Greg Zuerlein saved the day for the Cowboys. His 56-yard game-winning field goal also saved face for coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
The Cowboys had one timeout and faced second-and-six from the Chargers 41 with 33 seconds left. Dallas handed the ball off to Tony Pollard, who gained 3 yards. They never got another play off before calling timeout with four seconds left to set up Zuerlein’s try.
“Hopefully next time it’s a 48-yarder, and we’ll feel a little bit better about it,” Moore said, via the team website.
Moore concedes he should have called a different second-down play.
“The clock got a little bit goofy,” Moore said. “I didn’t really like my run to Tony. I would’ve probably called something different there if we had gone down that road again. But those things always happen through a game.”
Still, the Cowboys had plenty of time to run another play. McCarthy explained immediately after that game that the clock he was watching went black. Moore said his vision of a different clock was obscured by a mobile camera.
“The camera guy on the cart, he kind of moved right in front of the screen,” Moore said.
When the clock got below 17 seconds, the Cowboys decided to run it all the way down and call timeout to set up Zuerlein’s kick. Zuerlein made it to take the coaches off the hook.
Kellen Moore on late game management: The clock got a little goofy originally appeared on Pro Football Talk