Turtle Dove
2) Jason Garrett is the Cowboys' biggest problem.
It's a fact, Jack.
Yes,
Dak Prescott's staggering lack of awareness on his own goal-line -- leading to a gargantuan strip-sack touchdown for the Commanders -- was dreadful. And yes, the long snapper cannot move the ball on a 47-yard field goal. The call was right; a 5-yard penalty was justified. And yes, of course the ensuing 52-yard kick that doinked the upright would've been good from 47. But the most insulting aspect of this game for
Cowboys faithful came in between those developments.
With the
Commanders holding a 20-17 lead and trying to kill off the clock,
Alex Smith made the baffling decision to run out of bounds, thus allowing the
Cowboys to save their final timeout and get the ball back with over a minute remaining. A gift to Dallas -- a gift that Garrett wasted with extreme conservatism. Per usual.
Just two weeks after Garrett opted for an overtime punt on fourth-and-1 in plus territory -- leading to
a Texans win and
a Jerry Jones second-guessing -- the
Cowboys coach again turtled in crunch time.
With 52 seconds left, Dallas had the ball at the
Commanders' 46-yard line with one timeout remaining. So, how did the 'Boys attack this situation? Two short passes over the middle and a 2-yard draw by
Ezekiel Elliott before the ill-fated deep field goal attempt. Wait,
what? This was disastrous game management. At the very least, when it got to first-and-10 at the Washington 31 -- with the timeout
still in hand -- Dallas should've taken a shot. Tony Romo plainly laid out why it was the no-brainer move from the CBS booth! But no: Garrett went conservative and was flat-out wrong. Again.
Vintage Garrett, dropping the
Cowboys to 3-4. And now Dallas is in panic mode,
sending a first-round pick(!) to Oakland for
Amari Cooper.
he coaches his team to play tie score ball
