Garrett Explains Mental Miscues in Loss to Falcons

At one point in the loss to the Falcons, the Cowboys tried and failed to stop a two-point attempt with 10 men on the field

On Tuesday, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett attempted to explain what happened on the Falcons’ two-point attempt, which succeeded and pulled the still-trailing visiting team to within three points of the lead at 28-25. You see, not long after that play, it came out that the Cowboys’ had just 10 men on the field. Oops.

“We were trying to get the information as to whether or not we had 10 or 11 on there and they had snapped the ball before we got that information,” Garrett said, per Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas.

That wasn’t the only gaffe for which Garrett took heat during the loss. He was also criticized for calling a timeout on the Cowboys’ final drive of the first half, when they scored a touchdown, but did so too quickly. With over 40 seconds left when Atlanta got the ball back, Matt Ryan knifed through the defense like butter to set Matt Bryant up for a field goal to end the half.

The 25 unanswered points the Falcons put up to win the game, in fact, started with that field goal.

“That’s a tricky situation for us because we’re changing personnel groups and we wanted to put our big personnel in,” Garrett said. “And sometimes that can be complicated there. It turned out that we scored on that first play and we gave them an opportunity. So in the ideal situation you work that thing all the way down and don’t give them a chance to go back the other way and get that field goal. A combination of different factors: personnel group, new quarterback. A few different things.”

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