Three reasons the Cowboys lost that haven't had as much press

[ABQCOWBOY]

I know a loss is like the one yesterday is an accumulation of mistakes and bad plays, however, these three bothered me A LOT:

• Tyron Smith's holding call was an absolutely bone-heading play that didn't need to happen -- these guys have to keep their wits and understand the situation
• Scandrick getting burned by a journeyman WR like Durham in the last minute for the most critical play of that drive
• The defensive line just standing around on the 1 yard line when Stafford lunged for the winning TD. He is quote from PFT on the play "But in the split-second before Lions center Dominic Raiola snapped him the ball, Stafford noticed that the Cowboys’ defensive linemen weren’t getting down into their stances. That made Stafford think if he just lunged forward, he could stick the ball over the goal line before the Cowboys realized it had happened."

I agree on the hold. That was very costly.

Scandrick, I don't really agree on so much. That pass was perfect. Scandrick could not have made a play on that ball because of the positioning of the throw. The Safety was late getting over so if you want to say that the Safety should have reacted more quickly, then OK, I can probably get behind that a bit more but honestly, that was just a perfect execution by the QB and the WR IMO. Much more critical of the pass to Megatron. He should have been doubled up. We should have made somebody else beat us.

The last, well, I agree we should have been more on top of our game right there.

 

[visionary]

I saw that one coming. I don't know how the Cowboys DL were not aware in that situation.

same here
i was yelling at the TV that staffrod was not going to clock it

 

[Staubacher]

Ya this team is just dumb. Perfect example.

The team imploded at the end. On the field and the sideline.

Why is Garrett the only one getting a complete pass in the media? Why didn't he control Dez or call timeouts to set the defense or gather his players when running out the clock?

The dumb rolls up to him. This is his roster.

 

[Dallyjake]

i agree...i think we all have a tendency to go with the last play we remember and blame it all on that. in this instance either the long pass down the sideline or the holding penalty...but i really think the PI call was huge b/c they were down 10 at the time and that gave them a ton of free yards. at the very least even if they eventually scored on that drive without the penalty it would have used up more clock time.

These are the kinds of calls that ALWAYS seem to go against Dallas. This crew picks up a flag on Det in 1st half for the same exact incident. Why didnt the officials get together and pick up that flag as well? The answer is JERRY!

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I'm actually more annoyed about the ridiculous PI call that moved the Lions all the way down the field than about any of those things.

Yeah, that is hard to understand. How you call that call on us and reverse that exact same call on them earlier in the game. That was terrible.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

I think there were 3 plays that did us in:

1> The throw away by Romo- should have just ran it and slid, would have forced them to take a timeout or burned a lot of clock. Big mistake by Romo there.
2> The PI call on Scandrick,, that was a farce. Same exact situation earlier in the game that the flag got picked up on. Someone needs to send that the league and ask why it wasn't picked up like it was earlier.
3> The Hold, bone head play by our LT. Don't know if it was because the runner bounced it and the DL reacted to that movement which caught him off guard or what but a stupid stupid play. If I am not mistaken, that was the only holding called all game on either side, I don't remember another one, what a strange time to call a hold for the first time of the game.

Any one of those 3 plays don't happen and we likely win that game. Football, enough to drive you crazy.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

what lost this game for us was a stupid coach who decides to put the outcome of the game on a decimated defense that had shown absolutely nothing in terms of being able to stop the Lions. Garrett, for what ever reason thinks we are the Chiefs, who can be conservative on offense and let the defense win the game.

With such a beat up defense, Garrett needs to be attacking on every single possession and trying to score as many points as possible, so as to not have to put the defense in a situation where they have to make a stop, a stop that is near impossible, to win the game. Blame the penalties, the refs, or whatever you want, but the fault for this debacle falls on the stupidity of the head coach.

 

[honyock]

Anyone have a gif or a link to a shot of that actual penalty? I was so incredulous at the time, and Fox's coverage of the game-turning play so bad, that I didn't even see an isolation of it. How legitimate was the hold? Blatant? Obvious? Sufficient? Ticky-tacky?

I don't have a gif or a shot of it, but we rewatched it at the time and it was a pretty obvious hold. It didn't look to me like a ticky-tack call. Smith had turned his man out and grabbed him pretty good. Smith was turned away from the line, towards the sideline, so it didn't look like he ever saw Tanner bounce it outside, so that didn't affect his blocking. I haven't rewatched to see if his man reacted to the bounce-outside and pulled away to make the hold more obvious. But as painful as it was, it was an obvious call.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Actually one thing no one has discussed is the last Cowboys play-----desperate hook & lateral which is usually used when you're void of any other option. I believe they were at their 33 yard line with 12 seconds left and TWO timeouts. A 15-20 yard sideline or even slant with Dez, Williams, Harris or anyone with two hands would have been better------call a timeout immediately, and then go for a 60-65 yard field goal with a hot kicker who is booming FGs. I would put my money on that instead of a play you probably have never practiced or used since being HC.

I said the same thing, .. the ball ended up in an OLineman's hands, .. dumb.

Like you said, at least throw it downfield, .. we had the timeout. Maybe the odds are against it, but you never know.

The last play was stupid, .. did we run it to the short side of the field?

 

[Dodger12]

Anyone have a gif or a link to a shot of that actual penalty? I was so incredulous at the time, and Fox's coverage of the game-turning play so bad, that I didn't even see an isolation of it. How legitimate was the hold? Blatant? Obvious? Sufficient? Ticky-tacky?

