Why onside kick with 3:24 left?

[ghosttown cowboy]

Situational decision making hasn't been a strength of this organization in about 15 years...

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

They screwed up the kick.......end of story. Shouldn't have tried that kick anyway but they did and special teams just trying to do what they can to help this team when the defense can't get off the field.

 

[ghosttown cowboy]

Dumb decision. I do think we would have won if we just kicked it off into the endzone because we had all of the momentum there. Put the pressure on the Browns to convert...they had rarely faced any high stakes pressure all day. The defense had just forced 2 punts on their last 2 possessions so Cleveland's offense was ice cold. The kick bailed Cleveland out and gave them the ball at almost midfield. Their entire playbook was open at that field position so they could afford to run a trick play. Compare that to being at their own 25 and they approach that possession differently.

This...The Browns stopped trying to score when it was 41-14...They were staring an epic collapse in the face and we bailed them out with that stupid decision...

 

[ConstantReboot]

It was a poorly executed pooch kick that was probably meant to bounce more hoping for a mishandle by the browns and recovered by the Cowboys. Now if the defense was going to do so well if they kicked away why did it let OBJ run untouched 50 yards for a TD?
.
.

We are stuck in a situation where we like it or not, we still have to play defense. I would have kicked it deep, and go all out on a run blitz.

Who would care if they scored or not? At least try something different to stop the bleeding.

 

[jblaze2004]

Have you seen our defense? Giving the Browns the ball back with 75 yards of clock eating field was probably the worst thing we could have done. That said, I think that kick was supposed be a squib but it ended up going right to one of their up men. That's just the kind of day we had.

No lie. I mean we block a kick and they end up getting 2 freaking points out of it lol. U don't see that often in the NFL.

 

[SackMaster]

That onside kick with 3:24 made no football sense whatsoever!
The team was getting great momentum cutting the lead to 3.
With over 3 minutes left, one timeout and the 2 minute warning, there was no need for that desperate/stupid move.
The Defense was doing pretty decent at that point and I thought they had a good chance of stopping them again, maybe, and I was also confident in Baker choking under pressure.
But instead, we do the dumbest thing possible to prevent us from having any chance.

So you wanted OBJ to run for a 75 yard TD run to seal it instead of a 50 yard TD run?

Is OBJ on your FF team or something?

 

[Clove]

kick for the touch back, and take your chances. It was obviously over when they pooch kicked it 14 yards.

 

[Big_D]

That was a kick it deep situation. Just another absolutely moronic decision! They’re piling up!

 

[Creeper]

It wasn't an onside kick. I think it was a failed pooch kick that was right to a player and returned.

Whatever it was supposed to be anything but a straight up kick into the end zone was stupid at that point. The Cowboys are tempting fate too much now. They should accept they won the lottery by recovering the onside kick against Atlanta and realize that doesn't happen too often. The right play is to kick it as deep as the kicker can kick it and hope for a stop. Even a squib kick to the goal line and hope your coverage unit can make a tackle inside the 10 is a better play.

 

[INCowboysFan]

Yeah the Browns' punter may not even get a game check after that game. How many times did he have to come into the game? Twice? Three times (a lady..)

Pretty sure he's their holder, so he got plenty of game time.

 

[GMO415]

I'm beyond this team's stupidity

 

[Jake]

That onside kick with 3:24 made no football sense whatsoever!
The team was getting great momentum cutting the lead to 3.
With over 3 minutes left, one timeout and the 2 minute warning, there was no need for that desperate/stupid move.
The Defense was doing pretty decent at that point and I thought they had a good chance of stopping them again, maybe, and I was also confident in Baker choking under pressure.
But instead, we do the dumbest thing possible to prevent us from having any chance.

The defense gave up a long TD run on the next play so apparently they weren't capable of stopping them again.

I still wouldn't have kicked it off that way, though.

 

[lostar2009]

It wasn't an onside kick. I think it was a failed pooch kick that was right to a player and returned.

But why not do a regular kick? Make them march 80 yards for the TD. This team is so beyond stupid it's starting to hurt.

 

[Proof]

Whatever it was supposed to be anything but a straight up kick into the end zone was stupid at that point. The Cowboys are tempting fate too much now. They should accept they won the lottery by recovering the onside kick against Atlanta and realize that doesn't happen too often. The right play is to kick it as deep as the kicker can kick it and hope for a stop. Even a squib kick to the goal line and hope your coverage unit can make a tackle inside the 10 is a better play.

squib kick to the goal line appeared to be the intent. just was executed poorly

 

[TheCoolFan]

It was definitely a squib kick that they were hoping to recover downfield so it was basically an onside kick attempt (they tried something similar on the previous kickoff). The argument that it was better than putting the defense out there is silly. And even with that in mind, if you know you have a bad defense, wouldn't it be smarter to help them by putting the opposing offense deep in their own territory instead of risking a very low-percentage onside kick and handicapping your defense with bad field position?

There was almost 4 minutes left in the game with 1 timeout. The game was not make or break at that point yet, there was no need to gamble there. The offense did its job pulling the comeback...they were RIGHT there in the game. Kick it off normally, give your defense a 70+ yard cushion to work with and let's play football.

I'm pretty sure whatever analytics or percentages don't favor it either. Onside kick recoveries are 2/20 this season (10%). As bad as the Cowboys defense is, they forced 4 punts in 11 Browns possessions up to that point (36%).

 

[Blake]

It wasn't an onside kick. I think it was a failed pooch kick that was right to a player and returned.

Well, they really screwed the pooch on that one didn't they?... ha...ha...heh..eh. I'll see myself out.

 

[Flamma]

Have you seen our defense? Giving the Browns the ball back with 75 yards of clock eating field was probably the worst thing we could have done. That said, I think that kick was supposed be a squib but it ended up going right to one of their up men. That's just the kind of day we had.

LOL, I agree with you. I also agree with the OP. But with our D, how can I complain? You know what? I have no idea what was a good choice there. IMO whatever didn't work was bad!!!

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

This...The Browns stopped trying to score when it was 41-14...They were staring an epic collapse in the face and we bailed them out with that stupid decision...

You could see it on their faces. Those guys looked like they were seeing ghosts...you can tell they were like "We can't be Atlanta"....then Odell broke off for that run.......their coaches know that if they didn't get creative with the plays it was going to get ugly for them.

 

[ItzKelz]

We look like we are playing stick ball sometimes.....well on special teams and defense all the time.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I'm to the point I would support an onside kick every time. At least the other team will score quicker and our offense will get the ball back faster.

That and we may get the ball back a few times. The defence sure isn't going to get us any takeaways.