The Dallas Cowboys’ season came to an end on Sunday in one of the more chaotic sequences we’ll see from these NFL playoffs. And even the Cowboys players weren’t totally sure about what unfolded in the 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
With 14 seconds remaining in the game and no timeouts from the San Francisco 41-yard line, Dak Prescott took off on a designed run up the middle. He slid after picking up 17 yards, but with no way of stopping the clock, the Cowboys had to rush to get set. That was when the umpire, who has to physically touch the ball before it can be snapped, came barreling in and made it impossible for the Cowboys to get a play off in time.
NFL Films released mic’d-up footage from those final moments, and we could hear as Ezekiel Elliott was in disbelief that an official ran into Prescott.
The final drive of the #Cowboys–#49ers playoff game via NFL Films@EzekielElliott: "What happened? the referee got in the way?" pic.twitter.com/2iqdHyaQjM
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 19, 2022
He said:
“Hey, what happened? The referee got in the way?”
And while the umpire colliding into Prescott looked terrible from inside the stadium (hence, the trash getting thrown at the refs), the umpire was trying to get in there so the Cowboys could snap the ball.
It wasn’t graceful, but that showed exactly why the play call was so risky to begin with. You’re depending on Prescott to get down with time left to spike the ball, but you’re also depending on an official to keep up with the play. That was too much to ask, apparently.
