Jason Garrett’s Dallas Cowboys lose Mike McCarthy’s debut on a bonehead call
The defense was not good, but pin this beauty on Riverboat Mike.
A defense that was supposed to be bad was just that, and the coach who was supposed to solve the problems that his predecessor could not because he got too cute when adorable was not needed.
And you thought dumping Jason Garrett was going to fix the Dallas Cowboys.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones let go of his adopted son, but the on-the-field product, and the results, echo like a Jason Garrett clap session.
In Mike McCarthy’s debut as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday evening in smoky Southern California., absolutely nothing looked different from the Garrett era, including the stadium.
McCarthy went for it when it wasn’t needed, and his decision to go for it on fourth down early in the fourth quarter doomed his team as they would go on to lose to the Rams, 20-17, at SoFi Stadium.
Cowboys coach costed them
The defense gave up 422 yards, but even with this is a game the Cowboys will smack themselves for letting get away.
The Cowboys trailed 20-17 with 11:46 remaining in the fourth quarter, and faced a 4th-and-3 from the Rams’ 11-yard line.
Even though new kicker Greg Zuerlein had missed one previous field goal attempt, he had made another. And this was not even a long kick.
If you don’t trust your kicker to make a 30-yarder, cut him.
Perhaps in an attempt to make a strong first impression with his new, risk-loving boss, McCarthy skipped the field goal for the tie with the idea of taking the lead.
Why?
“I recognized it was a three-point game. I felt it was a huge momentum play for us,” McCarthy said after the game in a Zoom call with the media.
Yes. Yes it was.
Quarterback Dak Prescott’s pass over the middle was caught by rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, but there was just one small problem.
Lamb looked dynamic at times on Sunday, but on this play he looked like a rookie. He cut his route off too short, and he was tackled for a 2-yard gain when he needed one more yard.
“I didn’t see the replay on that,” McCarthy said. “It’s a shallow cross we want to execute better.”
(It’s amazing how they never see the replays of the plays that go south.)
“Unbelievable play. That flipped the whole momentum of the game,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “That was the play of the game.”
Yes. Yes it was.
“I loved the aggressiveness. If we punch it in, it’s a whole different game,” quarterback Dak Prescott said after the game. “We just didn’t capitalize on it.”
Cowboys hard to trust
McCarthy pointed to the “analytics” as his logic to go for the decision. Thanks, computers.
Like any situation these days, you can find some stat that supports your position, or decision.
It is hard not to love the willingness to go for it, and ambition to win.
No computer algorithm can assess the weight, and 25-year history, of these Dallas Cowboys. No one should trust this team.
The Cowboys are not good enough, at this point. There was scant reason to expect they would simply waltz down the field again if they did not tie the game in this spot.
Sunday was their first game of any kind since McCarthy took over. Just take the three.
They didn’t, and although the defense came up with a pair of stops, their offense could not post points in either of their final two possessions.
Dak did complete a 47-yard pass to receiver Michael Gallup with 30 seconds remaining that would have put the ball at the Rams’ 19-yard line. But Gallup was called for offensive pass interference, and that was that.
Although the defense held the Rams to just 20 points, and only seven in the second half, the Rams managed to hold the ball for more than 35 minutes. The Cowboys just couldn’t get their defense off the field.
Add the Cowboys’ offense couldn’t stay on the field as it converted just three of 12 third downs.
There was nothing consistent about their game, thus making McCarthy’s decision to go for on it fourth down and skip the possible tie mystifying, and costly.
Spare me your analytics spreadsheet.
These are the Dallas Cowboys.
The coaches change, yet the results always seem to stay the same.
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
