‘Every Chance’: Cooper Beebe Says Dallas Cowboys Needed A Touchdown After Onside Kick Recovery Against Arizona Cardinals
FRISCO, Texas — Center Cooper Beebe said Wednesday that the Dallas Cowboys never should have been in position to lose Sunday, and that the drive after Dallas recovered an onside kick needed to end in a touchdown, not a field goal.
Ryan Flournoy recovered Chad Ryland’s onside kick with 2:11 left and Dallas leading the Arizona Cardinals 27-24, and an illegal touch penalty moved the Cowboys to the Arizona 20. Javonte Williams was stopped for no gain, Arizona sacked Dak Prescott for a 6-yard loss, and Williams ran for 3 yards before Brandon Aubrey made a 41-yard field goal for a 30-24 lead with 1:09 left.
Tightness had nothing to do with it, in Beebe’s view.
“No, I think we just got to execute. We had every chance in the game to win that. And we have certain opportunities that we just got to go execute,” Beebe said. “We shouldn’t. Should never been in that position. We go down, we got to find a way to score instead of kicking a field goal. But no, it’s just we got to figure out ways to execute.”
Gardner Minshew II then drove Arizona 80 yards in 1:03 without a timeout and threw a 13-yard touchdown to Michael Wilson with 6 seconds left. Ryland missed the extra point, sending the game to overtime.
Dak Prescott Wanted More Aggression On That Drive
Prescott pointed to the same possession after Sunday’s game. Knowing what came next, he said, 6 points were not enough.
“Maybe the drive after the onside kick,” Prescott said Sunday. “Just that drive in general. Wanting to be aggressive, understanding. Now knowing what was going to come afterwards, right? That 6 points wasn’t enough. And that would probably be the main moment, yeah.”
Dallas won the overtime coin toss and elected to kick. The defense forced a punt, but the offense went three-and-out and lost 5 yards, and Ryland won it with a 42-yard field goal.
Brian Schottenheimer Says The Offense Could Have Put It Away
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer used the same game in his message to the team this week, splitting it between a defense that needed late stops and an offense that had chances to close.
“Great case and example is the game the other night. The way the defense played for the first three quarters is how we wanna play defense. And then of course, this is the fourth quarter, we gotta get some stops,” Schottenheimer said. “Offensively, I feel like we could have put that game away with the offense late, and we didn’t. So that’s been a big message.”
Beebe was a third-round pick in 2024, No. 73 overall, out of Kansas State. Left guard Tyler Smith was limited in Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury.
Dallas visits the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at noon CT on FOX.
