Cowboys head coach mike McCarthy had a very blunt answer when quizzed on his decision to punt against the San Francisco 49ers despite the analytics urging the team to go for it in certain situations.
One of the more puzzling ones came while the Cowboys were down 19-12 with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter. The analytics said to go for it on fourth-and-10, for very obvious reasons, yet McCarthy opted to punt.
Asked why he decided to do so during the postgame presser, the HC respond with a question.
“What was the down and distance?” he asked.
“Yeah,” he shot back when the reporter said it was a fourth-and-10 situation. “That’s the answer. Yeah.”
The decision was indeed strange as everything suggested the Cowboys should have taken the risk in an attempt to secure a first down given that they were trailing by a single score with the two-minute mark approaching.
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At another juncture, McCarthy instructed his team to punt when going for it seemed the better decision. The Cowboys were facing a fourth-and-five in San Francisco’s half and took a delay of game penalty, then punted in spite of the analytics screaming go for it.
They would also punt on a fourth-and-five at their 48-yard line when analytics said go for it, though not as vehemently at that point.
