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During Thursday night’s Thanksgiving Day game between Washington and Dallas, the Cowboys were mocked by fans for running a bizarre fake punt play on 4th-and-10 while inside their own 20-yard-line early in the fourth quarter while down only four points.
Mike McCarthy might have pulled off the worst fake punt of the year in the NFL. #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/1ro5BffH9k
— Christopher Boan (@cgboan) November 27, 2020
After the game, head coach Mike McCarthy defended himself by saying that the fake punt was a “solid play call”.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy on decision to fake a punt on fourth-and-10 at own 24: “You won’t get anywhere if you’re thinking about negatives all the time. Obviously, it was a solid play call. It’s a good play design.”
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) November 27, 2020
“We had one-on-one on the perimeter,”. “I think everybody saw what happened on the play. Those are plays that you look to create opportunities and it was a good play call.”
During his weekly radio show appearance, team owner Jerry Jones backed his coaches by saying the team needed to do something drastic to help out the defense.
Jerry Jones here says McCarthy and Co. hoped inspirational fake punt on 4th&10 could redeem hapless run D.
Instead: Washington snuffed fake punt for loss of yard. RB Antonio Gibson needed just 1 play to rush for 23-yard TD.
FT took double-digit lead, began 21-point run https://t.co/vVzg3wF1Jz
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) November 27, 2020
Cowboys fans still weren’t happy about the play call even after the team’s comments.
Yeah. Man. Solid play call. Good play design. Loss of 3. turn over on downs. opposing team scores next play. SOLID https://t.co/YJSD89iIoS
— The Caveman (@thecavemannfl) November 27, 2020
Just doubling down on stupidity. Nothing worse than a coach who can’t call out his own mistakes. He was clearly shielded from looking stupid by Rodgers for so many years. https://t.co/IvLsjDFLu5
— Damien Andrus (@DA4_Era) November 27, 2020
I take back every positive thing I’ve said about McCarthy. What an idiot lol https://t.co/imzVq52rVH
— Jon Iaccino (@ji711) November 27, 2020
It wasn't a solid play call and it was bad play design. I feel like someone at some point should have pointed this out to him. https://t.co/ViL0fgsbaW
— Brenden Schaeffer🎳 (@bschaeffer12) November 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/Real_Glasses9/status/1332141444740616200
Okay let's go over a couple of things.
1) its 4th and 10
2) 12:54 left in the game
3) you're on your own 24 yard line
4) score is 20-16Nothing about this says go for it on 4th down. Nothing screams fake punt about this. I'm aware a there was an open Cowboy but didnt pass it. https://t.co/cgnrv0oPmJ pic.twitter.com/xfUIbRBMRf
— Fake (@FakeBenRogers) November 27, 2020