments in the game.

Said Garrett: “I hadn’t seen that before. The biggest thing that I was looking at from my vantage point — it seemed like the first down marker was kind of on an angle. I thought if we had straightened it up, we would’ve had a better chance of making that thing. Eventually they got it straight and he pulled out that index card and it worked out well for us.”

Garrett went on to say that he doesn’t believe the chain is antiquated and actually thought Steratore’s decision to use the paper made sense.

“It seemed to make sense to me to see if there was space between the ball and the poll,” Garrett said. “And he determined there was not based on that. That’s all I can say. My guess is as good as yours.”

As far as the decision to go for it in the first place, Garrett said: “Going for it on fourth down when we made it on the quarterback sneak was something we just felt we had to do at that time to give ourselves a chance to win. When you maintain possession of the ball you control your destiny so we had confidence in our guys up front and confidence in Dak to be able to make that.

“We didn’t make it by much but we made it and that gave us a chance to go down and score and go ahead. And then put it back on our defense to get a stop. So you believe in your guys. Typically those guys come through for you when you instill belief in that and they certainly did that last night.”

▪ Steratore’s name may ring a bell for the wrong reasons for Cowboys fans. This is the official who made the infamous decision to overturn Dez Bryant’s catch during the 2014 divisional round playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. Steratore and the NFL used the Bryant example as a way to state players must “complete the process of the catch.”

Well, Garrett thought Oakland receiver Seth Roberts didn’t complete the process of the catch on the first play of the fourth quarter. Roberts bobbled the ball, but the ruling on the field was a catch. Garrett challenged it as the play had similar components to the Bryant catch three years ago.

Said Garrett: “We can talk about that over a couple lemonades. They determined that they thought there wasn’t enough there to overturn it. So I’ll leave it at that.”

▪ The Cowboys had another gamble in the game when punter Chris Jones ran a fake on fourth-and-11 from their own 24. It’s a risky decision Jones made, but it paid off as he gained 24 yards for the first down. The offense capitalized on it, too, by scoring a touchdown.

Said Garrett: “I don’t want to get into the specifics of the look, but it was a favorable look. (Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia) does a great job with our kicking units and our punt team. And Chris Jones has a really good feel for what the looks are that we like. (Long snapper L.P. Ladouceur) does a good job communicating those looks. I thought those guys handled it really well. It was really well executed.

“The other part about it is that Chris such a good athlete. He has a good feel for running the ball and moving around in space. He is one of the best athletes that we have on our team. Not only did he make a good decision, he was poised and composed and really executed well too.”

Asked if he liked the decision by Jones, Garrett said: “It’s a long discussion about when you like fakes. It’s a nuanced discussion. Sometimes when you think it’s safer to have a fake, typically they are not quite as good.”

▪ Finally, the Cowboys benefited from it, but the touchback rule is one of the most debated in the game. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr tried to extend for the front pylon late in the game and lost control of the ball when Cowboys safety Jeff Heath hit him. The ball bounced out of the end zone, a turnover that resulted in a touchback for the Cowboys.

This play is bound to be discussed more in the off-season by the competition committee, but Garrett has no issues with the rule. After all, it’s a rule that’s existed for years in the game.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones also addressed the play during his radio show on 105.3 The Fan.

Said Jones: “The touchback rule is one that I’m sure will come up and we’ll go through it again and see if there is a better way to do it, a better outcome. But at this point, we hadn’t been able to do that. What’s a better answer to it? But I know we will be pushed to look at it again, as we should because we always want to be better and do what’s in the best interest of the game and the fans. So, it will make for a good off-season for sure.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 7:24 PM with the headline "What Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said about all the close calls in Sunday’s game."