Eight NFL teams have won their franchise’s first Super Bowl title since the Cowboys last appeared in the big game to end the 1995 season. The Bengals could be the ninth.
The Cowboys thought they had the team to do it this season . . . as they did in 2020 and 2019 and . . .
Dallas was the only home team that lost in the wild card round of the 2021 postseason, running out of time in a failed comeback attempt against the 49ers.
The Cowboys were out of timeouts with 14 seconds left when offensive coordinator Kellen Moore called for a quarterback draw to try to get close enough for a better play than a Hail Mary. Prescott ran 17 yards to the San Francisco 24, and the Cowboys scrambled to the line to try to spike the ball before time ran out. They got the spike off but with no time for another play.
Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb relived the play during an appearance on PFT Live on Thursday.
“Honestly, I didn’t like how . . .,” Lamb said. “I mean, we ran the draw. He got farther than a lot of us expected. He got a lot farther than a lot of us expected. So by him going down, and then understanding the time clock. The ref had to touch the ball. I’m not blaming the ref. I’m just saying that’s a key factor also. The ref has to touch the ball before the ball is snapped. I didn’t like the lackadasical (the umpire) was moving with. We all know that the clock is running. He’s sliding in bounds. It’s under 10 seconds. Like, bro, we need some urgency. You know? Honestly, we ran out of time, but I think it was the right call.”
Lamb said the Cowboys practice two-minute situations “a lot,” but not that particular play.
The Cowboys, though, believe they had enough time to run the draw, spike the ball and have enough time left for one play to the end zone to win the game. They blame umpire Ramon George for not spotting the ball quickly enough.
“You would think the umpire understands it as well as we do,” Lamb said. “We know the umpire that’s behind us, behind the whole play, he has to touch the ball. He’s required to touch the ball every play just about. So understanding what’s at stake, like, we have to get the ball down. We know we had time for one play rather it’s out of bounds or in bounds, get down and spike the ball. Regardless of the situation, we knew we had to spike the ball.”
Former Saints coach Sean Payton and former NFL executive Scott Pioli are among those who have questioned the play call, Prescott for not sliding earlier and Prescott for handing the ball to center Tyler Biadasz rather than to the official.
No matter, the Cowboys now are where they have been the previous 25 offseasons: Trying to figure out how to get back to the Super Bowl.
