The Dallas Cowboys’ at-home NFC Wild Card Game against the San Francisco 49ers ended in heartbreaking fashion for fans of the blue star.
Down 17-23 with 14 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott rushed up the middle for 17 yards on a draw before attempting one final play.
As ESPN explains, players are advised to hand the ball directly to an official in these situations so it can be quickly spotted, per the NFL rules.
Prescott instead handed the ball to the center, forcing the official to push through the Cowboys’ offensive line to get a requisite hand on the ball. Time expired by the time Prescott snapped and spiked the ball, and referee called the game. The fault falls squarely on the Cowboys, according to ESPN.
Some onlookers responded by throwing trash–including empty beer bottles–onto the field as both teams exited the stadium, a response that Prescott didn’t take well initially.
“It’s sad,” he said in the post-game presser per NFL.com. “You’re talking about a team, you’re talking about men coming out each and every day of their lives and give everything to this sport, give everything to this game of football.”
“I understand fans and the word fan for fanatic, I get that. But to know everything that we put into this, day in and day out, try our hardest, nobody comes into the game wanting or expecting to lose and for people to react that way when you’re supposed to be a supporter and be with us through thick and thin, that’s tough.”
But when a media member posited that fans were aiming debris at officials, Prescott said, “Credit to them then,” he said. “Credit to them.”
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy added that he expected the play to be reviewed and for time to be added to the clock.
“I’ve never seen that come down the way it came down, as far as the collision between the umpire and the quarterback,” he said. “We were trying to get inside the 30-yard line to set-up the last play. The mechanics were intact from our end of it.
“The communication that I was given on the sideline was that they were reviewing it, they were going to put time back on the clock. The next thing I know, they’re running off the field. That’s the only facts I have for you.”
After knocking off the Cowboys, the 49ers take on the Packers at Green Bay on Saturday, January 22 in their NFC Divisional playoff.
