01/16/22 07:27:00
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01/16 19:25 CST Cowboys no advantage being home with another playoff loss
Cowboys no advantage being home with another playoff loss
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) --- If only the Dallas Cowboys could get a do-over on
this game.
Like they did for the punt that hit the huge video board looming high above the
field. And like they desperately needed to on the final sequence in a 23-17
wild-card loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
Even after getting one more chance, the Cowboys ran out of time.
In the final minute, San Francisco was forced to punt after All-Pro Deebo
Samuel's run initially was ruled to have picked up a first down before a video
review showed he was inches short. Then the 49ers' All-Pro tackle, Trent
Williams, was penalized for not being set on Jimmy Garoppolo's successful sneak
for the first down, and the 49ers instead had to punt.
Dallas got the ball at its 20 with 32 seconds remaining. Dak Prescott completed
three consecutive passes, with the receivers getting out of bounds each time,
and there were 14 seconds left when he ran 17 yards to the 49ers 24. But the
ball never got set for another play before time ran out, even though the
quarterback did spike it.
And the football world will ask why run the ball with so little time and no
timeouts remaining.
The 49ers needed a frantic comeback a week ago to beat the Rams and make the
postseason. Now, they move on, while NFC East champion Dallas goes home yet
again.
So much went wrong for the Cowboys before their comeback fell short. Such as
the pass that whizzed by the head of open receiver Cedrick Wilson, who
apparently never saw the ball looking back into the sun shining through the
huge glass doors on the west end of AT&T Stadium.
These Cowboys are still a long way from where they were the last time they
played San Francisco in the postseason --- in three consecutive NFC
championship games in the mid-1990s. Since winning the Super Bowl at the end of
the 1995 season, when they beat Green Bay in the NFC title game, the Cowboys
haven't made it past the divisional round of the playoffs. They didn't even get
that far this time, in their 11th postseason appearance since those three Super
Bowl titles over a four-season span.
Dallas was down 16-7 in the closing seconds before halftime, and facing
third-and-20 from midfield, when Prescott threw toward Wilson. While it still
would have been short of a first down, a completion would have at least given
Greg Zuerlein the chance to attempt a long field goal.
The Cowboys were fourth-and-20 to start the second half --- after consecutive
false start penalties and a Prescott sack --- when Mark Nzeocha got a personal
foul for roughing the passer.
Six plays later, punter Bryan Anger was back on the field and his towering kick
ricocheted off the bottom of the massive board.
"This is very unusual," reference Alex Kemp said when announcing what happened,
adding that it "amounts to a do-over."
Only that punt got to be redone. Dallas needed more.
After getting the most penalties in the NFL during the regular season, Dallas
tied a season high with 14 in the playoff game. The last came with under two
minutes remaining when defensive end Randy Gregory was penalized for holding on
a running play.
On the Cowboys' second possession of the game, already down 10-0, Prescott hit
CeeDee Lamb for a 32-yard gain into 49ers territory. But that third-down
completion was wiped out by a holding call, and they punted a play later.
Another long completion to Lamb late in the third quarter was erased when he
was penalized for an illegal shift. The Cowboys did recover from that one to
get a 51-yard field goal from Zuerlein and make it 23-10. They got their last
touchdown on a 5-yard scramble by Prescott to capitalize on an interception by
Anthony Brown of a pass by Jimmy Garoppolo.
That was the only turnover forced by the Cowboys, who led the NFL with 34
takeaways in the regular season.
The Cowboys had won their previous three wild-card playoff games, all at AT&T
Stadium since it opened for the 2009 season. They had then gone on the road and
lost divisional round games, the last three years ago.
But things went wrong even before this game began, with Cowboys linebacker
Leighton Vander Esch's name misspelled on the back of his No. 55 jersey when he
came out for pregame warmups. The jersey had the "c" and "s" transposed in his
last name, and he wore it throughout the game.
Another do-over needed.
___
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