Cowboys Break: Game Over

The Break. We're presented by Geico. We are live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star and we're talking Cowboys football. Cowboys lose their final game of the season to the New York Giants twenty three to night team, a game that they needed in order to keep themselves alive until Sunday night. We're gonna talk about all the things that happened in that game and why Dallas ended

up losing. Before we do, though, we got to talk a little bit about why it didn't matter at the end of the day, because as of last night they would have needed the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Washington football team. That did not happen, and it did not happen for a bit of a I don't know if it was a strange reason, but it certainly was a reason that I didn't really buy much. And we'll talk about that a little bit. Let's start first, I guess real quick before we get into the Cowboys game, with

what happened last night and what Philadelphia did. Obviously, into the fourth quarter, they had Jalen Hurts starting. There were a lot of their players that were out, most of them I assume had legitimate injuries, either coming from the previous game or games before that, but they had Jalen Hurts playing. They get into the fourth quarter, it is a ball game, it's less than one score, and they decide to pull Hurts. Did you have a problem with that?

Just as an NFL fan and as a Cowboys observer, Nick, Honestly, I didn't see the first half of the game. I got in about about half time. By the time, I didn't really know all what was going on, but I definitely heard and then I, um, yeah, problem with that, I mean a problem with with how I mean we always say it just in life, you know, we use the joke about coaches and you coach your team I'll coach my team, okay, And here it is. I mean here he's coaching his team and he's doing it this way.

But um, you know you're trying to get a better draft pick. That's what it is. And then you know you got an assistant coach saying where this is a no hat game, we're not having a hat. Well, that's bs you. You're you're passing it out, you know. So you know, just I think you said it. Just don't don't insolt our intel just here here by saying it's one thing when it's not. I mean, you were trying to lose, you wanted a better draft pick. It is what it is. Yea, Nay, I know you got a

different opinion on this. What's your thoughts? I do, And I'm I'm comfortable in the knowledge that you know, maybe I'm a bad person or a petty sports fan, but uh, hating your right els is just as fun of a part of sports as loving your team, in my opinion. And I'm not going to go as far as to say I applaud what Philly did, but I don't. I don't have a problem with it. You know, they had nothing to gain by winning that game. And it seemed to me that they wanted to make as many of

their rivals miserable as possible. So you know, they pissed off the Giants and gave and gave Washington division got a better draft pick out of it. Probably not the coolest thing in the world, but I respect the pettiness of it all. It's what division rivalries are all about. And I promise you I would feel the same way if they had done it to the Cowboys. Sorry, I

just it is what it is. And you know, first of all, don't put your fate in the hands of another team, and definitely don't put your fate in the hands of a team that hates your guts. And I think the Giants learned that last night. Yeah, that's all true, and I agree with a lot of that. What I will say, though, is I think it's I think it's bush league to say something thing different than what you're doing.

If you're gonna be petty, say you're gonna be petty, like that's a part of the whole thing, Like you want to do this, and say, hey, we're gonna do this. Because the NFC shouldn't be trying to win their championships off of us. Then okay, say that, say I'm not gonna give you I'm not gonna hand you anything, New York Giants, or if the Cowboys would have won, I'm

not gonna hand you anything, Dallas Cowboys. I'm okay with that if you're willing to say it, but don't didn't come to the press conference and say no, we were really trying to win. We just decided at the end of the game that we were gonna pull the guy that had scored both the scores that we had and we're gonna put in a guy who has not played all season to play quarterback and somehow win this game

for us. Like that, to me is is where I think it was bush League, And I think if you're gonna be petty, be petty and own your pettiness, right, I mean I would have I would have applauded it if Doug Peterson had gone to the podium and been like, yeah, we are you gonna do about it? But you know he didn't. That's yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with you by just I'm not gonna lose sleep. Well. That's

also the interesting thing. I wonder if if if the commissioner would have or still might do something about all this if he thinks that that is not in a good spirit of the game. Yeah. I mean that's how you save yourself from me. You say what you what he said, and he pisses you off and all that, But you say that so you don't get fined, because if you come out Mark Cuban and admit that, then he's then he's getting fine. It's embarrassment to the NFL.

They're the ones that said, hey, we're gonna put this game on there, this will be a good game. Yeah, And then all of a sudden, in the middle of the fourth quarter, Al Michaels is yelling at his producer like is it Sudfeld or a suit I don't know who is this guy? You know, when Chris Collinsworth went in on it too, like they all and that that was a part of kind of the whole thing. I will say this, yeah, And I mean everything y'all saying is valid. It's it's not a good look for the league.

