One of the biggest decisions in Sunday’s games was the one that Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy made in overtime at Lambeau Field.
The Cowboys had a fourth-and-three at the Packers’ 35-yard-line and McCarthy opted to go for it rather than try a field goal that would have put his team up by three points. Quarterback Dak Prescott threw an incompletion while under pressure and the Packers drove for a game-winning field goal of their own.
After the game, McCarthy noted two penalties that halted the Cowboys’ momentum and said he was “very, very, very frustrated” by those developments while standing by the decision to try for the first down.
“We were right on the line for a field goal,” McCarthy said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “Hey, to be honest with you, I thought we needed to go for it. I mean I called it on second down, especially with the way the game was going. Big play, penalty. Big play, penalty. Big play, penalty. So our thing was just keep playing. We had good calls. I’m fine with the decision obviously on fourth-and-3. Just didn’t convert.”
The failure to convert helped make it an unhappy return to Lambeau Field for McCarthy and set the stage for a much-needed Packers win.