The final play that sends the @49ers to the NFC Championship! #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Du5KruFQ3q
Buy Saints Tickets— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2023
Yikes, Mike McCarthy. The Dallas Cowboys coach fell into his second painful playoff exit in two years on Sunday evening, with the San Francisco 49ers limiting his offense to one of their lowest outputs of the year. Dallas gained just 282 yards and scored only 12 points on the night, with star running back Ezekiel Elliott limited to 33 yards from scrimmage and franchise quarterback Dak Prescott throwing for a meagre 206 yards, with two interceptions against his lone touchdown pass.
But they had a chance to win until late in the fourth quarter when tight end Dalton Schultz made a couple of errors in high-leverage situations down the sideline. He allowed himself to be pushed out of bounds laterally, without making forward progress, which allowed the clock to continue running inside the final minute. A few plays later he failed to get both feet down before leaving the field, stranding the Cowboys deep inside their own territory.
The cherry on top was a cockamamie designed-lateral play on the game’s final snap, which featured Elliott snapping the ball to Prescott and getting bodied into the turf, only for the 49ers defensive to immediately snuff out the catch at midfield as time expired. It’s enough to make a man sick. And it’s the kind of situational football where Sean Payton has always shined.
Could this high-profile embarrassment be what pushes Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to go back on his word and reevaluate McCarthy’s job security? He’s stood by his head coach all year long despite the speculation swirling around Sean Payton’s sweepstakes as the New Orleans Saints look to get some value back in trading their former head coach. Jones has long entertained the idea of bringing Payton back to Dallas (where he worked as offensive coordinator before the Saints hired him in 2006), and now he has the means, motive, and opportunity to make it happen.
But this is still speculation. The Cowboys are talented enough to go the distance. Payton is a good enough coach to fix what ails them. McCarthy has likely met his ceiling here with a divisional-round exit. Will Jones feel pressured enough to make a switch? No one could blame him if he tried.