It's not really a good look for the Eagles, even though I don't care um, but just the nature of the league and the way that this is all designed. I just I have a hard time getting too worked up about it because it's so hard to wind up in these situations. Actually, a lot of people have pointed out this happened five years ago. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were fighting for the number one overall pick the year

they draft. They wound up drafting Jamis Winston. They were up twenty to seven on the Saints in a meaningless Week seventeen game, and they pulled like they pulled Mike Evans, They pulled like three or four of their best players, and they gave up a thirteen point lead in the second half to make sure they could draft number one. Nobody remembers that because this almost never has a chance

to happen. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances where the league didn't have a great game to choose from in Week seventeen, which very rarely happens. And I just don't think this is a trend because it's it's hard to tank in the NFL because there's too much parody and single games mean too much. So I think it's a one off. I bet we won't have to talk about something like this for another five or six years. Yeah,

I will say this. I don't. I'm not really worked up about it because at the end of the day, it wasn't the Cowboys. Cowboys are at already, they were already out of it. I will tell you this though, if that game would have been different Cowboys versus Giants, I think I would have been a little bit more worked up by it, because obviously that was what you

were looking at, and you saw the Giants players. They were reacting to it on social media because again they saw it as their opportunity, and the Eagles were in the game and they just basically decided in the fourth quarter, we don't choose to win this game. And I think that's the part that rolls people wrong. Now, let's jump into the storylines of the Cowboys game. The Cowboys lose twenty three to nineteen and or first you up first to tell me what what what's the big storyline that

you take from this game? Obviously the season's over, But was there a big storyline that you take from this game? Well, the season is over, and but this is when the real work starts. I mean, there's a lot of work to dude right now, and there should be no days off.

No one deserves a vacation, they should get right into work, all right, Actually, let me mean a little bit nice or take a couple of days to let the horrible season really sink in and reflect on yourself and the bad things that you did or didn't do this year. But in reality, there's just so much work. Honestly, since the time I started working here, I've never felt like there's so much to be done in an off season as I feel right now. And the problem is that

there's not an easy an easy fix. There's not like, oh, we're just missing this piece. And I know there's a lot of hope when it comes to Dak Prescott signing him and then getting some of these guys that were hurt in the old line back healthy and all that, but but we have to to keep reality and be aware, like there's there's just so much more than just getting some of these guys back into the field healthy. There's just a lot of things to work on and fix.

So it's gonna be, um, yeah, it's gonna be a busy, busy off season, and I hope they're able to hopefully you figure it out this year so that we can finally have a actually make a run for it all right, Nick, I thought, you know, the offensive line just got their ass kicked and and it was that's really where the game, you know, was lost. Every time they've tried to do anything, they took a step back in the game, they got sacked. At the end of the game, they couldn't I mean,

they just the line just couldn't block. And that's you know, it was just the strength. And that's when we see teams when they when you face a team that that is their strength, like Washington. They couldn't even stay on the field with Washington. And then the Giants, you know, they not this time around because you know, they didn't have Zach Martin as they did the first meeting. It was just it was ugly and everybody was getting killed.

And I look at those five guys and I think, I don't know if any of these five should be a starter next year. So that's that's, you know, I don't agree with everything Amber says about how much work

is to be done. I think this team a lot closer to competing than, you know, than people think, but that offensive line is not close and that's got to get fixed, whether it be bringing the guys back and then getting better investment on when that things happen, you got to have better resources than what they had, Dave. I mean, I think I think Nick is absolutely right.

It's it all stems from the offensive line. But because of that, it just kind of goes back to a theme from the season of like they didn't have an identity yesterday at all, and they haven't had one for most of the season, and mainly because of the Giants front. Andy Dalton didn't have time to throw. When he did have time to throw, he held onto the ball too long. None of your three great receivers had more than fifty

yards receiving. Michael Gallup has another bad day after arguably his best day, So the passing game's not working for a variety of reasons. Zeke Elliott averaged three yards per carry, and like, you know, this wasn't like a situation where they had to throw their way back into the game. They pulled it within four points midway through the third quarter, and the running games still really wasn't part of what they were trying to do, and probably because they couldn't

get anywhere doing it. You know, they averaged just over four yards per carry. The I mean, no, just at four yards per carry. The long run of the day was probably Andy's fourth down keeper, which was awesome, but that's not a sign that you're winning in the on the line of scrimmage. So they, I mean, they just they couldn't do anything. They're like, they didn't have anything they could lean on. They didn't have anything they felt confident about, and that kind of describes the whole year. Yeah,

