4 plays that shaped the Cowboys’ season-ending loss to 49ers

Just like that, the Dallas Cowboys’ season is over.

Twelve wins in the regular season and one playoff win to show for it after their 19-12 loss to the 49ers Sunday night. The defeat marked the Cowboys 12th straight postseason appearance that they failed to reach Conference Championship Weekend, via ESPN’s Field Yates.

It also extends their own record for the longest streak in NFL history, and they’ve now gone 27 seasons in total without reaching the NFC Title Game. The jokes are coming in droves on Twitter, and there’s nothing we can do about them. They’re justified after another Cowboys playoff shortcoming.

You can point to about 10 plays that led to the Cowboys falling short against the 49ers — Tony Pollard’s ankle injury was devastating for the offense — but these four in particular stick out like a sore thumb.

4 plays that shaped the Cowboys’ playoff loss to the 49ers

4. Dak Prescott misses wide-open TY Hilton

This isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but man could it have altered the trajectory of the game had it gone differently.

On a key third down in the second half, Prescott had tunnel vision for CeeDee Lamb, who turned in a game to remember and hauled in an impossible catch while being held minutes earlier, and targeted No. 88 despite the fact he was blanketed by Fred Warner. Prescott nearly threaded the needle, but Lamb didn’t have nearly enough wiggle room to make the play.

Perhaps it was the 49ers pressure that sped up Prescott’s internal clock, because he had TY Hilton uncovered up the seam for a potential touchdown. At the very least, Hilton makes the grab and the Cowboys have 1st and goal.

Prescott was under siege on the play, and didn’t have time to turn back to Hilton. However, it’s pretty clear the QB had tunnel vision for his go-to receiver. Had Dak seen the entire field after taking the snap, he hits Hilton in stride for a touchdown.

3. Donovan Wilson holding penalty on George Kittle

The 49ers’ 10-play, 91-yard touchdown drive was the story of the game. Much like last season’s playoff loss to San Francisco, Dallas’ second half penalties came home to roost. On this drive alone, they committed three infractions. None was bigger than Wilson’s hold on George Kittle on 3rd and 8.

The pass rush got home in the form of DeMarcus Lawrence. Brock Prudy didn’t have enough time to locate Kittle up the seem. Beaten on the route, Wilson bear-hugged the Niners’ tight end and the drive continued.

Ipso facto, a colossal defensive stand quickly  morphed into a back-breaking rushing score from Christian McCaffrey. The touchdown extended the 49ers’ lead to 16-9 and that was more than enough to get the job done with Dallas’ struggling to muster anything resembling a rhythm on offense.

Wilson was a rock all year for Dan Quinn, but he had a lapse in judgment and it cost the Cowboys dearly with their season on the line.

2. Dak Prescott interception before halftime

There’s nothing we can say to defend Dak after that performance. Folks will question whether he’s the right guy for the job, but most of the discourse will center on his inability to win the big game, and understandably so.

Was Prescott flawless against the Buccaneers? Without a doubt. It was the best performance of his career given what was on the line in terms of his career narrative, but he did nothing to accelerate it Sunday night … and beating an 8-9 team on Wild Card Weekend isn’t that big of an achievement, for what it’s worth.

In a vacuum, Prescott’s interception before halftime was as deflating as it was indefensible. The Cowboys were on the verge of scoring before the break, and Prescott needlessly tried fighting a pass into a tight window and got picked off.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1617324562596900864

A quarterback with Prescott’s experience has to know better. A turnover is the worst-case scenario in that situation: a tie game late in the first half when your team receives the second half kickoff. In a perfect world, Dak leads the offense to a touchdown or a field goal, and Dallas enters the break in front.

Thanks to the pick, the Cowboys squandered all of their momentum, and San Francisco took a 9-6 lead with a Robbie Gould field goal.

1. Awful Trevon Diggs sequence

We have nothing negative to say about Diggs’ coverage. He was hardly heard from Sunday night, just days after locking down Mike Evans. That said, he blew two opportunities to turn this game in the Cowboys favor on the same drive in the third quarter.

The first came on George Kittle’s bobbled catch. Kittle juggled Brock Purdy’s slightly errant pass multiple times before coming down with it. As he bobbled it, Diggs mistimed his tackle and flew right past Kittle, who knew nothing about the oncoming Cowboys defender.

If Diggs even makes contact with Kittle — not even a clean hit — odds are the 49ers tight end drops the ball. Thanks to another lame-duck tackling effort from Diggs (his third or fourth of these playoffs alone), though, Kittle completed the catch and the 49ers picked up a huge 30 yards in the process.

Later in the drive, Diggs flat-out dropped an interception. It wasn’t a tailor made pick — Anthony Barr tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage– but you expect a corner with Diggs’ ball skills to make the play 10 times out of 10. The 49ers scored a touchdown to extend their lead to 16-9 a few plays later.

At the end of the day, Diggs had two chances to make a game-changing play for his team, and he came up small in both circumstances. None was bigger than the dropped interception, though both plays were bad looks for the cornerback, who ultimately had a playoffs to forget.

Honorable mention: KaVontae Turpin’s long return that should’ve went for a touchdown. Turpin welcomed contact around midfield instead of bouncing outside, where he could’e went untouched into the end zone.

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