FRISCO, Texas – Kellen Moore summed up the end-of-game sequence aptly, and with a good sense of humor.
"Hopefully next time it's a 48-yarder, and we'll feel a little bit better about it," Moore said Monday afternoon.
All's well that ends well, as Greg Zuerlein's 56-yard game-winner boosted the Cowboys to their first win of the season. But both Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and his offensive coordinator faced several questions about how they managed the end of the game, as they ultimately ran just one play in the final 33 seconds before sending Zuerlein out for the kick.
A variety of factors went into that, but Moore did allow that he'd have called something other than the 2nd-and-6 run to Tony Pollard just before the confusion began if he could do it over again.
"The clock got a little bit goofy," he said. "I didn't really like my run to Tony, I would've probably called something different there if we had gone down that road again. But those things always happen through a game."
As has been noted by now, the clock got goofy because the Cowboys' coaching staff couldn't locate it. The clock McCarthy had been using all day went black right after Pollard's run. Meanwhile, Moore had his own adventure, getting his view blocked by one of the cameras that shot the game at SoFi Stadium.
"The camera guy on the cart, he kind of moved right in front of the screen," Moore said.
McCarthy said Monday that the opposing 40-yard line was Zuerlein's threshold for a successful kick, so the Cowboys were right inside his range. When the confusion ran the clock below 17 seconds, the staff ultimately decided to try the kick rather than take any big risks.
The Cowboys received the final kickoff with 3:54 remaining in the game, and Moore confirmed that the plan was to take all the time off the clock if possible.
"We wanted to make sure we were the last ones there," he said.
It might have been more stressful than they'd have preferred, but the Cowboys were at least successful in that regard.
