Breaking down the WEIRD final play at the end of the San Francisco 49ers Vs the Dallas Cowboys 

I think the Cowboys legitimately thought the 49ers were just going to stand there. Like Dak seemed surprised that someone ran over Zeke and rushed him.

Elliot got obliterated this play, it was the funniest moment in the game

Dak: “let’s run the reverse cowgirl!” Zeke: “I’ll play center.”

Dallas always has to lose spectacularly 😂

My favorite Cowboys play of all time. 👏👏

Vintage Mike McCarthy play call 🙌

Jerry Jones looked like he wanted to fire the whole team after that play 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Frankly, I thought it showed the Cowboys’ amazing athleticism. Who knew their linemen could line up as receivers and burn down the field? Who knew Zeke could play Center and take on a 300lb DT? No Cowboy succeeded in their new roles, but the possibilities going forward are mind boggling. I can’t wait to see Maher alternate between kicker, fullback, and defensive end next year.

Being from the UK my understanding of the game is always evolving, even I can see that this play was doomed from conception.

I feel the blowout the Giants experienced is less embarrassing than whatever in god's name this abomination of a final play is.

What's really fun is watching the Cowboy's last play from last season and from this season in succession. Wonder if they'll go for a trifecta?

This play reminded me of the Colts play against the Patriots that never should have been snapped. It was that level of, "What the f--- are you doing?"

I laughed so hard my head started hurting when Zeke got ran over, then when the guy got tackled so fast he didn’t even get to pitch the 🏈🤣🤣

Cowboys were expecting a quarter formation. But the DC for the niners did a nice job camouflaging the blitz n props to ward for putting the icing on the cake with that clutch tackle. He's underrated tbh

Jackson - Some might call this a variation of the "swinging gate" play. It might not be immediately obvious who was eligible (to receive a forward pass) and who wasn't, but there are two rules to help identify who is eligible: #1 the offense must have no less than 7 players on the line of scrimmage. So, no matter how you line people up, 7 players must be on the line of scrimmage. The other four can - essentially - be anywhere you want them to be, and all four of those players would be eligible, but only two players on the line of scrimmage is eligible because. #2, another rule is that anyone that's on the line of scrimmage on one side of the ball is only eligible if they are not "covered-up" by anyone else. That means that only the player that is furthest from the ball on one side (the left side or the right side) is eligible. So, in this swinging-gate variant formation, there is Elliot as the Center. Looking at the formation from Prescott's point of view, to his left you see four players split out wide. Three of them are on the line of scrimmage. One is slightly off (behind) the line of scrimmage. The player that's behind the line of scrimmage is one of the four that can be anywhere, and so that player is eligible to receive a pass. For the other three, only the player furthest away from the ball on that side is eligible. The two that aren't eligible happen to be offensive linemen in "normal" formations. The same set-up is on Prescott's right side of the formation, and Prescott and another player are in the backfield, and both are eligible to receive a forward pass. (Side note...Dak wouldn't be an eligible receiver for a forward pass if he was under center when the ball was snapped...that's an NFL-specific rule, I think....but because he's in a pistol depth shotgun formation here, he is an eligible receiver, so if the snap went to the other guy in the backfield, Dak could then go out into a pattern) The offensive linemen move slowly at the start of the play because no ineligible player can be downfield (beyond the line of scrimmage) when a forward pass is thrown. Normally, in the NFL they are only allowed a yard if they aren't actively blocking (College allows 3 yards) but the NFL gives some additional downfield yardage for screen plays when the pass is forward, but behind the line of scrimmage. These ineligible receivers are apparently being given some additional downfield allowance for some reason (and I think Dak hesitates when maybe he isn't supposed to) because despite moving slow, those guys are well past the allowance once the pass is thrown! But that's why they aren't charging forward to block anyone, because - by rule - they can't until the pass is thrown. All in all, it can be confusing for a defense, but the swinging gate and its variations have been around for quite awhile, gets used fairly frequently at the HS level, and the Cincinnati Bengals used a variation as a semi-regular part of their offense as recently as 2015 (some called it a "Star Wars" formation, and you can find videos of it on RU-vid. Here's one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-thfWzOIS394.html. As confusing as it can be, it can also be confusing for the players, too and I think that was part of the problem here. The widest player on Zack's left (the near side in the video) stayed wide...I think too wide...and didn't give the guy who caught the ball any opportunity to get a lateral (which would have been interesting if that had happened, because those two offensive linemen then were free to block downfield at that point). It also didn't make much sense for Elliot to be the center unless he wasn't supposed to actually black anybody, and release for a lateral once the ball was thrown (because he wasn't an eligible receiver for the play). But he backpedaled and maybe should have followed the passed ball to be ready for a possible lateral. As it was, the Cowboys botched the execution of the play, starting with Dak's hesitation to throw the ball (maybe because the guy he threw it to wasn't looking at Dak, yet!), Elliot backpedaling as the "center" and then maybe where players went, and how fast (or slowly) they did it. Like the other guy in the backfield....he didn't go anywhere, but maybe that was part of the plan. The 49ers got to see the formation, and had a timeout they could use to prep for it. That was maybe also part of the Cowboy's downfall for this play. They showed their hand. Maybe it would have been better for them to have changed up the formation after the timeout? As it was, it didn't work very well,which is probably the kindest thing that anyone has said about the play! :)

