The Dallas head coach defended his decision to run a fake punt deep in their own territory; the play’s failure was widely mocked afterward.
On a Thanksgiving Day afternoon full of stomach-turning plays, none left as awful a taste in the mouths of Cowboys fans as the fake punt that went horribly sour early in the fourth quarter.
Down by four points, Andy Dalton and the Dallas offense had managed just 12 yards on six plays after starting on their own 12-yard-line. Facing 4th-and-10 on their own 24, most observers were undoubtedly expecting punter Hunter Niswander to boot the ball away in hopes of a defensive stand that would result in better field position on the team’s next possession.
Instead, this happened.
The gadget’s failure was the moment that broke the game wide open for the visitors from DC. But Dallas coach Mike McCarthy defended the play choice after the 41-16 loss.
“It’s definitely a big-play opportunity,” McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference. “The way you view it, there’s certain things you look for, tendency-wise, on when and where [to run such a play]. But obviously, we didn’t execute it. As those things go, ultimately, it’s my responsibility, particularly when a play like that doesn’t work. We were trying to generate a big play at that point in the game, the information that you look for going into it, it was a solid call.”
One would be hard-pressed, though, to find anyone else who agrees with that “solid call” assessment. Social media was quick to hang the Cowboys coaching staff out to dry over the doomed play.
On the play, Darian Thompson takes the snap and pitches to crossing wideout Cedrick Wilson, who has been at the center of several of the trick plays drawn up this season by special teams coordinator John Fassel. Wilson takes the ball and reverses the action, but retreats all the way back to the 10-yard-line before turning upfield. At that point, he is 24 yards away from the first-down sticks.
Niswander is out in wide-open space after making no attempt whatsoever to block the Washington linebacker bearing down on Wilson, and Wilson never seems to seriously consider passing to Niswander. The linebacker, rookie Khaleke Hudson, wraps Wilson up for a one-yard loss.
As designed, the fake seemed to have very little chance of picking up ten yards. As executed, it had no shot at gaining 24. When it, in fact, didn’t, Washington took over on the doorstep of the red zone. They scored on their very next snap, the first of a three-touchdown onslaught in the fourth quarter.
But after the game, McCarthy justified the call, despite a low likelihood of success in a dangerous part of the field and at a critical time in the game.
“You won’t get anywhere if you’re thinking about negatives all the time,” he said. “Obviously, it was a solid play call, good play design, their gunner made a good play; came off and put us in a high-low read for Cedrick. It’s a play that if we hit it, obviously, we’re sitting here applauding it. That’s the nature of those plays. You can never convert them, obviously, if you don’t call them and if you don’t believe in them. I clearly understood the situation when it was called.”
The only thing more baffling than the play call in that situation was McCarthy’s insistence afterward that it was the right choice. When asked later in the Q-and-A session to clarify that he truly thought the fake punt was “a solid play call” and believed that factoring in the obvious risk would really be considered “negative thinking,” McCarthy took a long pause.
He seemed to be taken aback by the question. Incredulous. Offended, even.
“I’m fine with my answer before. There’s obviously film study that goes into the call, when to call it. But yeah, when you call it, you’re obviously looking to convert it. You obviously understand on fourth-down calls what your options are. You either convert it, or you don’t convert it. You always know that going in. There’s flow of the game. All those things are factored in that decision. I’m very confident in our players; I’ll put them in position to make big plays.”
But by greenlighting the fake punt so deep in their own territory, McCarthy and his staff ended up putting the Cowboys in an unwinnable position.
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