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INGLEWOOD, Calif .– The Dallas Cowboys were exactly where Dak Prescott wanted them to be: taking the field for a winning drive, ball in hand, a chance to guide his team to victory.
The Chargers tied the game with just under 4 minutes to go. Prescott intended not to give his opponent another chance to steal the game, risking a loss when the time expired the Cowboys suffered last week.
Prescott therefore varied his weapons, finding tight end Blake Jarwin, running back Ezekiel Elliott and wide receiver Amari Cooper on different games. The Cowboys ran the ball. The clock bled. The chances of Justin Herbert returning to the field have gradually diminished.
The Cowboys managed a 49-yard lead in 10 games. Line-up on second and 6 with 33 seconds left, running back Tony Pollard started waving left to right before the snap. Prescott handed the ball to Pollard as he crossed, the game’s 100-yard rusher spinning up the field.
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Chargers defensive stars Joey Bosa and Derwin James tackled him with 28 seconds left. Officials blew their whistles to signal the end of the game.
Then the clock started ticking.
And tick.
And tick.
The Cowboys, facing third and third, allowed 24 seconds to expire without setting up a game.
Finally, with 4 seconds remaining, head coach Mike McCarthy called for a time out.
“The clockwork situation until the end was different,” McCarthy said after the Cowboys finally won 20-17 thanks to a 56-yard field goal from kicker Greg Zuerlein. “I never had a clock that took off on me like that. The second try, we were trying to reduce and get a shorter basket. So we were going to try a third game and then hit it in the fourth.
The Cowboys didn’t.
McCarthy insisted the clock he was looking at was off. He said offensive coordinator Kellen Moore couldn’t see a clock because it was “blocked by a cameraman”. Add to that an unforeseen personnel change – Pollard, it seems, trotted to the sideline after the game before being redirected – and the Cowboys just didn’t capitalize on the one or both games that the stopwatch seemed to allow.
“Wow,” CBS senior color analyst and former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said on the show. “They had plenty of time to make several plays and get at least 10 more yards. But pass the ball? If you have done that you have to call the time out with 30 seconds left and that way you are still allowed to throw another pass for 10 yards, get a first down, time it.
“Why didn’t they break this? “
McCarthy said a “surrogate communication” – apparently with Pollard heading for the sideline, Cooper already out after a rib injury suffered on the ride – contributed to the haze. The management and operation of the game has gone haywire on several fronts.
“We were communicating with the box,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t have the staff for the third call. Once you drop below 17 seconds, it’s a threshold, and you just let it flow out and take the kick.
“The original plan at the 30 second mark was to throw a third game (but) one of our players came out that shouldn’t have happened.”
Prescott, on the court waiting for a play call, knew exactly how many seconds were left. He said he had a clear view of the end zone clock but trusted his coaches.
“I just thought we were comfortable and good on the range and that’s what they wanted to do,” Prescott said. “Then obviously we had a conversation after the whole clock was turned off.”
Zuerlein finally landed the winning 56-yard kick a week after missing 31- and 60-yard goals in addition to an extra point attempt in the Cowboys’ 31-29 loss to Tampa Bay. He no longer showed signs of back surgery in the offseason, a late return to training camp or a pre-season quad issue.
The 10-year veteran threw the game winner on the third down, with the Cowboys dropping to 1-1 as his kick went through the posts in the south end zone.
Prescott and Moore kissed on the bench. The Cowboys returned home in a three-way tie atop the NFC East.
“It was a relief: the first win,” Prescott said. “The first victory for many.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dallas Cowboys: Mike McCarthy Explains Weird Clock Management
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