Why does Dallas lose at the end?

[LittleBoyBlue]

In most cases, like yesterday, it is piss poor clock management laying the blame on the head coach.

That.... And....

Giving up 24 points in 4th quarter.

 

[morasp]

2nd to last possession was just awful and Dallas gave Detroit another possession by not forcing them to use their timeouts.

The team passed on first down and drew a penalty. Following 1st and 2nd down they lost yardage on runs, basically giving up on trying to get the 1st down to seal the game.

On 3rd down instead of running and forcing Detroit to use their 2nd timeout they pass and it's a lousy throw away at that. Not even an attempt at getting yardage. Had Detroit been forced to use a timeout at that point in the game, Detroit doesn't have the timeouts to stop the clock on the possession that Tyron was flagged. They have one and can stop it after a kneel down but that's it. Game is over. No penalty, just 3 kneel downs and the game is over.

The 3rd down call was horrid after back to back runs that lost yardage. If you're going to try for the first down don't call back to back runs when you can't run the ball. They ran the ball which is what you would do to kill the clock. Then for some random reason they gave Detroit a free timeout by calling a pass play.

I have no problem if you decide to try and ice the game but if you do that, you don't do it half-heartedly and run. Maybe once to keep the clock moving but at 2nd and 11, you have to pass if your intent is to get a 1st down. Once you're at 3rd and 12 or whatever it was, you've already committed to killing the clock. The odds of converting a long 3rd down aren't great to begin with and Dallas wasn't really converting 3rd downs at all.

The offensive coaching staff and players did a horrid job on the last two possessions of the game. Not only did they give Detroit a free possession all together by not forcing a timeout on the previous possession, they gave Detroit a world of time to work with.

They had no plan and no idea of what they wanted to do. Somehow, getting a first down on the 2nd to last possession was the goal on the first 1st down, but not on the second 1st down or following 2nd down. Then they went back to trying to get the first down on 3rd and long


Broaddus has an article about it and I'm glad he wrote it. It was painfully obvious how botched the situation was and someone needed to bring it up.

Broaddus mentioned it on talking cowboys too. It seemed like they didn't think far enough ahead on the second to last possession.

 

[Cmac]

Easy.....Coaching that doesn't appear to be getting better.

 

[OhSnap]

Year after year the Boys lose games in the final minutes.Why is this?

This team hasn't had a good secondary in several years and just keeps on facing QB's that can throw. Add a piss poor pass rush and you can't stop anyone at the end of the game.

 

[fifaguy]

Been wondering this same thing... all I can say is that it's bizarre. Has this ever happened to any other team with such frequency?

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

The Cowboys games are a microcosm of the way they play the season. They play well in stretches, the play very bad in stretches, and in the end when they need a win to get in the playoffs they roll up into the fetal position.

 

[romothesavior]

Romo and terrible defense.and the freaking refs.

lol

 

[Hoofbite]

So second to last possession you're mad they are aggressive trying to pick up first downs.

Next possession you're mad they try to pound the clock to kill time.

Sounds like you just don't want to be happy.

No, they weren't being aggressing on the 2nd to last possession. That's the point. They ran for a loss on 2 plays and then decided to try and pick up the first down. That's not aggressive. It's also not conservative. It's both, which is an indication they didn't know what they were doing and ultimately gave Detroit a free timeout.

If you are going to try and convert a 1st down you don't play conservative on 2 downs and put yourself into a 3rd and long before trying to convert. That's just asking to fail.

 

[scottsp]

A patchwork defensive line, a secondary dealing with injuries, going against a monster wideout and a passer with little to fear from us.

Throw in an offense that plays conservative given every opportunity, unsure of how to close a ballgame, led by a coach who's as deer in the headlights as any I've known.

Some of that is just bad luck (secondary). Some, not so much (the d-line). The rest is what we have resigned ourselves to be.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

There was piss poor clock management?

Please explain.

Doh!

If you need it explained, you're probably a lost cause and willfully ignorant.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

So second to last possession you're mad they are aggressive trying to pick up first downs.

Next possession you're mad they try to pound the clock to kill time.

Sounds like you just don't want to be happy.

