The Cowboys pulled off a thrilling victory over the Chargers Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles – but they almost blew their chance to win in even more spectacular fashion.
With the game tied and under a minute left in the game, Tony Pollard ran the ball to the 38 yard line on second down, bringing up a third and 3 with 33 seconds left to play. On the absolute fringe of field goal range, Dallas still had a time out – but confusingly decided not to run another offensive play, instead letting the clock wind down.
The Cowboys then sent Greg Zuerlein on for a field goal kick on third down – from 56 yards. Luckily, the former All-Pro kicker drilled the attempt for the walkoff win, but several things went wrong along the way.
“One of our players came off that shouldn’t have come off,” McCarthy said of the third-down play call after Pollard’s run. “Just a communication error.”
Then, according to McCarthy, the clock that he was monitoring on the SoFi Stadium video board went out. Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s view of the clock was also “blocked by a camera guy.”
With more time off the clock than the Cowboys had wanted, McCarthy didn’t want to risk taking the final time out, then running a play that ended in bounds and relinquishing the field goal attempt. So, he opted to let the clock wind and attempt the field goal instead.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.Getty ImagesThe result was a Cowboys road win, so it’s hard to complain too much – but it’s still a brutal series of communication in a key spot.
