Three reasons why the Dallas Cowboys 2018 season derailed

Fortune favors the bold

Two of the three losses the Dallas Cowboys incurred prior to the bye were by three points. In both of those games, the Cowboys had opportunities to either win or tie in their final position.

Against the Houston Texans, Dallas was on the Texans 42-line yard, facing a third and 1. The Cowboys were stopped after gaining no yards. At that point, head coach Jason Garrett had three options.

1. Go for it again, be it with running back Ezekiel Elliott or quarterback Dak Prescott on the ground or an incredibly bold pass play.
2. Kick a 59-yard field goal with Brett Maher (in 2018, he had makes from 50 (three times), 55, 59 & 62 as well as two game winners).
3. Punt.

Of course, Garrett chose door number three. Dallas punted, never got the ball back and lost 19-16.

Two weeks later, down three with 1:09 left and a timeout, the Cowboys had the ball with a chance to tie or win.

After crossing into Washington territory, with 52 seconds on the clock Prescott completed a nine-yard pass to receiver Cole Beasley then proceeded to not run another play until there was 28 seconds left on the clock.

There was no spike after the completion. There was no call from the bench for a timeout either. This completion put Dallas at Washington’s 37-yard line. It was almost as if Garrett was fine with trying to tie the game with a 54-yard attempt.

Dallas was able to gain a few extra yards to shorten the try to 52 yards, which was missed, giving the Cowboys their second three-point loss in three weeks.

Thankfully, the Cowboys were able to overcome these unnecessary losses, but in a 16-game schedule, two unnecessary losses is almost certain doom.