Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)
Dallas Cowboys head coach made a head-scratching decision to attempt a 60-yard field goal despite kicker Greg Zuerlein struggling to make extra points.
You’re the head coach of an NFL team. Your kicker has already missed an easy field goal and an extra point. The first half is about to end and you have the option to try a 60-yard field goal. Do you do it?
If you answered no, you’re clearly not Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.
McCarthy made the highly questionable decision to send kicker Greg Zuerlein out for a 60-yard attempt from the Tampa Bay 42 yard line with 20 seconds remaining in the first half. To the surprise of no one, he missed.
Zuerlein had already missed an attempt from 31 yards out extremely wide left. He also linked a PAT off the upright.
Mike McCarthy’s faith in his struggling kicker made no sense
Why was it such a crazy thing to attempt? Aside from Zuerlein clearly not being capable of hitting the kick, it gave the ball back to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers at midfield. Tampa Bay got to lob a Hail Mary as the clock expired.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, that Hail Mary wasn’t completed. In fact, it was intercepted and returned 66 yards before an offensive lineman took down Jourdan Lewis.
If Dallas had managed to score on that return it would have been the luckiest turn around and silliest reward for bad decision-making in NFL history.
As it was, the half ended with the Buccaneers leading the Cowboys 21-16.