Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy affirms that their final play call in their Super Wild Card Round loss remains “the right call.”
Every postseason, there’s inevitably one controversial referee call — or lack thereof — that fans use to blame their team loss. Raiders fans continue to reference an erroneously blown whistle for their loss, while angered Cowboys fans threw trash at their referees as they blamed them for America’s Team running out of time.
It seems that no one on the Cowboys is willing to back down on their decision-making, as Dak Prescott said that the trash-throwing fans “felt the same way as us.” When Mike McCarthy was asked about the game-ending play, he insisted that it was “the right call.”
Mike McCarthy maintains that controversial final call was “the right call”
In his detailed response, McCarthy explained how the team has practiced for this particular “tight clock situation”, which only needs 13 seconds in order to be executed properly. McCarthy referenced other game situations where teams have attempted the same strategy in such situations, such as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings matchup that allowed the Vikings to kick the winning field in overtime.
Because of the sideline defense and the threat of defensive end Arik Armstead, the Cowboys went for a QB draw instead of a quick pass with their limited time. “It was right off the call sheet,” McCarthy said. McCarthy did say that he spoke with Prescott, and the two agreed that in the future, Prescott should run for 10 yards instead of 15 yards.
McCarthy also referenced an Arizona Cardinals play in which wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald handed the ball to the center, then the center handed the ball to the referee to set it.
As far as the Cowboys game, the team ran out of time as the official tried to properly set it, according to NFL referee Alex Kemp.
Even though other NFL teams have been able to execute in this exact same situation, the penalty-ridden Cowboys weren’t able to pull it off — and poor execution can’t be blamed on officiating.