It has to do with ending the game with more points than the other team, something you obviously don't grasp at all.

 

[the_h0wey]

Year after year the Boys lose games in the final minutes.Why is this?

The other teams score more points...

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Bad head coaching both intellectually and emotionally.

Intellectually - Garrett always manages the clock or calls plays out of some high school "how to coach" manual. He never makes an interesting call that bleeds or saves clock. It's always run-pass-run-kick. You will never see him come up with a surprising or ingenious plan to out-smart the opposing coach. A genius plan would have been to take a knee on 3rd down to kill the clock, punt the ball to down it inside the 20, and make the lions drive 90 yards in 25 seconds which is impossible. Those kinds of ideas never come out of Garrett's head, it's run-pass-run-kick

Emotionally - Garrett's teams get weaker as the clock ticks down not stronger. Good emotional coaches get their team more fired up to play harder at the end of a game. Garrett's defensive line stands around literally with their hands on their hips as Stafford scores the game winning goal. Or last year against the Ravens when the Cowboys had 25 seconds to get 10 yards in field goal range the wide receivers walked back to the huddle instead of running, letting time expire when they could have clocked the ball to get another play in. These are things the Patriots don't do but the Cowboys do.

Garrett isn't a smart head coach and he's not an inspiring head coach. That's why we lose close games.

 

[Nation]

This isn't a sexy answer, but almost every team goes .500 in games decided by 1 to 7 points, which Football Outsiders has done countless studies on. Since last year the Cowboys have 8 games where they won by a touchdown or less, and 8 games they lost by that amount. It's just much easier to ask yourself "what could have been" in games that you lost because there is some hurt there.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Year after year the Boys lose games in the final minutes.Why is this?

Opie and his horrendous game management is probably top of the list.

I have seen 10yr olds playing Madden for the first time with better game management skills than Opie. When a 10 yr old can milk the clock better than an NFL head coach...........................Thats why we lose year in and year out.

 

[KJJ]

Year after year the Boys lose games in the final minutes.Why is this?

It's been happening under Garrett more often than any head coach the Cowboys have had. I can't recall a Cowboys team blowing as many winnable games in the final minutes as the teams under Garrett. Poor game management coupled by the lack of trust he has in Romo is a big part of the reason. The Cowboys had NE beat 2 years ago but Garrett decided to take the ball out of Romo's hands and sit on the lead hoping his defense that got shredded the previous week by Matt Stafford in the 4th quarter could somehow contain Tom Brady. That was a brain dead decision that cost the Cowboys the game. Later that season vs AZ again Garrett took the ball out of Romo's hands and decided to set Bailey up for a long FG attempt to try and win the game. He ended up freezing Bailey in the process which cost the Cowboys the win in regulation and the game in OT.

Against the Ravens last season Garrett once again took the ball out of Romo's hands to try and set up Bailey for another LONG FG attempt to try and win the game. Again that strategy along with poor clock management cost the Cowboys that game. Last Sunday the Cowboys got conservative losing yards on multiple carries in the final minutes. Once again Garett trusted his defense that had already given up over 500 yards of offense 300 alone to a receiver. This is a poorly coached dysfunctional football team that sets themselves up for failure in the final minutes of games.

 

[ChooChoo73]

Coach is learning on our dime. Eventually he will get it but he will be gone from Dallas when he finally does. He coaches a game that leans on the QB to bail them out and do the spectacular and then doesn't allow him to do so until the game is just about lost.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Doh!

If you need it explained, you're probably a lost cause and willfully ignorant.

The definition of irony.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

No, they weren't being aggressing on the 2nd to last possession. That's the point. They ran for a loss on 2 plays and then decided to try and pick up the first down. That's not aggressive. It's also not conservative. It's both, which is an indication they didn't know what they were doing and ultimately gave Detroit a free timeout.

If you are going to try and convert a 1st down you don't play conservative on 2 downs and put yourself into a 3rd and long before trying to convert. That's just asking to fail.

Forgetting how they threw on 1st down?

And i'm pretty sure when they called for a run they didn't say...let's run the 2 yard loss play.

Confusing results with decisions. Common mistake. But a mistake nonetheless.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

The definition of irony.

Ironic.