At the end of a weekend of playoff football that saw three games mostly wrapped up before the closing minutes, the Cowboys-49ers matchup was shaping up to go down to the wire—until it wasn’t.

Dallas’s offense struggled all afternoon, but the defense had done just enough to hang with the Niners. With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, after a San Francisco field goal made it 19–12, the Cowboys took over with a chance to drive for a game-tying touchdown. Two incomplete passes and a sack later it was fourth-and-10 from Dallas’s 18-yard line, and the clock was ticking. I’ll let Conor Orr explain what happened next:

Mike McCarthy sent out the punt unit, letting nearly all of the play clock tick down before Bryan Anger could boot it away. We were all mouths agape, wondering why on Earth he decided to remove the ball from his quarterback’s hands and punt the football, instead of giving him a shot to move the chains on fourth down. Why, if a punt was a possibility, was the punt team not ready to swoop onto the field like an overzealous SWAT unit. Why the internal calculus of a man who was once one of the league’s most aggressive fourth-down coaches and billed his coaching rebirth in Dallas as one steeped in analytics (in 2020, the Cowboys were second in the NFL in fourth-down conversion attempts and were dead last in ’22 with 19) has winnowed to a point where Dallas’s alternate logo could be a forlorn man waving a white handkerchief.

Punting was a bad decision. Allowing the play clock to run down to near zero before punting was worse. The Cowboys did get the ball back at their own 6 with 45 seconds and no timeouts, but the only reason they had more than a few seconds left is because 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell ran out of bounds after picking up a first down.

Going 94 yards in 45 seconds without any timeouts is a nearly impossible task, far more difficult than picking up a single fourth-and-10 to keep your hopes alive. The situation was so dire that McCarthy dialed up one of the most pathetically desperate play calls in NFL history for the final snap of the game. It featured running back Ezekiel Elliott at center and the team’s offensive linemen split out wide. Elliott snapped the ball to Dak Prescott and was immediately bowled over. Prescott threw to KaVontae Turpin for an eight-yard gain, and before Turpin could pull off whatever magic McCarthy envisioned, he was leveled by Jimmie Ward.

That’s how the Cowboys’ season ended. They still haven’t been to a conference title game in 27 years.

The 49ers’ league-best defense gave Dallas fits all day long and is the primary reason why they’ll be playing for a trip to the Super Bowl next Sunday in Philadelphia. The Eagles’ defense was equally impressive, though, in their 38–7 win over the Giants on Saturday. Philly’s offensive line was also dominant as the Eagles racked up a whopping 268 rushing yards. It’ll be strength vs. strength when the 49ers’ stout defense meets the Eagles’ prolific rushing offense.

In the AFC, the Bengals beat the Bills pretty handily in snowy Buffalo to return to the AFC championship game. (I think Orr made a good point on Twitter about the emotional impact of the Damar Hamlin situation and how it may have impacted the Bills.) In theory, that should set up a fun rematch between two of the game’s top young quarterbacks when the Bengals travel to Kansas City next week to take on the Chiefs. But after Patrick Mahomes sprained his ankle in the win over the Jaguars, his status will be monitored very closely all week long.

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Although the AFC title game won’t be played in Atlanta, Albert Breer explains how the NFL could generate additional revenue by playing conference championship games at neutral sites in the future.
Richard Johnson breaks down the messy recruiting saga of Jaden Rashada and Florida.
Jerry Jones says Mike McCarthy’s job is safe after the Cowboys’ playoff exit.
Tom Brady was fined for his controversial tripping attempt against the Cowboys.
Former NFL running back Peyton Hillis was discharged from the hospital after he saved his kids from drowning.
Temple handed men’s No. 1 Houston an unexpected road upset.
Bethune-Cookman players want Ed Reed reinstated as football coach after the school declined to ratify his contract.

The top five...

… plays from the divisional round:

5. The Giants’ nifty wildcat play for their lone touchdown.

4. Patrick Mahomes’s jump pass off of one foot to extend the Chiefs’ lead.

3. CeeDee Lamb’s catch despite blatant pass interference.

2. Chad Henne’s 98-yard touchdown drive while Mahomes was in the locker room.

1. George Kittle’s juggling catch.

SIQ

NFL owners approved a rule change this week in 1950 permitting unlimited substitutions and thus paving the way for modern football’s offensive and defensive specialization. When did college football permanently adopt unlimited substitutions?

1946
1952
1958
1964

Friday’s SIQ: Notre Dame end Leon Hart is one of four players to win the Heisman Trophy and a national championship in the same season and then be selected first in the NFL draft immediately afterward. I’ll give you one of the others (Angelo Bertelli), but can you name the remaining two? (Hint: Both played college football in the last 20 years.)

Answer: Cam Newton and Joe Burrow. Newton led Auburn to a national championship in 2010, and Burrow did the same for LSU in ’19.

Hart played on both sides of the ball for Notre Dame and with the Lions. In 1949, he was the co-captain of the undefeated Irish team and won the Heisman after leading the team with 19 catches for 257 yards while also playing a prominent role on a defense that allowed a mere 8.6 points per game. At the end of the year, he was voted the nation’s top athlete by the Associated Press, beating out Jackie Robinson. The Lions took him with the top pick in the draft, and he played eight NFL seasons.

Bertelli, like Hart, played for Notre Dame. As a senior in 1943, he started six games at quarterback, completing 25 of 36 passes for 512 yards before he was ordered to report for military duty. Still, Bertelli won the Heisman. The Boston Yanks took him first in the ’44 NFL draft, but his military service delayed his pro career until ’46. He played one season with the Los Angeles Dons and then two with the Chicago Rockets.

Other players who won the Heisman and the national title in the same year include Tony Dorsett, Charles Woodson, Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram and Jameis Winston.

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