It was blatant and hard to argue with the call because it was that obvious. Smith had two fistfulls of jersey. The D-lineman did a good job of flopping but, unfortunately, it was a blatant hold.

 

[honyock]

It was blatant and hard to argue with the call because it was that obvious. Smith had two fi****lls of jersey. The D-lineman did a good job of flopping but, unfortunately, it was a blatant hold.

I just rewatched it again. Actually, it looked like the hold was what allowed Tanner to bounce outside and gain nine yards. Smith had his jersey, but when Tanner shifted from a run up the middle and tried to bounce the play outside Smith and his man, that was when the hold looked much more blatant and Smith's guy did his flop. Without the hold, Tanner possibly never gains that nine yards, which changed a possible field goal from a 52-53 yard attempt to a 44 yarder. So again, as painful as it was, it was right for the ref to call that, it was a potential field position/game changing play caused by the hold.

 

[Dodger12]

I just rewatched it again. Actually, it looked like the hold was what allowed Tanner to bounce outside and gain nine yards. Smith had his jersey, but when Tanner shifted from a run up the middle and tried to bounce the play outside Smith and his man, that was when the hold looked much more blatant and Smith's guy did his flop. Without the hold, Tanner possibly never gains that nine yards, which changed a possible field goal from a 52-53 yard attempt to a 44 yarder. So again, as painful as it was, it was right for the ref to call that, it was a potential field position/game changing play caused by the hold.

Good point on the hold allowing Tanner to bounce outside and gain the extra yards. It would have been an interesting decision if Tanner was tackled at the LoS to either punt or attempt a long FG. I'm guessing the extra yardage made JG's decision to kick a FG easier.

 

[hairic]

Actually, one DL played a proper goal line technique, and it was Nick Hayden.

That knee on the ground past the LOS and the RG being pushed back is from Hayden:

 

[Mr Cowboy]

If I remember correctly, on the series prior to the game winning one, Scandrick dropped an interception deep in Lions territory. If he catches it, it could have been a pick six, or at the very least we have the ball deep in Lions territory.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Good point on the hold allowing Tanner to bounce outside and gain the extra yards. It would have been an interesting decision if Tanner was tackled at the LoS to either punt or attempt a long FG. I'm guessing the extra yardage made JG's decision to kick a FG easier.

That FG was good by about 15 yards or better. Not saying he would have made it had Smith not held but I'm certain that Bailey would have had the distance, even had we made nothing on the play, easily.

 

[CowboyGil]

Stafford's own guys didn't know he was going to do what he did. He's yelling "clock! Clock! Clock!" the whole time. Anyone who says they saw that coming is, putting it nicely, NostraDamus like in their vision of the future.

 

[Idgit]

I don't have a gif or a shot of it, but we rewatched it at the time and it was a pretty obvious hold. It didn't look to me like a ticky-tack call. Smith had turned his man out and grabbed him pretty good. Smith was turned away from the line, towards the sideline, so it didn't look like he ever saw Tanner bounce it outside, so that didn't affect his blocking. I haven't rewatched to see if his man reacted to the bounce-outside and pulled away to make the hold more obvious. But as painful as it was, it was an obvious call.

It was blatant and hard to argue with the call because it was that obvious. Smith had two fi****lls of jersey. The D-lineman did a good job of flopping but, unfortunately, it was a blatant hold.

I just rewatched it again. Actually, it looked like the hold was what allowed Tanner to bounce outside and gain nine yards. Smith had his jersey, but when Tanner shifted from a run up the middle and tried to bounce the play outside Smith and his man, that was when the hold looked much more blatant and Smith's guy did his flop. Without the hold, Tanner possibly never gains that nine yards, which changed a possible field goal from a 52-53 yard attempt to a 44 yarder. So again, as painful as it was, it was right for the ref to call that, it was a potential field position/game changing play caused by the hold.

Thanks, guys. I figured it was pretty legit, since nobody was talking about it. Just a mind-numbingly bad mental error there.

 

[Dodger12]

That FG was good by about 15 yards or better. Not saying he would have made it had Smith not held but I'm certain that Bailey would have had the distance, even had we made nothing on the play, easily.

But if you miss it you give them great field position with 30 seconds left and only needing a FG to tie (if the penalty hadn't happened). The safer bet would have been to punt the ball and make them go 50 yards in a minimum amount of time with no time outs.....

 

[Rick_Deckard]

The last play was stupid, .. did we run it to the short side of the field?

I don't think it would have made any difference in the outcome, but what a lot of people seem to have missed is that prior to the last play, Tony was calling Dez over to him to discuss what they were going to do. Dez was ranting and refused to come over to Tony. That is what made Witten hot. Witten was pointing to the scoreboard telling Dez that there was still time and he needed to get his head back into the game. I'm sure Dez's decision to throw a temper tantrum instead of getting involved in the game plan impacted that play call - not that it would have made a difference.

 

[honyock]

That FG was good by about 15 yards or better. Not saying he would have made it had Smith not held but I'm certain that Bailey would have had the distance, even had we made nothing on the play, easily.

Yes, but the game situation would have been completely different in that case. If the play is stopped at the LOS and there is no holding called, the game clock would run down to less than 30 seconds before we snap it. If we decide to kick a 53 yard field goal and miss, the Lions get the ball at their 43 with probably a little more than 20 seconds left. They are 20 yards from field goal range to tie. That's one pass and a spike away, or a couple of sideline passes away. In that scenario, I don't think Garrett risks the field goal. I'd bet he would have punted and put them much further away from the tying field goal.