Nantz raised this during the game and it caught my eye too, but a Pats beat writer summarized it well:
“Mysteriously bad clock management by Dallas at the end of the first half. With the clock ticking down, the Cowboys used their final timeout just before Mac Jones knelt on third down. Had they waited till he knelt and then called timeout, they'd have forced New England, deep in their own end and without any timeouts of their own, to punt. Instead, the Patriots went into halftime with a 14-10 lead. The Cowboys cost themselves a chance at one last possession by doing this.”
I’ve never seen a coach consistently look more flustered and lost than McCarthy with game management; 1) to not understand the game situation and opportunity to give your team another shot with the ball; 2) to finally recognize the situation (late) and call a timeout, but at the wrong moment (i.e., called TO before he knelt).
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