I think it was. To me, it was a microcosm of the season. And I think I agree with you Nick, the biggest problem this team had all season. And I heard your radio call this morning, I was thinking the exact same thing. I thought it for several weeks now. It was not the loss of Dak Prescott. It was a loss of your two tackles. I think that offensive

line has held later. Yeah, it has held this team back significantly because they just couldn't do the things that go to Dave's point, that gave them their identity, like what they were expecting to be able to be this year offensively, that all got killed when their offensive line when they started the season with basically with three guys that were starters last year not being there for most of the season, and then you lost the fourth and

so I agree with you. I don't think that. I don't think there's a single guy on that offensive line by the end of this season that I necessarily think is a great option to start next year. I think, you know, I do think Connor Williams has been a little bit better this year than I expected him to be in a little bit better maybe than he was last year. I still don't know if it's good enough. Maybe it's good enough if you have all those other

guys in place. But all that being said, I think this is just a microcosm of what's happened this season. This offensive line has not been good enough, and yesterday Dallas could not stop They could not stop the New York Giant defensive front. They were just too good and they were overpowering. All right, we're gonna take our first back. When we come back. We're going to get into some of the details of the game, some of the moments that mattered in this game and where the game turned

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That's Dallas Cowboys United. Welcome back to the second segment of the Break Life in the s WBC Morria Studios. At the start, we are presented by Geico. We're talking about the Cowboys loss to the New York Giants to finish the season. They lose twenty three to nineteen. Let's get into some of the moments that matter, some of the finer details of this game. Nick, let's start with you.

What was your moment that mattered in this game? Well, I'm not saying I actually disagree with the call, but I think it definitely mattered in hindsight that you know, you get late in the game like that and you're expecting to score a little bit more. It's twenty to nine, they score a touchdown, they decide to kick the extra point. At the time, I was fine with it. I'm fine

with it now it's twenty to sixteen. You know, you're you're rolling, you're feeling, you're feeling better about things and how you're moving the ball, and you expect it, you know, to not to try to chase points, and as it turns out, you only got one more field goal and it's you know, it's twenty to nineteen. And you know, and then it's twenty three nineteen and you had a shot at late in the game, you could have been kicking the field goal had you gone for two. I mean,

I think that moment turned out to matter. Again, I don't disagree with the call, but you know, if you would have told me you're only going to score three more points and they're only gonna get three more points, then yeah, you definitely do it. Yeah, so that that proved to matter. But that's just the style that McCarthy didn't want to, you know, try to chase the point if if he didn't get it, one of the one

of the things go ahead. Amber. I was just gonna say, like I don't have a problem with that like during the game or whatever. But what I have a problem with is the logic behind it. If you if we go back, I really forgot why game that was earlier in the year where we had like why did McCarthy try to go for it? And then he explained he's like, well,

I'd rather know earlier on in the game. So it's like, okay, if that's your your logic behind it all, then then why not continue with that kind of same reasoning and do that now like that that's my problem. It's like, Okay, what what are you really trying to do or like, what's really your strategy behind it? Don't tell me you want to you rather find out earlier on and then in a game like this, you don't go for that.

And and I get that every game is different and all that, but at the same time, I guess that's just the part that actually bothers me that we heard that logic before and then now we don't get to see it. And then it's like, this is an important game, so why and so I don't know, But there's a lot of different If you don't, you don't know. Well, that game I think was the Falcons game, and there's five minutes to go and in this case there's twenty minutes or twenty five minutes to go in the game,

so there's a lot more time. But see the way they were playing, Yeah, I mean the way they were playing. I don't disagree really any like a lot of confidence, Well just just know this, like if if you don't get it, you're down by five. Okay, they score a touchdown, and that it comes down to your confidence in the defense. If the Giants go and score a touchdown, then you are definitely down by two scores. You're down by two touchdowns. You're down by twelve. If you keeping it for and

you somehow give up a touchdown, it's eleven. You're still you know, you're still kind of in it. You're still you know. So that's that's kind of why it's like too early to be chasing points. Just kick and see what happens. As it turned out, Yeah that he should have done it, you know, But I don't know if next year he's gonna change his strategy on that. I don't know. Yeah, they've all asked you, do you think it's It was kind of um interesting that all season.

