How Mike McCarthy Explained Cowboys’ Puzzling Final Play

Facing third-and-10 at their own 24-yard line and needing a touchdown with merely 6 seconds left, the Dallas Cowboys once again drew criticism for their end-of-game decision-making.

It prompted some to draw parallels to other mind-shattering play calls from past NFL seasons and others to blast the Cowboys for their second bizarre conclusion in as many season-ending defeats.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, though, deflected when asked about the play in which Ezekiel Elliott served as the team’s center and snapped the ball to quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott then hit return specialist KaVontae Turpin for an 8-yard catch before Turpin was tackled by San Francisco 49ers safety Jimmie Ward all while four Dallas players stood on the opposite side of the field near the line of scrimmage.

The stop in the final seconds helped the 49ers eliminate the Cowboys from the playoffs after a 19-12 victory. San Francisco now advances to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.

“Yeah, well, I mean, it didn’t really get going,” McCarthy told reporters after the season-ending loss, per the team. “Yeah, I really don’t want to get into detail of it, but that obviously wasn’t the plan. So, yeah, I mean, it’s obviously a gadget play, or whatever, a last-play situation call that we practice.”

While the strangeness of the play-call undoubtedly will be criticized, given where the Cowboys were on the field and how little their offense had done for the previous 59 minutes of game action, it certainly was not the difference in the end result.