Wild-card round good, bad, ugly: Cowboys failed in myriad of ways vs 49ers

Another season, another disappointing ending for the Dallas Cowboys. This year it came at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, in a home wild-card round playoff game, 23-17.

In a contest where the Cowboys had to play their best football in order to save their season, they played undisciplined and uninspired. In a win or go home situation, in a game where they had yet another chance to show they were a different version of the Cowboys than the last 25 iterations, they demonstrated that although the players and coaches were different, nothing really had changed.

The 49ers beat the Cowboys as much as the Cowboys beat themselves in a tough-to-watch playoff performance.

Winning the NFC East was fun, as was winning six straight and making Cowboys Nation believe things were different this year. In the end, though, it was the same type of issues that had plagued the Cowboys all year that got them dismissed from the playoffs. Bad penalties at the worst times and an offense that never found their rhythm cost Dallas their season.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Cowboys’ wild card loss to the 49ers.

The Good: Bryan Anger

It’s bad when the good starts with the punter, but Anger had himself a day to give the Cowboys a chance. He helped swing field position on almost every kick, averaging 53.6 yards a boot and had three punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

Anger also had one of the plays of the game, keeping the Cowboys in it with his pass on a fake punt. With the Cowboys down 16 points in the fourth quarter and facing a fourth-and-5 at their own 48-yard line, Anger came on to throw it to cornerback C.J. Goodwin for 16 yards and a first down.

The Cowboys wound up getting a field goal in the drive and helped put them in position to get back in the game. Dallas needed a boost to give themselves a chance and it came from Anger.

The Bad: Randy Gregory

It wasn’t the defensive end’s best performance on the season and it came at the worst time. Gregory had three penalties, including one on the first play of the game while the other two created a new set of downs for the 49ers.

Admittedly, the first two neutral zone infractions appeared to be the result of 49ers left tackle Trent Williams twitching his left leg, which Gregory was using to key his snap get off. Williams did this throughout the game without it being called, but he’s reportedly been getting away with it all season.

The biggest infraction came late in the fourth quarter with the 49ers facing a 2nd-and-9 with under two minutes to play, the defense made a big stop to put San Francisco in a third-and-long situation. Gregory got called for an inexplicable hold, negating the stop because he flat-out tackled a 49ers offensive lineman.

In what could be Gregory’s last game as a Cowboy, he’s a pending free agent, he played a disappointing role in the loss.

The Good: Leighton Vander Esch

In a rough year for the linebacker, it was one of Vander Esch’s best games. The veteran LB led the team in tackles with 13 and had a big assignment in helping the rush defense slow a diverse offense.

Vander Esch’s biggest play was stopping 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel from gaining a first down late in the game.

With the 49ers up by six with 3:40 to play, facing a third-and-5, the offense dialed up a pass to their best weapon, Samuel. Vander Esch stopped Samuel short of the first down marker and helped force a punt to get the ball back to the offense with a chance to win the game.

The comeback wasn’t meant to be, but Vander Esch had a strong game, in possibly his last game as a Cowboys as well.

The Bad: Penalties

Like most games this season, there were questionable calls that went against the Cowboys and were missed against the 49ers. However, the team earned most of their franchise-playoff record-tying 14 penalties, which cost the team 89 yards of field position. Most of the penalties were mental mistakes that occurred even before the ball was snapped or came at the most inopportune times.

The Cowboys were way too undisciplined in this game to leave with a win. Dallas won 12 games this season and overcame some of their penalty issues, but there is no excuse for having that many lapses in judgement in a game that decided their season.

The Bad: Offensive coaching

It’s not difficult to say that quarterback Dak Prescott played poorly. He wasn’t good enough in a money game and that’s the simple truth, but the play calling left much to be desired.

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is guilt of not getting the ball to his best players. Tight end Dalton Schultz shouldn’t end up as the team’s leading receiver. There weren’t enough plays designed to get wide receiver CeeDee Lamb or running back Tony Pollard involved in the offense. Pollard is one of the biggest play makers for the Cowboys and got just six touches in the game.

The 49ers had no trouble getting their best players involved, but the Cowboys never schemed it up to give their best options a chance.

The Ugly: The final play

With all that went wrong in the game, the Cowboys still had a glimmer of hope with 14 seconds on the clock at the 49ers’ 41-yard line. Dallas had maybe two plays to take their chances throwing the ball down the field or in the end zone.

The draw to pickup yards for a closer attempt at throwing in the end zone was a horrendous decision that makes the Cowboys look foolish. The offensive coordinator was foolish for calling it, the head coach was a fool for allowing it, and the quarterback showed poor judgement for not changing the play.

It’s certain the team has worked on that exact play/situation in practice and thought they could work it in, but it was an awful decision that sealed the Cowboys’ fate for the 2021 season.

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