I think a consistent storyline has been how aggressive this coach has been in this play call, I mean, and all the things that they do special teams when they decide to go for it, Like they've been really aggressive thing, way more aggressive than we've been used to seeing. But in this game, in this moment, he decides to opt for just taking the extra point. Does that stand out to you as something and did you agree with the call?

I think it kind of goes back to the whole like not having an identity thing because I would agree with you, like overall they've been aggressive, but I don't know if there's consistency to it. Like I think AG makes a pretty good point that it can swing wildly from one game to the next, where it's like, well, you know, the numbers say we needed to go for two, and then the next week it's we don't want to

chase points. Like it doesn't seem like there is a just an in like a strict philosophy that guides these decisions and you know that they're going to be consistent from week to week. Me personally, I really didn't have

a problem with it. I think it's the epitome of Monday morning quarterbacking, to be honest with you, because I mean, if you miss, if you miss that try and all the Giants get as a field goal, now you're down eight, and now you're in a situation where probably in the fourth quarter you're gonna have to score a touchdown and go for two just to tie it because of a decision that you made. Yeah, I don't like the second guess those types of calls unless they're just like egregious.

So I will say it's it's weird that Mike McCarthy's not more consistent with his philosophy in my opinion. But I didn't hate that decision, you know, very much at all. And I agree with what you guys are saying that the inconsistency. But that's why I think that analytics can be useful, but you can't lean on it, and there are holes in analytics because because you can't, there's just not a steady rule that this is how we do things.

This is not montell Jordan. You can't just say this is how we do it all the time because when you've got situations like this, well, this is how you do it. When you have Tyran Smith and you have Zach Martin and you're on the two yard line and you feel like you can run it in you have Dak and a good runner and all that, but two yards to this offensive line against that team it seems like twenty. So it's different. There's not just a chart for that that has asterix and it says, well, what

if your center sucks? Oh yeah, it says here, don't don't go for two if your centers up. I mean, I'm not saying Joe Lunis, I'm just saying in general, So analytics sounds good, but you have to take it case by case, and that's why I think there's inconsistency. And I'm not sure, Dave. You might know more about this because you get into the analytics world a little bit more than I do. But I don't even know if the analytics chart said that they should have gone

forward in that situation. I just think there are a lot of people who feel like, hey, you could have drawn within three, and at the end of the game, three might have mattered, right, But Amber's point is right. If you're gonna sit up here and say I need all the time I know to need what you know, I want to know what I need to do, well, then go for together and you know that you need a touchdown for sure. All right, let's let's go on, Amber,

Let's get your moment. That mattered to me. I mean, there were many things that led to this point, but it was that Dalton interception towards the end of the game the Giants, they were twenty three nineteen. It was a third and goal. I mean it was like a minute and twenty seconds left or something like that in

the game. And yes, he got he felt the pressure, but if you go back and look at the game and that play specifically, there was no need for him to just throw that ball towards the end zone just

like that, so careless. And it's one of those things that you still had another chance where you could have made something happen, just throw it away to the side or just hold on to the ball, but there was absolutely no need for a quarterback that is a veteran guy that has the experience many many years, that knows the game, that understands and is aware. And yes, he was having a horrible game yesterday, but you just you can't at that point. You cannot be making those kinds

of decisions and mistake. That was absolutely rookie mentality in my mind, and it should not have happened, and that obviously led to the Cowboys just completely losing that game when they actually had their final chance, that was their final chance to get some points on there, and they didn't because of that decision. Yeah, I think that's a good I think you pointed out something really interesting there, Amber, because if you look at it, you immediately want to

think Brandon Knight was the problem, which he was. He did he could not block Wood and he couldn't block Williams all day. That was a problem for him. But you're right, like a veteran quarterback should have known in that situation, Hey live to fight another day. Here, get rid of the ball, get the ball out, throw it to the sideline, do something. There's an opportunity here to at least get another play rather than just chunk up a prayer into the end zone. I know what he

was doing. Dalton Schultz was back there. He kind of fluttered it out, So I don't know if if the ball didn't have enough on it and that was you know, I don't know what happened there, But you're right, that was probably just as much as fault as it was Brian Knight's fault. Dave, give a share your moment that mattered. I don't know this for sure. And you know, I didn't get to talk to Andy because I was on the other telephone line with the other players when he talked.

