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On Sunday night, in the throes of the Dallas Cowboys‘ excruciating defeat to the Minnesota Vikings, Jerry Jones saw what the thousands who packed AT&T Stadium and millions watching around the world witnessed.
That penultimate drive.
Second-and-2 from Minnesota’s 11-yard line. One minute and 33 seconds left. Down four.
Common logic screamed for the Cowboys to ride the arm of quarterback Dak Prescott, who had his way with the NFL’s 18th-ranked secondary, logging 397 yards, three touchdowns and a Hail Mary interception on 28-of-46 passing, good for a 101.5 rating.
Flying in the face of conventional wisdom, however, Jason Garrett and/or Kellen Moore screamed back: Ezekiel Elliott run. Twice. Then a pass to Elliott — Elliott, and not, say, star wide receiver Amari Cooper, who tallied a game-high 147 yards on 11 receptions, one of which went for a gorgeous 25-yard, toe-tapping, end zone-scraping touchdown.
When you go against logic, you often lose. And now the Cowboys are 5-4.
“It’s disappointing. Disappointing. We’ll have to pay for this one. Hopefully it won’t be terminal,” Jones said after the 28-24 defeat, per The Athletic.
Frankly, disappointing doesn’t begin to describe Elliott, the league’s richest running back who managed 47 yards on 20 carries. He went exactly nowhere all evening, the Vikings’ swarming defense bringing him down often on first contact.
“Could have put a sign on the start of the game that said ‘Zeke’s not going anywhere.’ “That was the story of the game,” Jones said, via USA Today.
Instead, the guy making just $2.025 million in base salary this season — Prescott — was surgical from the outset, turning free plays into TDs and timing routes into art forms (due in large part to Cooper).
The head coach and/or offensive coordinator, inexplicably, deviated completely from that magical duo to put the ball in the hands of a workhorse who failed the team for 60 minutes. You can question why, theories that extend to Jerry personally ordering Zeke (Who?) be fed.
Jones says he won’t question that particular series of mind-numbing play-calling.
Says.
“I’m not going get into that sensitive work. We’d all like to have that back. But you have to keep trying,” Jones stated, per ESPN.
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And Neither Will Dak
Prescott was particularly peeved following the bitter loss, but his rage was directed at those who were criticizing Elliott, the play-calling, the coaching … anything. He rationalized the doomed drive as an attempt at strategy, smearing fire-red lipstick on the proverbial Dallas pig.
“You’ve got to go back and look at the situation, right?” Prescott said, via NFL.com. “You don’t want to leave too much time on the clock for them. I’m not going to question the play-calling. There were opportunities. We’ve just got to do better and execute those plays, simple as that. Every guy in that locker room would say that.”
A fascinating stat uncovered by 105.3 The Fan’s Ari Temkin lays out that, on the Cowboys’ final two possessions, they gathered a measly three yards on seven rushing attempts. Conversely, Prescott completed eight of 14 passes for 113 yards over that span, which makes the result even more maddening.
Again justifying his higher-ups’ choices, Prescott seemingly accepted responsibility for not hitting Elliott on the fourth-down out route while noting a too-familiar refrain that the opponent gets paid, too.
“As a quarterback, you can’t ask for more,” Prescott said, via NFL.com. “Ball in your hands. Fourth down. Chance to make a throw to win the game. They made a great play. They made more plays when it counted and beat us situationally.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL
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