Dallas Cowboys open Mike McCarthy era with a loss after coach’s questionable decision
With the NFL season starting its season during a global pandemic, the calls around the country for social justice reform and wildfires raging throughout the West Coast, the fact that the Dallas Cowboys opened their season here with a new coach in a dazzling, yet fan-less, palace almost seemed like an afterthought.
And for large parts of the game, the Cowboys seemed to act if it was in their 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at the $5 billion SoFi Stadium.
The team never came up with the big play when it mattered most, and the first game of coach Mike McCarthy’s tenure was marred by a questionable play call that would have tied the game early in the fourth quarter.
Instead, with 11:46 remaining in the game and the Cowboys trailing 20-17, it proved to be a decision by McCarthy that left team owner Jerry Jones and Cowboys fans buck-eyed and gasping. The coach shunned the opportunity to go for a potential game-tying field and went for it on fourth-and-3 from the 11.
Quarterback Dak Prescott (22 of 39, 266 yards, 1 TD) completed a short pass to rookie receiver CeeDee Lamb, who was brought down a yard shy of the first-down marker.
The Cowboys never threatened again.
Before the game, nose tackle Dontari Poe became the first and only Cowboys player ever to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem, while 15 Rams, including 14 in uniform did so on the other side of the field. Jones, who had previously outlawed his players from doing anything that could be perceived as respect of the flag, acquiesced to the will of his team in recent weeks, allowing individual expressions of protest.
McCarthy, the ninth coach in team history, was brought in in early January with the hope that he would usher in a new era and lead Jones’ team back to their first Super Bowl appearance in 25 years.
If there is any solace in the defeat, new Cowboys head coaches are 3-6 in their first game. Sunday’s loss means McCarthy joins Hall of Fame coaching legends Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells.
This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 11:02 PM.
