Mike McCarthy’s boneheaded fourth down decision will ruin Thanksgiving for Cowboys fans

Thanksgiving dinner won’t be the same for Cowboys fans.

Whether or not the Cowboys win on Thursday, Thanksgiving is already ruined due to the polarizing discussions that are sure to take place surrounding Mike McCarthy’s fourth down decision. In a close contest against Washington in the first half, McCarthy opted to go for it on fourth and inches at their own thirty yard-line. Rather than run, say, any play that makes sense, McCarthy had Andy Dalton throw what amounted to an outside fade route to CeeDee Lamb. It did not go in their direction.

The play itself isn’t really of note. Rather, the play-called received the ire of Cowboys fans everywhere, while most NFL fans were given yet another reminder of McCarthy’s less-than-stellar clock management.

The Cowboys are still in the running for the NFC East

Dallas sits at 3-7 on the season, and with a win on Thursday, can at least briefly take the lead in the NFC East until the Eagles play on Sunday night. The division as a whole is putrid, with little to no success from any of these teams when they’re not playing each other.

For the Cowboys, this season went downhill when Dak Prescott tore his knee, ending his campaign in the process. Dalton has performed, well, like Dalton, with severe limitations exposing obvious holes in the Cowboys offense.

These divisional games loom large considering how close together the teams are in the standings. Every mistake, including the one made by McCarthy on a brutal play-call, could come back to haunt Dallas ten-fold.