Dallas Cowboys: 3 Big takeaways from win vs. Eagles in Week 14
By Randy Gurzi
3. Garrett isn’t always conservative
There’s this narrative about Dallas head coach Jason Garrett being incredibly conservative. He’s earned that reputation for a couple of reasons. One is his fear of throwing the ball on third downs if there seem to be more than five yards to go. Another is his love for playing it safe with a lead. However, Garrett isn’t always playing the numbers and he proved it in overtime in Week 14.
Dallas has played well on defense all season and after getting the ball to start overtime, they had moved into field goal range. Facing a third-and-one, Garrett and the Cowboys were stopped short as Ezekiel Elliott couldn’t find room to run. They could have attempted a kick there and left the game in the hands of their defense.
That’s not what Garrett did though. Instead, he kept their kicker on the sidelines and ran the ball again. Elliott got the first down with maybe six inches to spare and kept the ball in the hands of the Dallas offense. Eventually, Dak Prescott his Amari Cooper for a touchdown and the game ended. Had they not gone on fourth down, this game could very well have been one where we all watched the Eagles steal it with a score of their own.
That didn’t happen though as Garrett decided they would control their own fate rather than put the ball in the opponent’s hands. It was a gutsy call and he would have been destroyed if it didn’t work. He deserves a ton of praise since it did.