Shultz destroyed that last drive, by not fighting forward out of bounds(20 seconds), then didnt make sure his feet were on the ground for that 15 yard completion.

Brilliant decision to have Elliot snap the ball just brilliant!

The linemen were waiting briefly for fear of an "ineligible downfield" call, which is frequently violated and seldom called normally (unless it's obvious and egregious), so it leaves an exposed offensive lineman uncertain and slightly confused.

The OLine can’t block the player downfield until after the pass is caught or else it’s illegal man downfield. McCarthy actually ended their season on a dumber play than last year when they ran the clock out on a QB draw. Hilarious!

It looks like the idea is that it's set up as either right or left if there is a weak side, with a third option to go up the middle if the defense bunches both sides and leaves the middle clear. Also, linemen can catch laterals anywhere on the field, so the point of Elliot is that if it comes to a series of laterals to keep the ball alive, you'd rather have Elliot as your option than 300-pound guard. In which case the defender did exactly the right thing, which was to knock Elliot on his ass. It smells like one of those plays that works in Madden but is a disaster in real life.

Whatever they were planning had no chance of working. Another end of the game disaster for the second year in a row against the 49ers.

Whatever they tried to set up, they didn't have a chance to set it up because Zeke was trucked and Dak had to get rid of the ball. They were expecting the Niners would just allow Dak to hold the ball, move around, and throw the ball when they set everything up. This is what happens when your opponent does not cooperate.

My brother and I are lifelong cowboys fans but all we could do for the final play was just laugh hysterically

I literally knew it would be Dak or the kicker that blew this game. But this might be on the coaching staff

Bro this was worse than the colts call vs the patriots 🤣

I thought the ball was supposed to go to the guy at the bottom of the screen #16. And Dak panicked

Perfect way for the cowboys to go out lmao 🤣

The problem is the throw was high. That killed everything.

It would have been illegal to run ahead and block the guy who made the tackle. Not a lot of 4th and 70 yards to go plays work. Much less weird than the ending a couple of years ago.

This play sums up exactly what “doing Cowboy things” means and I bet that last hit hurt just as much as losing that game did. Good game, but better luck next year cowgirls

I think the plan was for Turpin to immediately pitch it back to Dak and Dak tries to pick up some blocks behind the olineman lined up in the flats and lateral it if he needs to. If you watch Dak, he's running forward for the pitch right after he releases the ball. The problem was the initial throw was high, so Turpin had to jump to get it. That gave Ward enough time to react and make the quick tackle. That's my guess anyway...

I honestly think they were going to try the hook and ladder, same type of play that the Lions used late against the Packers in week 18. Only issue was that their WR got blown up without a chance to lateral.

