People aren’t short of opinions about Sunday’s dramatic Cowboys-49ers matchup. Scott Pioli, a former NFL general manager, pointed fingers at Dak Preston and the preparations for the Cowboys’ loss.
“This is why coaches teach situational football!!” Pioli tweeted. “The ball carrier CANNOT set the ball after the play! It’s why you teach players to HAND ball to (the) official in hurry up. Everyone should know that rule and every team should be practicing it!!”
This is why coaches teach situational football!!
The ball carrier CANNOT set the ball after the play! It's why you teach players to HAND ball to official in hurry up. Everyone should know that rule and every team should be practicing it!!#NFL #NFLPlayoff #NFLWildCard— Scott Pioli (@scottpioli51) January 17, 2022
During his six years in Dallas, Dak Prescott and Cowboys have run hundreds of two-minute drills. Prescott also performed two-minute drills hundreds times with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. All that preparation was useless when the game was on the line, and the clock was ticking down.
With 14 seconds left, the Cowboys were out-of-time and Kellen Moore, Dallas’ offensive coordinator, called a quarterback draw to create a pass play that was better than a Hail Mary.
Prescott ran 17 yard to the San Francisco 24-yard mark. The Cowboys raced to the line in an attempt to spike the ball before time expired. It didn’t work out as Dallas snapped Prescott the ball with just one second remaining and Prescott spiked the ball in no time.
According to a pool report, Alex Kemp stated that Ramon George, the umpire for Sunday’s Cowboys-49ers game, correctly spotted the ball in the final seconds. But, Dallas quarterback Dak Preston denies this fact.
He claims that he and his Cowboys teammates did everything correctly in the final seconds of the game to allow them time to spike the ball just in case the clock runs out.
Prescott stated, “I thought that I did (spike it in time),” “I didn’t hear the ref say, or what their announcement was. They were running off the field, and I saw the Niners celebrating on the field. So [I] didn’t understand what had happened.”
Prescott explained his final thoughts to the audience after the game.
“We were going to get some yards and get down and clock it,” Prescott said. “It’s something we’ve practiced over and over again. I Ran. Went and got some yards. Went down. As I was getting behind (center) Tyler (Biadasz), saw four seconds left. I thought there was obviously time to make sure everybody was set, and then honestly, just got hit from behind (by the umpire). Still, when I got up (under center), I saw two seconds. I thought I could get the snap and get it down before time expired. I’m not sure what happened other than that.”