Should Cowboys have gone for it on 4th down in OT rather than trust a tired defense?

Logically, the decision was seemingly sound.

A feisty Dallas Cowboys defense had not only been up to the task but had kept the offense in the game all night.

It didn’t break down following two interceptions. And after an initial touchdown, limited the Houston Texans to three field goals in four trips inside the 10-yard line over the final three quarters, including a goal-line stand at the end of the first half.

But in overtime, the defense gave up 49-yard tackle breaking reception to DeAndre Hopkins from quarterback Deshaun Watkins that set up a game-winning field goal in the 19-16 loss.

The biggest post-game question was the Cowboys decision to punt on 4th and 1 at the Texans’ 42 on the first drive of overtime after failing on 3rd and 1 with an Ezekiel Elliott run for no gain.

With so much invested in Elliott, the offensive line and the running game should they have gone for it and tried to win on offense rather than play it conservative and punt back to Texans and trust a tired defense to bail them out again?

Asked about the decision to punt, owner Jerry Jones said seemingly second-guessed Garrett. He that’s a time for risk taking because the Cowboys had been outplayed for much of the game and had hoped to sneak out with a win.

Receiver Cole Beasley and quarterback Dak Prescott certainly wanted to go for it but coach Jason Garrett didn’t waiver in his decision.

“I would but in that case you don’t question the coach’s decision,” Prescott said when asked if he wanted to go for it. “Defense had been playing good all night. Kept us in the game, a bunch of the game. I mean from the second quarter and then in the 4th quarter they gave us chances all day long. So I mean, coach made the decision to go with the defense.”

Garrett said gave the Hopkins and the Texans credit for making a play to win the game.

But he said he wasn’t second guessing his decision to punt.

“It was a long one,” Garrett said. “We had a third-and-two and we didn’t make much. We felt like at that point in the game with the way our defense was playing, the idea was to pin them down there. (Punter) Chris Jones did a great job with the punt. They got the ball on the 10-yard line and hopefully make a stop and win the game coming back the other way with a game-winning field goal.”

Because the Cowboys failed to score a touchdown in their first possession, all the Texans needed was a field goal of their own to win game.

They got it thanks to a 36-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in overtime.

All because Garrett didn’t go for it on 4th-and-1 Sunday. He had a similar decision last week and help spark a 26-24 victory against the Detroit Lions by doing the opposite and going for it.

He said then, “When you have a belief in the guys up front and you can hand the ball to (No.) 21 (Elliott) and you feel good about that, that’s really where the decision-making process starts.”

Clearly, he didn’t have the same belief in Elliott and the guys up front as he did last week.