When the Cowboys’ promising overtime opening drive stalled at the Green Bay 35, head coach Mike McCarthy had a number of options. First, keep the offense on the field and dial up the best three-yard play possible against a stout Packers defense. Second, send in Brett Maher to attempt a 53-yard field goal into the wind and cold of Lambeau Field.
Maher’s longest of the year was a 54-yarder against the Cincinnati Bengals in the safe confines of AT&T Stadium.
For better or worse, McCarthy chose to keep the offense on the field and called a short pass meant for Tony Pollard. The Dallas offensive line couldn’t contain the pocket long enough for Pollard to get into position, and with a Packers defender dragging the QB to the ground, a desperation toss bounced on the turf.
Five plays later, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense moved the ball well into Cowboys territory for a game-winning chip shot field goal.
“We were right on the line for the field goal,” McCarthy said postgame. “Hey, to be honest with you, I felt we needed to go for it. I mean I called it on second down, especially with the way the game was going. Big play, penalty. Big play, penalty. Big play, penalty. So our thing was just keep playing. We had good calls. I’m fine with the decision obviously on fourth-and-3. Just didn’t convert.”
The penalties on the final drive were certainly a problem and one that has plagued this organization in recent seasons. In 2021, the Cowboys were the NFL’s most penalized team but have largely cleaned up many of the mental miscues and sloppy line play that cost the team last year.
On the overtime drive, Jalen Tolbert was flagged for lining up in the neutral zone, an inexcusable penalty since receivers automatically check in with the side judge before the snap. Tolbert says that the side judge told him to scoot up to the line before flagging him, but it should have been obvious to the player that he was too far forward well ahead of the snap.
The second penalty was a Connor McGovern holding call that erased a 16-yard run for a first down by Malik Hooker. Again, controversy swirled around the penalty. McGovern argued that the contact was incidental and that he did not change the direction of the Packers’ defender, a point that is backed up with replay which isn’t available in-game.
Prescott got most of the yards back before an incomplete pass on third down to CeeDee Lamb, a play that stirred even more controversy. Replay shows Packers defender Jaire Alexander make contact with Lamb well before the ball arrives and he clearly disrupts Lamb from making the catch, but the referee crew chose to allow play to continue, setting up the ill-fated fourth down try.
“Every one of us was fighting hard today,” Lamb said. “But I feel like your confidence kind of gets negated every time the refs get involved, and then putting ourselves in bad situations and trying to dig ourselves out of it.”
Prescott said that the penalties and the failure to convert on fourth down were disappointments for a team that hoped to deliver their head coach his first victory against his former team. This was a let-down that the team will need to quickly forget before heading to Minnesota this weekend.
“Obviously we wanted to get it for Mike,” Prescott said. “And it sucks we didn’t. That’s that. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. There’s nothing else to add on. We wanted to get it to Mike, but more importantly, we wanted to lay another brick on where we’re going and we didn’t do that. So we’re going to stick together and find a way to make this team better moving forward.”