Should of never punted 4 and 10. If Prescott is your quarterback you have to put your trust in him to get you 10 yards no matter where you are on the field. Already down 7 so if you get the first you still have 3 timeouts plus the 2 minute. Instead you put your trust in Prescott still down 7 with 40 seconds left deep in your own territory and no timeouts. Sad. Coach don't really believe in Prescott.

1. Aaron Rodgers was right: Mike McCarthy has a low football I.Q. 2. Dak is not a legacy quarterback, but an all season wonder. He's not going to pull magic out of his butt in the playoffs to carry a tired team like Mahomes. He's merely Romo 2.0. 3. Jerry is too old to be making rational decisions about the te4ajm. He has failed every step of the way. He had a brief moment, and his legacy is that of failure.

It reminded me of the Colts trick play against the Patriots from 2015

There is no breakdown need for this one it was just dumb lol

Actually, after reviewing this play, it appears that Dak missed his target; he meant to throw another interception.

"I know why you wouldn't plan for that." Well, it's the Cowboys. That is why they didn't plan on an opposing player tackling the receiver who caught the ball. It is the Cowboys' way.🤣🤣

The idea wasn't that terrible to be completely honest after just looking at it. It was pretty much give Turpin the ball get him behind a lot of blockers and treat it as a kick return and have him run down the sideline and that was a great idea, but obviously linemen are not as fast as safeties so Jimmy ward just blew it up before the linemen could even get there.

Old school 49er fan here lovin the last several years of revenge from 90's playoff losses to Dallas and Green Bay in the 90's....BANG BANG 9er GANG!!!!

That was the (2nd) dumbest play call in Cowboys history, Romo still has the number 1 spot...

I’m assuming they figured 66 was supposed to block for him after he caught it cause if that where the case he’s be wide open to run with no one around . But that’s if dak had a second more to throw . But I gave up at about 3 minutes left in the game . They give unrealistic expectations on winning the game . I mean I can see if we where at least by the 50 . But I think no one in there right mind had any kind of hope .

If he would’ve thrown to 16, they would’ve had a shot at winning

I think the receiver ended up running the play wrong. He got way too inside and deep in the middle, away from his blockers. I guess he panicked and ran to open space on instinct, instead of staying flat footed and behind his blocks

That last Cowboys play, PURE GENIUS. McCarthy - meet Albert Einstein.

They could’ve ended the season with some dignity and ran a Hail Mary or screen play but instead they chose to get Zeke and #6 absolutely destroyed for no reason and now they gotta live with that moment for the rest of the off-season in their heads.

yeah i think the play was meant to be a whole bunch of laterals like in rugby cause they were lined up like rugby and the fact that the lineman didnt immediately run up to block the further niner out (whom i think was jimmy ward) and hung back makes me think he was ready for a rear lateral

great throw by Dak. High over the middle, exactly where you want the ball to be on the final play of the game.

That was a Mike McCarthy special! 🤣

My thought is that the Cowboys were trying for a version of the Music City Miracle play. I think #9 was supposed to catch the pass, immediately lateral it back to the other receiver on his side (#16), and then 16 was supposed to do a backwards pass across the field to the the WR in the group on the other side (#86). That would explain why the group of players on the far side barely moved downfield - they had to stay behind where #16 would be on the near side. The point would have been to try and draw most or all of the Niners defenders to the near side with the initial pass and lateral, and then hope the far side was left open for #86 with his couple of blockers. But, the Niners' defenders on the far side - Greenlaw (#57) and Mooney Ward (#7) - clearly weren't biting, and the defenders nearest the play jumped in at the right time to blow it up. Al-Shaair (#51) knocked Eliot on his ass, and Jimmy Ward (#1) went straight for the initial receiver.

To all those just saying hail mary the thing. It was 78 yards. Maybe two current QB's could make that throw. Dak isn't one of them.

funniest thing (other than Zeke getting destroyed) is Turpin trying to still pitch the ball backwards AFTER he got pancaked himself...almost like he's shocked the SF player actually came up to make a tackle

The ball should have went to #16 on a short hitch route where he would have blockers out in front!

