The Cowboys had the Ravens right where they wanted them, and somehow the night still ended with Dallas staring at a loss and a whole lot of questions.
The biggest one hangs over the final goal-line snap: why did Dak Prescott get rid of the ball on 3rd-and-goal from the five with Dallas trailing 31-28 and a chance to steal the game? After the loss, Brian Schottenheimer said Prescott had been told to throw it away, and the coach admitted he “overcoached” him.
That sequence looked even stranger once you break it down. On the snap from Cooper Beebe, Prescott fired the ball out of bounds while George Pickens was working open against Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins.
On replay, Pickens had won the route and was free at the front pylon, with a path that looked a lot like his fourth-quarter touchdown against Green Bay last season. But Prescott had already let it go by the time Pickens turned back around.
The likely explanation is that Prescott saw something pre-snap that told him to get rid of it immediately. With no timeouts, the read may have been made before the route really had time to unfold.
If that’s what happened, Dallas was only going to take the shot if the coverage gave it to them right away. Pickens beat his man, just not fast enough to beat the clock in Prescott’s head.
And that clock was a mess by the time Dallas got there.
A failed fade to Pickens on first-and-goal from the two was followed by a Luke Schoonmaker false start that pushed the Cowboys back five yards. Then Prescott stepped up to avoid pressure and picked up two yards, but Terence Steele was hurt on the play, forcing Schottenheimer to use the last timeout with 14 seconds left. If Steele had stayed healthy, Dallas could have let more time drain before taking that timeout.
Even with that injury, the Cowboys still had time for one more real shot at the end zone.
Instead, Schottenheimer seemed determined not to let the game turn into a disaster. He clearly wanted to avoid a sack or a turnover and at least force overtime. But that approach meant trusting a defense that was already hanging by a thread in the secondary.
Dallas was already without Malik Hooker, DeMarvion Overshown, P.J. Locke, and Cobie Durant, and then Jalen Thompson and Shavon Revel left in the second half with hamstring and knee injuries.
Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt kept pointing out how thin the Cowboys were getting back there, and it was obvious.
Dallas was down to safeties five and six and cornerbacks five and six.
Still, Schottenheimer played it safe. He was content to send his defense back out instead of letting Prescott and two receivers Baltimore had not solved try to finish the game from the five-yard line.
Afterward, Prescott made it clear he felt there was a better throw available.
"I probably should've just sat on it a little bit longer. Sank on my back foot and just put it on that front pylon. Definitely should have."
That’s the part that makes this so frustrating for Dallas. Prescott has complete command of the offense and handles pre-snap reads as well as anyone.
He was already adjusting plays and identifying coverages against Baltimore throughout the game. On that final snap, though, he appeared annoyed, and it’s hard to tell whether that was about the call, the timing, or both.
In the end, this isn’t as simple as saying Schottenheimer ordered a pointless throwaway. Prescott likely knew he had to avoid the sack if the first read wasn’t there fast enough, because Dallas no longer had a timeout to absorb that kind of mistake. But once the ball was snapped, the Cowboys still had a chance to trust their quarterback and let Pickens make a play.
Instead, the safer choice took over.
And then the rest unraveled. Schottenheimer told Brandon Aubrey to kick the ensuing kickoff through the back of the end zone, and that left Baltimore with just enough time to line up the game-winning field goal.
The Cowboys had 31 points. That should have been enough.
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