But for a veteran quarterback to make a decision like that in that situation almost makes me think he thought it was fourth down. Honestly, I like it was the end of the game, that was the last play. Yeah, I can't I can't come up with a reason why a veteran quarterback would throw that ball otherwise. H And that's that whole sequence. To me, it's all about that. And you know, we can talk about the we can talk about the challenge controversy, the Dante Pattis catch. I'm

sure we will. But like for me, it was their best drive of the day. Seventeen plays, four minutes. It's their longest drive of the day in terms of plays and time. You know, you got the Andy keeper on fourth down. You do all this great stuff to get in position to win the game. One fifty three to play. Giants have one time out left, You're on the seven yard line, and like, that just might be the worst

three play sequence I've seen in a long time. And you know, you can lame Terrence Steele and Brandon Knight. Andy Dalton gets sacked on first down. Why on earth

are you empty? Why? Why are you not even why are you not even going to give the impression that Zeke might touch the ball on you know, again, it's first down, Giants have one timeout, So like, not only are you in position to score, but you have a chance to force them to burn timeouts and burn clock like, if you do your job very well, you can take the lead and give the ball back to the Giants

with one minute to play and no timeouts. It's a very good situation of being You go empty, so nobody's even buying that you're going to run the ball with your ninety million dollars running back. You get sacked because your offensive line has been getting its ass whipped all day. But quick Brook quick Dave that they didn't even get whipped on that play. They literally just decided we're not gonna touch, Like he just ran right by him and

nobody touched. Yeah, yeah, it was a protection breakdown. I get that, and I mean that maybe the play works if that doesn't happen, But again, like, why are you empty? Why don't you even want somebody to think that you might run the ball. And then you know, CD with just probably his worst drop of the season given the circumstances, and then we already talked about what happened on third down.

I mean, it was just a total meltdown. If they even you know, if they even just charge into the line twice and don't gain yards, you're still burning a time out, You're still burning clock. And then you got two plays to make it happen. I'm not saying it would have, but like just a what a colossal failure and it cost him the game. Obviously. Let me ask you guys this question, And I know this may sound like an overreaction, so feel free to say it is

an overreaction. But are you at all concerned about moments when Ceedee Lamb has had drops this season? Because this isn't the first time when he's had opportunities and just couldn't make the catch, couldn't bring it down, and in some instances they weren't tough catches. He just seemed almost like he just kind of had a lapse in concentration. Are you all concerned about that? Nick? Um? Yeah, I

mean I think you expect things. You expect rookies to make, you know, to have some inconsistent moments, and so he had some. Um, this is not a cold weather team, that mean at all. I don't know if they're a warm weather team either. Like they're just not that good. I mean we as we know they're not that good, but they seem to make more plays. The passing game really struggles, and so it goes back to that first Washington game. You need to be able to be a tough,

grind it out. We're better than you, tougher than you team, and doesn't matter what the weather's like. You could run the football and do all those things Nate that they obviously can't do that, not not in this shape. But I mean, I think it's a little it's a little concerning. That drop was the I agree with Dave, it's the worst one. You know. I don't call a droptail Mary really a problem. The Washington game was in the end zone. That was a big play. But but this one, yeah,

I mean we're talking five our line. Maybe, Yeah, I mean he might be able to break a tackle and get in. You expect he's gonna make it interesting. He was definitely gonna make it interesting. He'd be down there close enough to where you could actually maybe decided to run it on second down. Who knows. He's a really, really good wide receiver. He had a really good year, had one of the best years ever as a rookie

in Cowboys history. He's a good player. Won't for this unbelievable draft class, you know, we would be talking about him a little bit higher. The receivers this year were really really good and he's one of them. Yeah, Amber, you at all concerned? No, not really, I mean mainly because he has given us a lot of great moments and to me, those outweigh these bad drops obviously, things that need to be addressed and he needs to work on.

But again, just like Nick mentioned, you gotta remember he's still a rookie, and those are things that you know, even though it's seem like he should have caught that, it can happen. It can happen to veteran guys as well. So I'd like to believe that he's gonna get a lot better next year and become a lot better, and based on the things we've seen from him, he has definitely has the capability and the ability to get there.

