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After Romo completed that 3rd down and 11 pass to Dez Bryant to get down to the Arizona 31 yard line, the entire bar errupted in cheers. But then, my fellow Dallas Cowboys fan comrades and I sat defenseless as the clock kept winding down 24…15….8… well, you know how a countdown works. What had just happened? We all saw the 2 yellow marks next to our teams logo on the upper right of the screen indicating we had 2 timeouts left so we knew we had them. Why wasn't a timeout called? Now, by now you may have heard Jason Garrett explain himself where he said, "We felt like we were in field-goal range. We have yard lines that we use as guidelines before the game. We felt like we were in range at that point." Really? A 48 yard field goal is a gimme these days where you don't feel compelled to use that extra time to get a little closer? 24 seconds is a lot of time. Here's a list of things you can do in 24 seconds:
-Put the toilet seat down after you use it
-Run an entire basketball possession without ever having to take a shot
-Submit a Facebook post about how you can't believe the Cowboys just wasted 24 seconds
I had the privilege of watching the Packers/Giants game on the TV next to the Cowboys game in which the Giants had just came back to tie the game. I then watched Aaron Rodgers throw 2 passes for 51 yards that eclipsed a whole 14 seconds to start their game winning drive against the Giants. Now that's Aaron Rodgers, but we're not asking for 51 yards - we're only asking for a few more yards. I couldn't believe what had just happened. As Chazz Michael Michaels woulds say - it was mind bottling. "You know, when things are so crazy, you get your thoughts trapped, like in a bottle."
As I sat and watched us NOT MAKE THE FIELD GOAL it left an even a more disgusted feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could careless about the whole timeout to "ice his own kicker" thing. Garrett's explanation of the play clock running out made sense. Even though the first kick went through and the second one didn't - only matters to those hindsight coaches who are all geniuses. Had Bailey missed the first one and made the second, then Garret would have been a hero - so that goes to show just how that decision can't be criticised too much. Not calling a timeout earlier, that was inexcusable.
Garrett went on to explain further, "You see so many situations where you have negative plays in those situations". Romo could have rolled out and tried to complete a pass. If it was incomplete, try it again. If that's incomplete, try one more time. If you complete it, call a time-out and BOOYAH - shorter FG attempt. No amount of rationalizing will make me believe that was not a complete lapse in judgment by the head coach. Bailey doesn't have a big leg. If he did, why would David Buehler still be on the roster? Bailey has proven himself to be accurate, but he's not a long distance kicker. Garrett should have been more diligent in getting his kicker a more makeable kick. Instead, he must have thought since Bailey has kicked the game winning field goal twice over the last 2 games that he can just keep doing it. Well, his luck finally ran out and he has Jason Garrett to thank for it.
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