Honestly, it feels like the coach just drew the play up and said fuck it, doesn't look like they practiced this a single time in any practice

Jimmy Johnson proved Jerry Jones completely wrong again like always

This is such a funny play i didn't even get angry... I actually laughed my ass off

Honestly. . . despite winning 12 games 2 years in a row. . . Jerry Jones should fire McCarthy for that play alone.

I think the goal was to catch, pitch it to zeke who would throw it out to either screen side. Think like quick hook and ladder, it doesn’t matter if the receiver who catches it first gets hit quickly. I don’t think they expected Zeke to get blown up and it completely killed the play

I think Elliot was to go out and get the lateral and he could laterally throw it to either side he wanted too after that but he got pancaked instead. The thinking is the rusher would try and go around Elliot, thus freeing him up to trail for the lateral but instead the rusher engaged him and didn't allow him to get into the play. I also think that is why he was flattened so easily is because his feet were set up to run and not block.

Hopefully that was Ezekiel Elliott's last play ever.

It seems they were trying to set it up so the result could be similar to what the Chiefs did to us years ago before halftime with Tyreek Hill. Granted there was a guy in his face, but idk why Dak took a regular drop back and then threw a (late) high pass when it should've been an easy quick throw to get the play going.

Should have thrown it to number 16 . He had blockers ahead of him

daks post game interview mention of how hard they worked on that play

With six seconds I am taking a quick shot at the sideline trying to get 12 yards and out of bounds. If it's not there and you throw it out of bounds over the receiver's head there is still 1-2 secs left for a final play. With a 12-yard completion then on the next play you could reach the end zone, or close enough for tipped pass, with a Hail Mary. With an incompletion you are still running a desperation play on next play.

I actually thought when I first saw them lineup it was smart to put Elliott at center until I saw offensive lineman on the field. To me the lateral play might work better with a bunch of skill guys. There is not much blocking going on with these plays so getting your fastest or best ball carriers all on the field makes sense to me. Even with Elliott getting blown up here if the ball gets pitched a few times he could have still gotten back into the play. I have no idea what this mess was supposed to be.

Zeke literally got run over. Who made up that play? A group of kids on a playground?? LOL.

This play would make some sense if you had a QB that is elite at scrambling like mahomes, in order to give guys time to get in proper position. Cuz no one in their right mind could think zeke is gonna hold up as a center for more than a second. Dak can't scramble like that so...

What about Dalton Schultz first running backwards, then not being capable to put his 2 feet on ground alone?

Man I WISH they had a hidden camera on Jerry Jones during that last play xD "Aw what in the hell"

It’s on on the HC decisions and Brett Maher missing that first score extra point. Scenario: He makes that extra point FG, the score would be 7-6 Dallas, then on that next possession, they get down field to Dallas 30-35 and get to 4th and 4. Instead of kicking a 3 point FG, they decide to go for it at 4th and 4 and make it to 1st and goal, BUT, then Dak throws an INT resulting in a 3pt FG. Now, take away that opportunity and they do not make that 3pt FG and the score would be 10-6 Dallas at that point. So that made a huge difference IMHO

I think the receiver was supposed to pitch it back to Elliot but because of the time out the 49ers had time to work out they they needed to take him out the play.

The ridiculous final play 2 years in a row sums up entire Cowboys organization for the past 30 years

Right before this it, was the 3-1 play throw to shultz for the first down out of bounds. It would've stopped the clock 25 secs.

I’ve seen this formation ran as a base offense. It was banned though. This is a play off the A-11 offense. Belichick may have ran a similar formation in a big game a few years back.

