Aside from the catch, three things that stick with me

[romothesavior]

The referees really botched that review, no doubt about it. But Dallas had every opportunity to win, and just couldn't get it done. Here are three plays/sequences from yesterday that will haunt me all off-season:

1. The fumble. Murray's fumble was simply backbreaking. He had a chance to bust one for a huge gain, and he coughed it up instead. He was better about the fumbling later in the year, but I never felt comfortable when he had the ball and I had a feeling he might lose one in a critical situation. I would be open to him returning next year at a low price, but he lost a lot of bargaining power in my eyes.

2. The end of the first half. The timeout and the playcalling there were just idiotic. You get a great spot, and you call timeout to let them review it? Then on 3rd and 1, you pass it out of shotgun? We have probably converted 90%+ of our 3rd/4th and 1s this year with a power run, and you don't even present that as an option to the defense? And then to give up points is just inexcusable. It was a 6-10 point swing that wound up being the difference in the game. It makes me sick to my stomach today.

3. The kick return fumble. I can't be too mad at any one player for it, because sometimes things like that just don't bounce your way. But man, if we fall on that, we have a chance to land a huge blow to GB.

I told myself I would be okay with a loss at Lambeau, but the way we lost just makes me sick. I'm proud of the team for how they battled through adversity all year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the squad looks next year. But I'm gonna need a real long time to get over this one. I've never been so deflated by a loss, and that's really saying something with this franchise.

 

[Boyz981]

On 2.... almost every coach in the league would call a timeout in that situation clock running with around 40 seconds left. Plus you got the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

#1, i was prepared for. I actually thought we needed to get ahead on #2 so that when #1 happened, we werent in a hole.

#2...worst coaching all year. You're averaging like 4 ypc and you have 1 yard to get and 2 plays to get it and you friggin end up with 0 points and give the other team better field position. Straight STUPID.

 

[morasp]

Two late and low hits to Romo's legs, no call. Fast forward to Colts Broncos game a low hit to Manning that didn't look late get's called for a personal foul. The refs treat Romo like a running back and the rest of the QBs in the league are treated with silk gloves.

 

[spook930]

On 2.... almost every coach in the league would call a timeout in that situation clock running with around 40 seconds left. Plus you got the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

Yeah, if we had got the timeout back that Jason was lobbing for I bet we would have ran it. He figured we were already in dans range, the 5 yard penalty killed us.

 

[SDCowboy]

#2 pisses me off the most of those. Not going for it on 4th down bothered me even more than the play call on 3rd.

 

[ufcrules1]

Let's not forget on #2, Tony Romo mishandles the snap badly. Demarco was wide open on that play too. Once Romo mishandled that snap, the play was pretty much over. It should have been a running play anyway. I hope Romo didn't audible out of a running play there.

 

[burmafrd]

Let's not forget on #2, Tony Romo mishandles the snap badly. Demarco was wide open on that play too. Once Romo mishandled that snap, the play was pretty much over. It should have been a running play anyway. I hope Romo didn't audible out of a running play there.

actually YOU HOPE he did so you can continue your mindless hate

 

[romothesavior]

Yeah, if we had got the timeout back that Jason was lobbing for I bet we would have ran it. He figured we were already in dans range, the 5 yard penalty killed us.

Didn't we have two timeouts left even after they burnt one? That's plenty of time to run it on 3rd and 1. You run it on third down, and even if you don't get it, you burn some clock or force GB to use a timeout. In all likelihood, we pick it up, call timeout, and have ~25 yards to go with 35 seconds and a timeout. I feel good about that situation.

Plus, a 40+ yarder in the cold off of that crap field is a lot tougher than a 40+ yarder in a dome. Playing for the FG at that range is both risky and weak.

 

[SDCowboy]

Let's not forget on #2, Tony Romo mishandles the snap badly. Demarco was wide open on that play too. Once Romo mishandled that snap, the play was pretty much over. It should have been a running play anyway. I hope Romo didn't audible out of a running play there.

Yet all they had to do was go for it on 4th and more than likely get it. With 40 seconds left, they needed to be thinking TD and not FG anyway.