So I'm not really worried right now. Dave seventy four catches for nine hundred and thirty five yards, you know, the catch in Minnesota, the touchdown catch many times, has gone over the middle and made great catches while getting blasted. No, I mean he has. He's had some mental lapses. I mean, and I'm not just completely writing it off. This has happened across four or five games. He's got some improving

to do. But no, I mean, I'm thrilled about CD's upside, and he's again I've never I still have not met him. I don't know when I will. But from the side, he strikes me, Yeah, for sure. Well, he strikes me as the type of guy that's going to internalize this and use it as fuel to get better in the offseason. He just seems like that type of guy. I agree with that he is. He is that type of guy. I've met him a few times. You know, this stuff matters to him. But this talking about him being a rookie,

he's not a rookie anymore. After the game, pr staff comes over, He's like, hey, you know, you want to go over and talk to Nick. He's like, nah, I'm good, I'll catch you later. Man, I'm good, I'll catch you later on the season anymore. All that coming in saying yes sir, no, sir, Like that that's gone he's doing is a vet. Now. He turned out an interview which Delon did the exact same thing. I gotta get you. I think many guys necessarily want to talk after that.

I wouldn't think give us some did yell the coat? Oh yeah, Well, we're gonna get to that. There was one guy I know that did talk and actually we got a quote we want to talk about from him. But before we do that, we're gonna take our final break. When we come back, we got to talk about Mike McCarthy and the one coaching decision that a lot of people are pointing to as the most important moment of that game, and it was a decision he decided not to not to actually look at We'll do that talk

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Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plant may not be in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to the Break, let's see playoff tickets for so. Sorry, we had a few reads here some what if reads? These aren't it? How about finals didn't work out? Yeah? Yeah, this is this one doesn't apply. Find out why this

year's Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders making the Team is the most competitive. Yeah, don't miss the new episode of season fifteen every Tuesday night at nine pm Central on CMT. That is DCC making the team though, that's consistency fifteen years in a row. We go all right, Final segment of The Break live in the SWBC Mortgage studios. At the start, we're presented by Geico. There was one other moment that I wanted to talk to you guys about yesterday. Late in the game,

Cowboys are down one point. It's twenty nineteen in the fourth quarter. New York had driven from their twenty and gotten all the way to the Dallas thirty two. Donovan Wilson gets a sack that moves them back to the Dallas forty two, so they got him out of field goal range. Then on third and sixteen at the Dallas forty two. They complete a past Pettis for ten yards that gets them back to the Dallas thirty to an interfield goal range. There was a question, though, was that

a catch or was it not a catch? Regardless of how you feel about whether it was a catch, and I want to hear from you guys on whether you think it was a catch. Do you think it was the right decision by Mike McCarthy not to at least challenge it and force the referees to take a second look. Let's start first with you Amber, Okay, putting aside the NFL's inconsistency in what's defined the catch and all this

that has been talked about for years. Putting that aside and looking at the play, I guess I'm not as upset as many people are as far as the decision because after watching the result of it, in my eyes, it was a catch and to me therefore, I'm not as upset as to Mike McCarthy not challenging that play or not. But if you want to look at it, you get what two challenges a game? So why not do it? I mean, in a game that's as important if there is a slight slight uncertainty with something like that,

just go ahead and do it. Just go ahead. I mean, this is you gotta give it your roll in this game, because that's it, that's all you have. So if you're looking at it that way, I would have said, yeah, go ahead and throw it. And I know, I know it's easier said than done because we watch it from afar and when you're down there, I'm sure it's a lot harder for you to really see exactly what happened

or have a better clue. But even before the replay, I thought it was a catch in my eyes, So I can see why Mike McCarthy made the decision as to not throw the flag and challenge it Dave, having had almost twenty four hours to think about it, I will I will say they had all three of their timeouts. Yeah, sure, take a look at it if you want to, like, but I'm not gonna kill Mike McCarthy for it. And I pissed everybody off yesterday because it was a catch. I think it was. I don't even I don't see

what the furreer is about. Pettis had both of his hands underneath it, part of the ball hit the ground, but did not move at all, like it looked firmly secured, and it was ruled a catch on the field, which we all know and don't bring up the des thing because they've changed the rules significantly since then. If it's ruled to catch on the field, you gotta see crazy evidence to the contrary to overturn it. So the odds that that would have happened, in my opinion, are very slim.