This reminds me of that Colts fake punt play against the Patriots from 2015

Cut Prescott, cut Elliott. Rebuild the running game with a new running back with Pollard when he gets healthy. Rebuild the quarterback position with Cooper Rush until they get a good quarterback. They got beaten by a rookie quaterback because Prescott can only throw straight and down the middle. The defense waits to see where he is going to throw and then jumps in front of the ball and gets an interception. They have seen his weaknesses and know he can't throw deep, can't lead a receiver, can't hit a receiver in stride. He can only throw a straight wobbly pass that's late. Lamb literally has to run his route, turn and WAIT for Prescott to throw it to him. Instead of Prescott throwing it to him along his route and Lamb picking up yards, he has to wait to get pummeled by the defense. Look how long that defensive player had to build up speed and obliterate him. The passes to Gallup that he threw deep were uncatchable. Amari Cooper used his amazing athleticism to catch those crap throws and make Prescott look good. Tired of Jerry Jones blaming the coaches to cover for this crap quarterback.

I was one of those people who were like wtf are you guys doing. But looking at this months later, it’s one of those plays where if Turpin had time to lateral back; a play would have unfolded and we possibly would have seen a different outcome Turpin laterals it back to Dak, dak hits CeeDee right open on that post route. CeeDee has three defenders in front of him that he has to beat. Has Turpin behind and TY to the sideline with blockers. All hindsight and would of could have should have

They ran this play because Dak didn't want to take blame for running and letting the time expire like last year!! Lmao 🤣

I have never seen that play in my 40 years of watching football.

The purpose of this play was to try to resolve the Cowboy's Dak Prescott delimma. It didn't work. They may also feel they have an Ezekiel Elliott delimma.

Give credit to the aggressive 49er defender that bolted into the receiver and essentially killed the play. The receiver was probably going to lateral back to DAK with a convoy along the left sideline. DAK was supposed to dive into the endzone for the TD. Notice I did not say tying TD. The football nation would have been riveted to the PAT. I wonder what ....................

They really just watched the longest yard and think they can pull off a convoy like play like come on be real they should’ve just went for Hail Mary I mean seriously

I think Dak threw it to the wrong guy. If he had thrown it to T.J. Vasher, #16, at the bottom of the screen he would have been wide open with blockers in front of him. Instead he threw it to KaVontae Turpin, #9, who is supposed to be a decoy to draw the linebacker to the center of the field and who I assume was then supposed to fall in behind to receive the lateral. Dallas' trick play was so good they even beat themselves.

There are 32 teams in the NFL. 31 of them would have thrown the ball way down field for what they call a “Hail Mary”. Not my Cowboys tho! Oh no. Let’s throw a 10 yard pass down the middle. Done with this team until Prescott is gone.

That hit was legendary he almost folded him In half

I think Elliot was supposed to snap and run and be the first lateral

isn't it well setup for #16 TY Hilton at the bottom of the screen ?? it looks like he's wide open with blockers in front..could've had a chance.

Zeke is the worst center in NFL history. lol

That was a great play! I say this as a 49ers fan

0:16 Buddy, I could stare at this for HOURS and not know what is going on.

This is what the cowgirls season ending looks like lmao😂

Here's what I think. Zeke was going to snap it. Turpin was supposed to throw it to Malik Davis. Noah Brown and the O lineman where going to kickout the three guys on the other side. Then, I think Zeke and Dak follow. Turpin and Davis will have to get back up and as the other defenders who aren't in the screen come up, then that's when you start the lateral game and . . .pray. They had the two speedsters, Davis and Turpin, out there hoping to create something.

Jerry Glanville: "That play call is brillant!"

Honestly, as a cowboys fan this play has taken the sting of losing away a for me. I’ve been laughing about it all day every time I think about it. Zeke playing center and getting trucked will never not be funny to me. All that smoke and mirrors for a 7 yard slant. 😂

Jerry Jones hasn't done anything since Jimmy Johnson left.

Getting more skill players on the lateral play was a great idea but the execution was hilarious

this is a play from the twilight zone playbook....

I'm not going to comment on the lineman being downfield or not but 66 (Mcgovern) should have taken out 1 (Ward) . The throw was late and high for no reason. That's on Prescott. A low ball allows the receiver to come back to the ball. The play may have been blown up after that but maybe it wouldn't have looked so ridiculous.

Seeing him get popped immediately was hilarious. 😂

9ers didn't count to 10 mississippi