Zeke's (almost) huge mistake that could have lost the game

[BrAinPaiNt]

Sometimes people try to over analyze things.
This is one of those cases.

 

[1972COWBOY]

I think he should have traversed or stood at the 1 foot line and only gone over when time ran out or the defenders where about to tackle him.

 

[Ranching]

Zeke Elliott had a huge day. Zeke Elliott almost made a huge mistake.

The grins are tattooed to our faces, and we're fist-bumping through a rosy Monday morning, but it could have been very, very different. I can see and hear the screams today had Zeke's boo-boo not been band-aided in time.

If the game was managed properly, the biggest play of the game should have been Dak's last completion to Jason Witten.

That first down should have sealed the win. Pittsburgh had one time out, and Dallas had a 1st-and-10 deep in Steelers territory with 1:55 left. Once Zeke got that first down, he should have gone down. Time out Pittsburgh. Take another knee. Whittle it down to 1 minute. Take another knee. Whittle it down to less than 20 seconds. Dan Bailey. 26-24. Ball game with only about 12 seconds left.

Instead, we saw Elliott go off right tackle untouched for a touchdown. The first thing I though was, "uh oh, too much time left." I'm not sure if Pittsburgh let him score or not, but it sure looked easy. It was definitely their only chance at that time. That left more than 1:40 to go with Big Ben against our exhausted, short-handed defense. No Scandrick, Mo, or Church. McFadden on Brown. Great googly-moogly.

Fortunately, Pittsburgh scored too quickly as well, and Dallas had time to come back. The Steelers had no choice, needing a touchdown, but it turned out good that Dallas was easy pickings.

That left time for Zeke to punctuate the day. Fortunately, it was an exclamation point, and not a big fat question mark.

Zeke's coaches should have told him to fall during the timeout. That's on the coaches, to much adrenalin pumping through the rookies veins.

 

[erod]

True, Dallas needed that TD to take a lead big enough to overcome any FG by Pitt. Defense played hard but where not exactly shutting down the Steelers so that 5 point lead mattered.

Dallas would have been kicking off with a two-point lead and about 12 second remaining.

Instead, Dallas had a five-point lead kicking off with 1:55 to go.

 

[viman96]

Dallas would have been kicking off with a two-point lead and about 12 second remaining.

Instead, Dallas had a five-point lead kicking off with 1:55 to go.

You are assuming they would have scored. Supposed someone fumbled? Or Dak is sacked with no time left? Best and safest play is take the points and let the defense do their job.

 

[Nav22]

Pit had two timeouts. Which means they get the ball back with 1:20 only needing a FG to win.

If you want to criticize, at least get the core of the facts right

They'd have had to burn one of those on the 1st down run.

So they'd only have 1 left for our next set of downs. Meaning we could've run off a ton of time and left them with only a few seconds left after a FG.

Percentages say Zeke should have gone down short of the endzone. If you disagree, you're literally arguing against math.

Oh well, we won!

 

[joseephuss]

Pit had two timeouts. Which means they get the ball back with 1:20 only needing a FG to win.

If you want to criticize, at least get the core of the facts right

I don't think either one of you are correct on how much time Pittsburgh would be left with had Zeke gone down at the 1. It would be more than 12 seconds and less than 1:20. The clock would have kept running had Zeke taken a knee and Dallas would have gotten a new set of downs.

 

[erod]

Fantasy footballers disagree with me for sure. Zeke got two more touchdowns as a result.

 

[Ranching]

Steelers had 2 timeouts left, not 1.

Yeah, and that extra timeout would have left the Steelers about 42 seconds after the field goal, but what can you do with 42 seconds, right? lol

 

[Clarkson]

I was thinking this at the time: Just run down the clock.

However, as others have said, when you're losing, you should take the guaranteed points to put you in the lead.

 

[joseephuss]

They'd have had to burn one of those on the 1st down run.

So they'd only have 1 left for our next set of downs. Meaning we could've run off a ton of time and left them with only a few seconds left after a FG.

Percentages say Zeke should have gone down short of the endzone. If you disagree, you're literally arguing against math.

Oh well, we won!

It isn't an argument against math. It is an argument against subjective interpretations of math and statistics.

 

[erod]

Yeah, and that extra timeout would have left the Steelers about 42 seconds after the field goal, but what can you do with 42 seconds, right? lol

Wrong. They would have had about 12 seconds from their own 25 with no timeouts.

 

[ThrowuptheXDez88]

Sorry dude, but I've seen way too many freaky things happen to say anything is a gimme. I was fine with Zeke running the ball in, from a bad snap to a blocked kick, or ball hitting off the upright. I would say yes, that's the move to make if the score is tied

 

[Doomsday101]

Dallas would have been kicking off with a two-point lead and about 12 second remaining.

Instead, Dallas had a five-point lead kicking off with 1:55 to go.

Dallas would have been kicking off with a two-point lead and about 12 second remaining.

Instead, Dallas had a five-point lead kicking off with 1:55 to go.

I think anytime you have a chance to score you score. There are a whole host of things that can go wrong. I'm sure NO felt they had the game in the bag until it was taken away from them.

 

[Nav22]

It isn't an argument against math. It is an argument against subjective interpretations of math and statistics.

There's nothing subjective about it.

The stats say you have an X% chance to win if you do one thing and a Y% chance to win if you do the other thing.

Zeke's TD gave us a lower % chance to win than if he had gone down at the 1. We got away with it and hopefully will learn from it moving forward.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Instead, we saw Elliott go off right tackle untouched for a touchdown. The first thing I though was, "uh oh, too much time left." I'm not sure if Pittsburgh let him score or not, but it sure looked easy. It was definitely their only chance at that time. That left more than 1:40 to go with Big Ben against our exhausted, short-handed defense. No Scandrick, Mo, or Church. McFadden on Brown. Great googly-moogly.
.

ya, they let him score easy on both runs LOL

 

[Proof]

It isn't an argument against math. It is an argument against subjective interpretations of math and statistics.

Basics. Anything other than a 100% is moot. If he'd went down and we'd won, and the percentages were on his side I'd call it a heady play. He didn't though and we won in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I got to say about that"

 

[DandyDon52]

Anything could have gone wrong with the fg attempt, like a block or a miss.

yes and a bad snap, a fumbled snap,remember 2006 ?,and a penalty etc.

And the only way any rb does that is if coaches tell him to, like go down at the one.

 

[mattjames2010]

I think you factor in the game. This "Get points when you can!" stuff doesn't work for me. You have a defense that was getting gashed nearly all game long from Big Ben, Big Ben is known to go no-huddle under 2 minutes and has many 4th quarter comebacks. We have a beat up secondary, down to some scrub CB that won't even be on our team next year. You go down or take a freakin' knee near the goal line. This isn't even much of a debate.

And seeing as how Big Ben drove down the field against our crappy 2 minute defense, I would say the decision to want to take a chance on the FG was a smart one. We were lucky to have enough time left to win at the end.

Now obviously, this is all moot. We won and there will most likely never be a 100% similar situation again. I'm just glad we found a way to win. That won't always be the case though, sometimes there will be an ending like we had against the Giants.

 

[sideon]

Nope take the point, there are no guarantees this year. I could easily see the FG getting blocked.