Dallas Cowboys: Mike McCarthy addresses controversial final play call

When the Dallas Cowboys called for a designed quarterback run with 14 seconds left, fans couldn’t believe it. Wednesday, Mike McCarthy doubled down on the play call.

Dak Prescott took the snap and ran it 17 yards to the San Fransisco 49ers 24-yard line. The problem? Dallas didn’t have any timeouts, meaning the offense had to hurry to spike the ball as time ticked away.

They weren’t fast enough, and the referee spotted the ball as time expired. The game ended — and the Cowboys lost 23-17, ending their season. McCarthy addressed the controversial call on Wednesday and didn’t appear to have any regrets.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said the final play was the right call.

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) January 19, 2022

It was the end of a great season for the Cowboys. They went 12-4 in the regular season to lock up the No. 3 seed in the NFC. At one point, San Francisco led 23-7, but Dallas battled back to make it a one-possession game with 8:02 to play.

The 49ers punted before the Cowboys turned it over on downs. Then, San Francisco went three and out, giving Dallas the ball back with 32 seconds left.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The 49ers advance to the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs, where they’ll face the Green Bay Packers on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET.

Dak Prescott explains final sequence of bizarre ending in Cowboys playoff loss

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott came close to pulling off a historic comeback against the San Francisco 49ers, overcoming a 23-7 deficit late in the third to set up a potential game-winning touchdown drive, but the Cowboys’ poor clock management forced them out of the Playoffs in the first round.

Dallas fought all the way back to a 23-16 deficit and the Cowboys received the ball for their last drive of the game on their own 20-yard line. McCarthy called for a Prescott pass to CeeDee Lamb, which was good for a nine-yard gain, followed by a 10-yard pass to Tony Pollard and nine-yard gain to Dalton Schultz. McCarthy then used the Cowboys’ final timeout with 14 seconds left, his offense setting up at the 50-yard line.

Then, the inexplicable: Prescott on second-and-1 took a quarterback draw up the middle to the 49ers’ 24-yard line, a 17-yard gain that would, in theory, bring the Cowboys out of Hail-Mary range and into reasonable touchdown range. But the offense was unable to get set up for a spike in time to stop the clock, and the Cowboys ended up having no final chance to win.

“We’ve practiced it,” Prescott said after the game, explaining the strange situation surrounding the spike. “You hand it to the center. The umpire, all he has to do is usually come in and tap the ball. Don’t necessarily know exactly … why the hit (with the official) happened, I guess. Yeah, I know he’s going to come in and touch the ball. We could say, yeah he needs to be closer to the ball or whatever, but in hindsight, it’s just tough. Just tough to accept.”