Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy defends play call that saw clock run out on season

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Three days have passed by and the Dallas Cowboys maintain they have no regrets about a final call that saw the clock to run out on the game and their season in last Sunday’s 23-17 home playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

With only 14 seconds remaining in the game, and no timeouts, quarterback Dak Prescott ran a draw play, in which he gained 17 yards, the 49ers’ 41-yard line down to 24. Prescott handed the ball to center Tyler Biadasz instead of umpire Ramon George, who had to touch the ball before it could be snapped again.

George was obstructed in getting through the Cowboys’ formation, delaying his ability to set the ball. By the time Prescott was able to snap the ball and time had expired. He was attempting to spike it in hopes of setting one last throw to the end zone.

Coach Mike McCarthy stands by every aspect of how the Cowboys handled the process — and he says running the ball was the right call.

“So, our threshold in that situation is 13 seconds. So, we were 14 seconds,” McCarthy said. “So, we were clearly in our range and our thought process is that we have two options. So, we’re looking for a quick throw or the check to the draw. But based on them being in the sideline and [49ers defensive tackle Arik] Armstead being at the nose; he’s playing the jumper, spy position, we went from the three-step to the draw. So, it’s the right call. The situation is right off the call sheet. So, that part’s right.”

McCarthy said one thing they might change after looking at the tape and going over the situation is to have Prescott stop at 10 yards to give them more time. “That’s probably going to be the change, the adjustment we make.”

But as far as the mechanics of Prescott handing the ball to the center, rather than giving it to the umpire so he can spot the ball, McCarthy said that is not part of the process that needs to be corrected.

“The center can spot the ball,” McCarthy said. “The receiver can spot the ball. So, the fact that the opinion of you can’t spot the ball is not correct. So, the center can spot the ball. Our guys are trained to spot the ball exactly how the referee spots the ball. As far as the training of Dak getting the ball to Tyler [Biadasz], Tyler getting it down on the hash mark, that part was intact. Obviously we got to factor in what happened there at the end of that play. Like I said, we repped it.”

McCarthy says they worked on it every week on the Friday schedule, which he called ‘fast start Friday and furious finish Friday.

He is now concerned about his return on investment.

“I’ve got to take a hard look at it,” McCarthy said. “We had great confidence in that situation because we were just trying to get inside the 30-yard line to change the play-call for the final play. So, it’s the right call based on our preparation. We just got to really look at the mechanics and the timing of that, too. But, yeah, a 13-second threshold is the call. So, that 14 seconds, in my view, that’s the right call.”