‘A Couple Of Field Goals’: Stephen Jones On Dallas Cowboys’ Late-Game Offense In Overtime Loss To Arizona Cardinals
FRISCO, Texas — Stephen Jones said the Dallas Cowboys played for a couple of field goals late in Sunday’s 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals, speaking Monday on 105.3 The Fan’s “K&C Masterpiece”. The Cowboys COO and executive vice president said Dallas wanted to run clock while its defense was playing well.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer calls the offensive plays. Jones said there are things to balance in how aggressive to be.
“Well, I think those are things that you’ve got to balance,” Jones said. “I mean, you see a lot of great clock management. And I think we’re feeling really good about how the defense was playing and we were wanting to run clock. And there’s no question there at the end of the game, we played for a couple of field goals.”
“At the same time, we did take a chance on one, trying to get a first down to put it away,” Jones continued. “But I still think we can be a lot better offensively than we were yesterday. You have to give the Cardinals credit. They’re a good defensive football team. Certainly, we struggled with pressure at times again yesterday in terms of a lot of tip balls, a lot of pressure that we didn’t handle as well.”
How The Dallas Cowboys’ Late Drives Played Out
After Arizona cut the lead to 24-17 with 10:47 left, Dallas drove 15 plays for 56 yards and used 6:53. On third-and-11 from the Arizona 17, Dak Prescott threw incomplete to CeeDee Lamb, and Brandon Aubrey kicked a 35-yard field goal for a 27-17 lead with 3:54 left.
Arizona answered with a touchdown with 2:11 left. Dallas took over at the Arizona 20 after recovering an onside kick. Javonte Williams ran for no gain, Prescott was sacked for a 6-yard loss, and Williams ran for 3 yards on third-and-16. Aubrey’s 41-yard field goal made it 30-24 with 1:09 left before Arizona tied the game with 6 seconds remaining.
Stephen Jones On Stalled Run Game, Overtime Possession
A week after rushing for 204 yards in a 38-21 win at Philadelphia, Dallas ran 39 times for 93 yards. Williams carried 24 times for 56 yards. Prescott was sacked 4 times, and Arizona defended 5 passes.
When Jones spoke Monday, the Cowboys had not held their meetings yet. In his view, Arizona knew Dallas was going to run.
“Certainly we’ve been looking at the tape a little bit, but they had a good game plan,” Jones said. “They knew we were going to come in and run the football. They had some good run blitzes and some good pressure packages that we really struggled with. We still ended up scoring 30 points, but a lot of those drives could have been much better and ended in touchdowns. But we settled for field goals and ultimately ended up not getting the job done.”
In overtime, the Cowboys forced a three-and-out on Arizona’s first possession. Dallas then ran 3 plays for minus-5 yards and punted, and Chad Ryland won it with a 42-yard field goal. Jones and his father talked about that sequence after the game.
“I think obviously that’s one of the things you look to when you say, hey, we’re inconsistent in all phases and we’re not finishing,” Jones said. “And we were talking about it after the game, Jerry and myself. We’re visiting about how good would you normally feel? And how good did we feel when we were able to hold them [to a] three-and-out and get the ball and need about 30 yards from our offense to get us a field goal to win the game? And unfortunately, we didn’t get that done.”
Dallas visits the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX.