 

[spook930]

Didn't we have two timeouts left even after they burnt one? That's plenty of time to run it on 3rd and 1. You run it on third down, and even if you don't get it, you burn some clock or force GB to use a timeout. In all likelihood, we pick it up, call timeout, and have ~25 yards to go with 35 seconds and a timeout. I feel good about that situation.

Plus, a 40+ yarder in the cold off of that crap field is a lot tougher than a 40+ yarder in a dome. Playing for the FG at that range is both risky and weak.

Yeah I agree.... We should have ran it.

 

[ufcrules1]

Yet all they had to do was go for it on 4th and more than likely get it. With 40 seconds left, they needed to be thinking TD and not FG anyway.

Yeah, agree we should have but that doesn't negate the mishandling of the football there. We should have ran it on 3rd and 1, and then if we didn't get it, run it again on 4th and 1. I guess they just didn't want to give GB a short field to work with.

 

[LandryFan]

On 2.... almost every coach in the league would call a timeout in that situation clock running with around 40 seconds left. Plus you got the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

I agree with you. A lot of people are saying the time out was idiotic because of the generous spot, but those people had the advantage of seeing the forward progress relative to a superficial yellow line on TV. Garrett doesn't have that. He simply thought the spot was accurate and did what he should have done relative to that.

 

[SDCowboy]

Yeah, agree we should have but that doesn't negate the mishandling of the football there. We should have ran it on 3rd and 1, and then if we didn't get it, run it again on 4th and 1. I guess they just didn't want to give GB a short field to work with.

Well yeah, but that just goes with how horrible the play calling was there. It should have been a run and a run again if it failed. Instead they put us in shotgun on 3rd and then wuss out 4th down when we needed to be going for TD and not a FG regardless. That kind of playcalling typically will not win playoff games. I'll never understand the hyper-conservative playcalling on our offense with the kind of talent we have on it.

 

[LandryFan]

Yeah, if we had got the timeout back that Jason was lobbing for I bet we would have ran it. He figured we were already in dans range, the 5 yard penalty killed us.

The kick was slightly blocked, too. Don't know that he would have made it otherwise, but it was partially blocked.

 

[Staubacher]

#1, i was prepared for. I actually thought we needed to get ahead on #2 so that when #1 happened, we werent in a hole.

#2...worst coaching all year. You're averaging like 4 ypc and you have 1 yard to get and 2 plays to get it and you friggin end up with 0 points and give the other team better field position. Straight STUPID.

Also have the most accurate kicker in history. His miss caused the six point swing. Not on coaching

 

[Everson24]

The referees really botched that review, no doubt about it. But Dallas had every opportunity to win, and just couldn't get it done. Here are three plays/sequences from yesterday that will haunt me all off-season:

1. The fumble. Murray's fumble was simply backbreaking. He had a chance to bust one for a huge gain, and he coughed it up instead. He was better about the fumbling later in the year, but I never felt comfortable when he had the ball and I had a feeling he might lose one in a critical situation. I would be open to him returning next year at a low price, but he lost a lot of bargaining power in my eyes.

2. The end of the first half. The timeout and the playcalling there were just idiotic. You get a great spot, and you call timeout to let them review it? Then on 3rd and 1, you pass it out of shotgun? We have probably converted 90%+ of our 3rd/4th and 1s this year with a power run, and you don't even present that as an option to the defense? And then to give up points is just inexcusable. It was a 6-10 point swing that wound up being the difference in the game. It makes me sick to my stomach today.

3. The kick return fumble. I can't be too mad at any one player for it, because sometimes things like that just don't bounce your way. But man, if we fall on that, we have a chance to land a huge blow to GB.

I told myself I would be okay with a loss at Lambeau, but the way we lost just makes me sick. I'm proud of the team for how they battled through adversity all year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the squad looks next year. But I'm gonna need a real long time to get over this one. I've never been so deflated by a loss, and that's really saying something with this franchise.

Those same things are still sticking with me. We very likely should/could have been up 38-7 if we score a TD after the kick-off fumbe recovery. At worse we should have been up 38-14 at that point and that is assuming a length of the field drive by GB after Murray's second TD. Oh what could have been.

