The Dallas Cowboys season has come to an end, in what was an absolute dumpster fire of a game, with a 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was completely outcoached and it looked like his team was unprepared to play.
The Cowboys continued to commit stupid penalty after stupid penalty and in no way did they deserve to win this football game. There needs to be an overhaul either within the coaching staff or players to change the culture in Dallas. Too often they play poorly in big games and it continues to show up year after year.
In what was a terrible performance, the Cowboys committed plenty of mistakes. Here are the 3 key mistakes that effectively ended their season.
3. Feeding Ezekiel Elliott Over Tony Pollard
The Cowboys have struggled to run the ball consistently for months now, yet they continue to turn around and hand it to Ezekiel Elliott. It came out after the game that Elliott was playing with a partially torn PCL. If that was indeed the case, why would the Cowboys keep playing him over Tony Pollard?
It does not make any sense to give Elliott 12 carries and Pollard only four. Pollard is much more explosive with the ball and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had to do a better job of getting the ball to Pollard in space.
Maybe Pollard was still hindered from the foot injury that kept him out of Week 18, but he was a full participant in practice and should have been more involved in the offense. Pollard finished the game with 6 touches (4 rushes, 2 receptions) for 26 yards. While Zeke had 13 touches for 31 yards.
Cowboys RB Tony Pollard (foot) was healthy enough Sunday to reprise KR role. And yet, when playing 25 of 72 off. snaps, Pollard saw only 6 touches. Cowboys admitted to missing mark with Pollard’s usage after 6 touches in Jan. 2 loss to Cardinals. They missed again in biggest game
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) January 17, 2022
It was just another example of coaching malpractice in this game that Pollard was not more involved. Elliott is a great pass-blocker, but when it comes to touches he should have been behind Pollard in that category.
2. Pre-Snap Penalties Haunt The Cowboys
The Cowboys played with such little discipline on Sunday, and it was a big reason why they lost. You cannot commit 14 penalties and expect to win.
The ones that hurt the most are the dumb pre-snap penalties. The Cowboys had seven pre-snap penalties including three neutral-zone infractions, two false starts, a delay of game, and an illegal shift. I have never seen a team with more mental mistakes in such a big game.
The 14 penalties I previously mentioned tied the most ever for a Cowboys team in a playoff game. But, it should not be surprising the Cowboys got penalized so much as they led the NFL in penalties committed this season.
Here is another example of how brutal of a showing this was by Dallas,
There have been 276 games counting playoffs this NFL season. Only four teams were assessed 14 penalties in a game, including the Cowboys twice.
— Rick Gosselin (@RickGosselin9) January 17, 2022
The Cowboys’ sloppy play was why they led the league in penalties. But, to me, there is no excuse for pre-snap penalties other than being undisciplined. The defensive line kept trying to jump the snap on Sunday and instead they jumped offside.
But, the dumbest penalty of the game was probably after the Cowboys’ successful fake punt. McCarthy decided to leave the special teams unit on the field to try and get the 49ers to waste a timeout.
The level of incompetence after the Cowboys fake punt is so hard to sit with.
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 17, 2022
Dak doesn't even have his helmet on with 14 seconds before the ball has to be snapped.
In Mike McCarthy's perfect world what was about to happen here? There was no plan. Just time wasting. pic.twitter.com/16fNU7pa6F
It was a total disaster. The Cowboys actually considered running a play with their long-snapper at center, and linebackers at offensive tackles. What on earth was going on?! The most pre-snap motion we saw all game was by punter Bryan Anger and whatever he was doing on this play.
Once again, this was coaching ignorance, and it led to a Cowboys delay of game penalty. I could not be more disappointed in this showing from the Cowboys. They did not even show up for this game. The fact that they even had a chance at the given all the penalties was incredible.
1. The Awful 14-Second Draw Play
I just do not get it. With 14 seconds left and zero timeouts from the 49ers’ 41 yard-line, the Cowboys decide to run a draw play. At that point in the game, the Cowboys were lucky even to have a chance to win at the end. They proceeded to kill any and all hope with this egregious play call.
They could have taken two shots from the 41-yard line to the endzone with 14 seconds. But, to get no shots at the endzone is despicable. The Cowboys did not execute all game, so to think that draw-play would be done to perfection is a joke.
McCarthy had this to say about the play postgame,
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1482904464256376834?s=20
McCarthy says that was the “best option,” but that just cannot be the case. The best option would be to throw the ball to the endzone. At that point in the game, for better or worse, the ball has to be thrown to the endzone to give your team a chance to tie it.
Overall, this was a terrible game for the Cowboys and everyone involved. The front office needs to take a serious look at this coaching staff this offseason and find a way to maximize the potential of their loaded roster next year. To be unable to execute with this level of talent is simply unacceptable.
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