The final play of the Cowboys season began with running back Ezekiel Elliott playing center and it ended with a short pass to KaVontae Turpin.
Elliott lined up at center to snap to quarterback Dak Prescott with the rest of the offense spread out across the line of scrimmage for what appeared to be an attempt to complete a pass and then start lateraling the ball around the field. 49ers linebacker Azeez Al-Shahir steamrolled Elliott right after the snap and pressured Prescott up the middle before the quarterback hit Turpin for a short gain.
49ers cornerback Jimmie Ward tackled Turpin immediately after the catch to touch off a celebration and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy wasn’t in any mood to elaborate on what went awry on the final snap for the Cowboys when he spoke to reporters after the game.
“Yeah, it didn’t get going,” McCarthy said, via NBCSportsBayArea.com. “I really don’t want to get into the detail of it, but that obviously wasn’t the plan. It’s obviously a gadget play or whatever. It’s a last-play-situation call that we practice.”
It’s safe to say that the play must have looked a lot different in practice than it looked on the field and the Cowboys will now have months to come up with something else to try the next time they find themselves down to their final snap with a lot of field left to cover.
Mike McCarthy on last play: It didn’t get going, that obviously wasn’t the plan originally appeared on Pro Football Talk