And then the irony is that it didn't work out this way. But this happened with six and a half minutes to play in the game, a game that featured eleven punts, like nobody was sustaining drives in this game at all, So it stands to reason the Cowboys might have had to give the Giants the ball back before they could have an opportunity to win the game in these circumstances, and you want as many timeouts as possible

if that's the case. So with all of that in mind, I don't blame Mike McCarthy for not doing it, and that upsets some people, and I don't care because I think it was a catch. Nick Yeah, I mean I yeah, I think he probably should have challenged you know, you're down, he's keeps them out of field goal range. You should challenge. You're you're also down, and you know, six minutes to

go too early to be calling time outs. But I mean if you call time out, I mean, if you if you burn the challenge and you don't get it, and you at least you you know, you're also stopping the clock of me. You are down and you're about to be down here, you know even more so you might you might as well. I mean, I just think that you should have. I'm like killing him for it, because again I agree, I don't know if it would

have been over overturned. But it's all hindsight, you know, you know, it's just like that's what's so tough about coaching. I don't think they should have gone for two, but now it's like, well I probably should have, and he probably should have challenged it, you know, just based on what you know. But but you know what happens if

the Cowboys act actually stopped them. You know, let's say that they after the interception, they don't give up a long run, they stop them, they use all three of their timeouts, they get the ball back they do you know, we would come back and go. Man, if you want to challenged that and lost the timeout, the game would have been over. So it's it's just the way, you know,

that's what armchair quarterbacks do. Yeah, you know. One of the interesting things is I think I know for a fact that Aikman and Buck were saying that they thought it was not a catch. And I want to say, and I don't know this for fact, Dave and Amber,

you guys were there with me. Do you recall whether they had their their former referee expert come on and did he say the same thing, Because yeah, Pereira came on and said it that he thought it wasn't a catch, right, And that's the reason why I think they should have at least challenged because if you have another person who's well aware of the rules, understands what referees are looking for when they're making calls, if he has doubt and he says, hey, I don't think this is a catch,

then that tells me there's at least a good chance that the guy who would be under the hood reviewing it might come to the same conclusion. And at that point in the game, with everything you got at risk there either giving three points or giving no points. I think it was worth a shot. And that's where I think it's it's probably a better idea for him, And I'm I think you kind of use your challenges. I think the coach. It's part of the reason why I

don't like the challenge system. Challenges in the NFL and getting it right have become a part of strategy. It shouldn't be a part of strategy. It should be about just getting it right. But if it's going to be strategy, and I think then the coaches have to think about

it from a strategic standpoint. If you're in a situation where overturning a call can make a huge impact in the game, and there's at least a small, even a small chance that you can get something out of it, that's huge, it's worth the risk, is worth the reward in that opinion. In my opinion there and so that's where I think in that instance, I think Mike McCarthy made the wrong decision. Now, there's a lot of questions about how he came to it. Was he able to

see it in stadium? Who knows were the people that were in the press box who would normally give him that information, Were they able to see it. What was their assessment, Like, there's a lot of questions that we really don't know, but all things being considered based on what we know right now, I think he made a nill informed decision. I think he should have at least tested it and made them rule that what they called on the field was correct. We don't know what was

in his ear. And I mean the NFL teams, you know, even in the stadium, you don't have to show a replay right then. You do when they get in the hood, but not right then, and you can take your time showing it. Yeah, yeah it was. If it was on our arts, our guy, they're not going to see it until they force you to see it. But if it was the other way around, well you'll see it sixteen times, you know someone that's what they do that. But but I don't put it on McCarthy. I put it on

whoever was in his ear. Yeah, you know. And this is this is so freaking annoying because the NFL they need to come out with like a very instructional video of where they show every possible catch and say catch, no catch, because there's no reason why there should be such a debate where you have some people right now saying, oh, that was in a catch, some people that say that it was a catch, when you've got some footage that

clearly shows what happened there. Because we know that there are some places that you can hardly see where the ball landed, and there's some confusion there. But when you look at the footage, there's clear, it's very clear as to what happened. So my problem is why is there such a confusion when what you're able to see is so clear. Why is there people just debating on whether or not it was a catch. Well, that's the thing.

I don't know that to me, go ahead, go ahead, And I was just gonna say, I don't I don't know that it was clear. I think it was clear for us to see. I don't know if it was clear and what happened. What I mean by that is like Dave said, he thought he had his hands on the ball, and when the ball hit the ground, he didn't move at all. When I saw it, I thought the ball did move a little bit. I don't think he lost control of it. And so that's the part where it becomes great. Even though we all see it,

and we all see the exact same thing. I think the interpretation of it can be very great to take it out then, and the NFL should take it out. I mean, the ball hits the ground, it's it's an incomplete make it. I mean that's unfair because I but that would make it real clear. It would make it. If the ball hits the ground, it's an incomplete pass. So I'll tell your quarterback to throw it up right or tell your guy that he's got to keep it from hitting again. That that would be one way. That's

