The Dallas Cowboys needed a signature win this season, and coming back down 21-0 to score 24 unanswered points against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles was enough to call this the win they needed. It was far from pretty, however.
Trent Sieg recovered an Eagles muffed punt with the score nodded up at 21-21 late in the fourth quarter, putting the Cowboys in pole position to take the lead. After no luck on the next three plays in a goal-to-go situation, Brian Schottenheimer elected to go for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal.
It was a questionable call with the Cowboys trailing all game long. Why not just send out Brandon Aubrey to take a lead for the first time in the game? Sure enough, Dallas' attempt came up short and it turned the ball over on downs back to the Eagles.
Brian Schottenheimer's questionable late play-calling almost sent the Cowboys into disaster
There's no way to put the awful turnovers on Schottenheimer.
KaVontae Turpin got his number called on a carry and lost the ball running into the leg of his offensive lineman. Dak Prescott made a poor pass selection when the Cowboys were in business inside the red zone, where he threw an awful ball that was intercepted in the end zone. And you can't blame Schotty for CeeDee Lamb's drops and Jadeveon Clowney's offside penalty on a big third down.
But you can bet Schottenheimer's decision-making in a one-score game is going to be critiqued. Unexpectedly, it was the Cowboys' defense stepping up in the second half. Schottenheimer should've trusted his defense and taken the points. And if Schottenheimer was hell-bent on going for it there, just run it four times. Javonte Williams had just gotten the offense down to the one-yard line. Calling three straight passes after that was highly questionable.
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Luckily, Osa Odighizuwa sacked Jalen Hurts to force a fourth down on the ensuing drive and give the Cowboys the football for a final shot to win.
The questionable play-calling lasted until the final seconds. As the Cowboys got closer to field goal range, it seemed like the Eagles were in position to call timeouts to stop the clock on their end. The Cowboys were the ones to use up their timeouts first, but luckily, the Cowboys struck gold, as Prescott connected with George Pickens down the field to eventually set up Aubrey for a game-winning field goal.
Cowboys fans have every reason to appreciate what Schottenheimer has done in his first season. His offense is a relevation relative to Mike McCarthy, and he's established a really strong culture.
However, going for it in that situation was a really close call. Hopefully, Schottenheimer will learn from this experience. What matters at the end of the day is that the Cowboys beat the defending Super Bowl champs and their playoff hopes are still very much intact.