Mike McCarthy’s failure to call a timeout before the late field goal could have spelled doom

If the Giants had driven 59 yards in 28 seconds to win last night’s game by a touchdown, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy would have been wearing an oversized pair of goat horns today.

With a five-point lead and time ticking after a third-down run that left the Cowboys on fourth-and-8 in front of the Giants’ 32 points, McCarthy didn’t do what coaches usually do in this situation. In particular, he wasn’t standing next to an official, looking at the game clock, waiting to call a timeout because there was only one second left.

Instead, the field goal session began on the field while both the game clock and game clock were running. The snap came with two seconds on the game clock – and the 51-yard field goal missed.

McCarthy was asked about the failure to call a timeout before the field goal, which would have given the Cowboys a more relaxed and deliberate chance to prepare for the snap, hold and kick.

“That was the plan,” McCarthy told reporters after the game. “They like the rhythm. They wanted to stay in rhythm. So that was intentional.”

It is unclear who “she” is. “They” may not include the one who missed the kick. In the locker room, Brandon Aubrey initially attributed his first career miss from 50 or more yards to his hip alignment. Aubrey then added this: “Maybe a little poor eye discipline looking at the game clock instead of my finish line.”

Was he rushed by the music box?

“No, I wasn’t in a rush at all,” Aubrey said. “Just poor eye discipline.”

Eye discipline becomes irrelevant if McCarthy had called the timeout. Aubrey’s candor proves that McCarthy has botched a fundamental element of game management.

As Rodney Harrison further suggested PFT Live When we talked about McCarthy’s mistakes, the real reason might have been arrogance.

A 51-yard field goal? It’s a chip shot. He can do it with his eyes closed. Or, as the case may be, with a view of the music box.

The fact that the Giants didn’t win the game doesn’t excuse it. The Cowboys gave the Giants a gift in the form of an opportunity they shouldn’t have had. When a team gives their opponents chances like that, it’s only a matter of time before they blow up.