how you wind up. That's how you wind up not having a das catch it at the goal line. Just if you're okay with that, Yeah, well that's literally, I mean that's well, I mean that was the wrong call. It was. It was the wrong call. I mean, but see, and that that issue goes back to a play earlier in the game that that I don't even know if that was a catch. I mean, I don't even know if it was a drop pass as that much as it was it was a fumble. Yeah, because you know,

we've the dead thing. He caught it, he turned it, he moved it to the left hand, he cupped it, he drove, he extended I mean, catching the ball was so yesterday day's news for Daz. He was already thinking moving on, and that's what was unfortunate. Same with this, the touchdown that the Giants guy had. I mean he caught it. He it was diving, he was down. It was very similar to the des thing. But they got it right because they got it wrong six years ago.

Do you guys think that that would have I obviously Dave and Amber, I think you guys agree that that you caught. The right call was made. Nick, did you think that was the right call? Yeah, that was a catch. I do. At the time, I didn't even know we were even. I didn't I'd tell you this. I didn't bother to turn around and I had to go and find a new replay. I didn't even bother to look for that. I was looked like a catch to me of the whole time. I was a little surprised afterwards, like,

oh did he not? So I don't know if it would have been overturned. But you know, if Amari Cooper makes that catch, everybody's like, yeah, he caught that, like cowboy cowboy. Yeah, they're only mad about this because it was a Giants player that caught it, yeah, which is how it goes most of the time. Right, you give if it's your team, you give a little bit more difference if it's not your team, and you're like, ah, that ball move, you know, so yeah that happened. So

what happens is is then let's say it's incomplete. They pun it to the eight nine yard line. Now you just need a field goal, you know, and you have a kicker that's really kicking the last time. Unless you would have gone to right winning then I don't forget

John spission next for four two. So I mean, it all kind of shakes out here, um, which at the end of the day is it's kind of the point of all of this, Like we're making a lot of these little small moments, but at the end of the day, but you just weren't good enough, Like you just weren't good enough to win the game. Okay, this is about

the time we're supposed to end the show. If the Cowboys had won the game, this would have been the time we would have been starting to talk about the game because you you would have gone all anti Philly for the first twenty minutes and you know, right, just to see but the whole thing. Don't forget this. If Philly, if the Cowboys had one, Jalen Hurts wouldn't have probably played at all. I mean like I would have been more okay with or they would have they would have

pulled the plug on this thing way before four. Like you know, dude, I actually would have been okay if they win to this game and said, hey, we're gonna start Sudfille. We're just gonna sit Jalen. We don't think he's we don't want to play him. We're just gonna we're gonna give set Field all the reps this week. We're gonna get him ready to play our best effort.

I would have been more okay with that than playing Jalen Hurts up until the fourth quarter and you're in the game and then saying we're gonna go and start put somebody else in, Like that's just that's the part. Yeah, I don't think it's just not good for the game. Has never met herm Edwards every even they don't even know who each other are. Yesterday was such an insane range of emotions because when you wake up, you're like, all right, cowboys gotta win, gotta root for Washington to lose,

gotta make the playoffs. Let's go Cowboys lose, that sucks. I guess we actually want Washington to win because that helps our draftstre And then by the end of by the end of the night, you're like, oh, thank god the Cowboys lost, because it would be a nightmare if we were faced with this situation had any was winning gotten the Cowboys into the playoffs, Like thank Honestly, I don't know if I could handle that news cycle. That would have been rough. So I would all I mean

and an unfortunate day. But I guess it worked out. And where where did the Cowboys pick if they if they would have won, Well, the Giants are picking one spot behind him, right, so pick eleven eleven? Yeah, Well, so if if Washington had lost, I think they would pick ten and the Cowboys would pick eleven. Yeah, and the Giants would have jumped up to nineteen. Yeah, got it.

I don't know, it was it. I think it all ended as it should, because I know I would have broken my TV if if that would happen after the Cowboys won, I would have had some feelings about that. But anyway, it worked out and we move on to the off season and Dave gets to talk to us about about the draft for the next four months. All right, so we appreciate you guys, Joannus, we'll be back. Actually, we're starting our off season schedule, so we're gonna be

on Wednesdays. The Cowboys Break will be on every Wednesday at eleven thirty am Central Time, So make sure you check us out this Wednesday and every Wednesday after this. I'll check out the website for a full schedule of all the shows. We'll have a show every day. One of our podcasts will go every day. Again. The Break will be on on Wednesdays until then for Nick Eatman, Dave helm and Amber Garcia, IP Derek Hickleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.

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