 

[SDCowboy]

Also have the most accurate kicker in history. His miss caused the six point swing. Not on coaching

It's on coaching when we shouldn't have been kicking a FG there.

 

[Stash]

The referees really botched that review, no doubt about it. But Dallas had every opportunity to win, and just couldn't get it done. Here are three plays/sequences from yesterday that will haunt me all off-season:

1. The fumble. Murray's fumble was simply backbreaking. He had a chance to bust one for a huge gain, and he coughed it up instead. He was better about the fumbling later in the year, but I never felt comfortable when he had the ball and I had a feeling he might lose one in a critical situation. I would be open to him returning next year at a low price, but he lost a lot of bargaining power in my eyes.

Yeah, that was huge. If he held onto the ball, it's possible he scores. I was waiting and waiting for that big run to open up, and when it did, Murray fumbled. I believe that was his last mistake as a Cowboy.

2. The end of the first half. The timeout and the playcalling there were just idiotic. You get a great spot, and you call timeout to let them review it? Then on 3rd and 1, you pass it out of shotgun? We have probably converted 90%+ of our 3rd/4th and 1s this year with a power run, and you don't even present that as an option to the defense? And then to give up points is just inexcusable. It was a 6-10 point swing that wound up being the difference in the game. It makes me sick to my stomach today.

Completely agree. The Cowboys had all momentum in their favor and were in total control of the game. It should have been a 21-7 dagger before halftime and they screwed up the opportunity. Both game management and play-calling gaffes once again reared their ugly heads. At the worst possible time.

Despite a great year, this team and coaches need to go back and review how they're handling playcalling, tendencies, and short yardage.

3. The kick return fumble. I can't be too mad at any one player for it, because sometimes things like that just don't bounce your way. But man, if we fall on that, we have a chance to land a huge blow to GB.

Yesterday, it seemed like nothing 'bounced our way'. Every play that could have gone either way went the Packers' way. Right up to that farce at the end.

I told myself I would be okay with a loss at Lambeau, but the way we lost just makes me sick. I'm proud of the team for how they battled through adversity all year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the squad looks next year. But I'm gonna need a real long time to get over this one. I've never been so deflated by a loss, and that's really saying something with this franchise.

I could have accepted a loss, but that's not what this was. This was something far worse.

 

[visionary]

The referees really botched that review, no doubt about it. But Dallas had every opportunity to win, and just couldn't get it done. Here are three plays/sequences from yesterday that will haunt me all off-season:

1. The fumble. Murray's fumble was simply backbreaking. He had a chance to bust one for a huge gain, and he coughed it up instead. He was better about the fumbling later in the year, but I never felt comfortable when he had the ball and I had a feeling he might lose one in a critical situation. I would be open to him returning next year at a low price, but he lost a lot of bargaining power in my eyes.

2. The end of the first half. The timeout and the playcalling there were just idiotic. You get a great spot, and you call timeout to let them review it? Then on 3rd and 1, you pass it out of shotgun? We have probably converted 90%+ of our 3rd/4th and 1s this year with a power run, and you don't even present that as an option to the defense? And then to give up points is just inexcusable. It was a 6-10 point swing that wound up being the difference in the game. It makes me sick to my stomach today.

3. The kick return fumble. I can't be too mad at any one player for it, because sometimes things like that just don't bounce your way. But man, if we fall on that, we have a chance to land a huge blow to GB.

I told myself I would be okay with a loss at Lambeau, but the way we lost just makes me sick. I'm proud of the team for how they battled through adversity all year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the squad looks next year. But I'm gonna need a real long time to get over this one. I've never been so deflated by a loss, and that's really saying something with this franchise.

I agree with you on all 3 points and will add 1

I know romo played well but he still wants to play the hero

On 4th and 2 with 4+ min to go on their 40 you don't put the season on the line by going for it deep down the sideline, you get the first down. As good as that throw was, that was a bad bad decision on the part of romo

As well as their offense had been playing in the second half you knew it was unlikely we get the ball back