Time and time again the Dallas Cowboys put themselves in a favorable position against the Jaguars but costly errors down the stretch allowed Jacksonville to come back from 17 points down in a 40-34 victory Sunday.
The Cowboys had as high as a 96% win probability with four minutes left in the third quarter, per ESPN. Dallas had a 92% win probability after recovering a Jacksonville fumble while possessing a 34-31 lead and 1:38 left on the clock, too. From there, however, the Cowboys ran the ball twice for a total of zero yards and the Jaguars took each of their first two timeouts to stop the clock.
Facing a decision on third-and-10, McCarthy’s Cowboys opted for the home run as Dak Prescott threw a deep ball down the sideline to Noah Brown. Brown couldn’t come up with the catch, allowing the Jaguars to save their final timeout as Dallas stopped the clock on its own. (You can watch it here.)
The Jaguars then covered 41 yards on the next seven plays before calling their final timeout to set up a game-tying field goal forced overtime. It is worth wondering whether Jacksonville would have been able to do so if the Cowboys instead made them use the timeout following a play on third-and-10.
“Well, they had a timeout there,” McCarthy told reporters when asked about the decision, per the team. “So your decision there is offensively do you play it conservative and run the ball to take the time off or do you try to end the game? It’s a pretty simple decision. If it converts it’s a great call and if it doesn’t you get criticized for it.”
McCarthy, in fairness, is spot on in his assessment. It definitely would not have been a second-guess Sunday afternoon should the Cowboys have converted and won the game in regulation — or even won the game in overtime thereafter. But that’s not the way it played out.
And now the 10-4 Cowboys have two losses when possessing 14-point leads in the second half this season. Dallas will look to rebound against the NFC East-leading Eagles in Week 16, though it feels like the Cowboys have their playoff fate cemented with Philadelphia now up three games with three remaining.
