Mike Tomlin has no regrets over using his final timeout ahead of the Dallas Cowboys’ 4th and goal that they ultimately converted and won them the game over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night. Head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t upset at Tomlin for giving him extra time to prepare. Speaking about the end of last night’s game, McCarthy said that timeout helped Dallas gather enough information to come up with the perfect play call.
“We call it a Kodak, take a picture of the formation,” McCarthy told reporters via the Cowboy’s YouTube channel. “Common knowledge too is that, I mean, to make the offensive guy go through his second call. So I was in between two calls there. Liked the information that we saw when they called the timeout. So I actually changed the call there for the fourth-down call.”
Dallas initially came out with in a 2×2 formation with wider splits. Based on the snapshot below, it would’ve had a tough time chipping and helping slow down T.J. Watt, who would’ve been left 1v1 with the Cowboys’ right tackle he had success against throughout the night.
Out of the timeout, the Cowboys reduced their splits to help run the concept, wide receivers running shallow crossers, and to help get extra hands on Watt.
“Dak just did a great job. I wanted protection, chip T.J. Watt there. It’s a play that we run a lot and practice a lot,” McCarthy said.
Prescott had enough time in the pocket to let the play develop, hitting WR Jalen Tolbert with SS DeShon Elliott unable to finish the play. The story of the game was that Dallas was able to finish its tight, contested moments on offense while Pittsburgh wasn’t, leading the Cowboys to walk off the field on a literal Monday morning victorious.
Tomlin’s timeout still was an understandable choice. Getting a look at the Cowboys’ defense and being able to match up with what the Steelers thought was their best play call was smarter than holding the timeout to slightly boost long odds of a miraculous comeback had Dallas taken the lead. The pre-timeout look had WR CeeDee Lamb on struggling rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr., a matchup the Steelers needed to avoid. Still, Dallas used the timeout in the same way Pittsburgh did. For fact-finding and to provide the perfect counterpunch. When the clock hit zero, it was the Steelers laying facedown on the mat.
