The ending to the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys NFC Wild Card Game was certainly a bizarre one.
With 31 seconds remaining in regulation and needing a touchdown and extra point to win the game, quarterback Dak Prescott began to march down the field by taking quick passes near the sidelines since they had zero timeouts.
On the final play of the game, Prescott scrambled down to the San Francisco 24-year-line and was unable to spike the ball. After getting to the line, a ref collided with him from behind and the bizarre final play sealed a 23-17 49ers win at AT&T Stadium.
Mike McCarthy explained his reasoning following the game.
“We felt strongly this game was going to come down to key situations in the end. It’s disappointing we didn’t get a shot there at the end. … These last two plays, all those scenarios, we put a tremendous amount of time into it. We had a lot of confidence trying to set up that last play, but yes, our execution was not where we would have liked it to have been, clearly.
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“I have never seen that come down the way it came down as far as the collision between the umpire and the quarterback. We were trying to get inside the 30-yard line to set up the last play. The mechanics were intact, I felt, from our end of it. Communication that I was given on the sideline when they were reviewing it is they were going to put time back on the clock. The next thing I know, they’re running off the field. That’s all the facts I know.”
“It’s the right decision. Just like anything, the execution and the officiating spotting the ball wasn’t in tune. We should not have had any trouble getting the ball spotted there.”
The play design and Prescott’s decision to scramble was head-scratching due to the fact that the Cowboys did not have any timeouts.
Decisions like that is why his job may be at stake this offseason.
