The playcalling at the end was fine. It was a textbook clock rundown and not many coaches would have (or should have) run it differently.
Some points:
- I thought Antonio Brown looked great early on. Great speed and he looked dangerous every time. Of course the fumble was INEXCUSABLE, but there's no point killing this kid, I'd give him another shot or two.
- The fumble really hurt us. We forced them 3 and out, but we could have had the ball and made them use all their timeouts first. Instead they got a second chance to use all their timeouts and get the ball one more time when the game shoulda been over.
- Washington's offside penalty also hurt. It stopped the clock with like 45 seconds left and let the Cowboys settle down and regroup.
- Taylor screwed up at the end but I have to put more blame on the play call. We got caught in no-man's-land. No pressure yet not safe enough deep. It was just like one of my online Madden games. Springs was wasted out in the flat, and the game shouldn't be put in the hands of a rookie hoping he makes the right decision in deep coverage. It's not the first time Taylor has screwed up in deep coverage.
- I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is not a "great" defense. We like to jump around and talk trash when guys like Clemons are sacking poor Vinny, but we're not mature enough to close out a game when it's in the D's hands. The same thing happened in the Browns game. The Patriots would never give up a play like that. Once we took the lead the game shoulda been over. The offense didn't help much but the bottom line is we had a 4 point lead with 1 minute left and the ball at the 50. No D should blow that game, especially not a 'great' D.
- That was one of the most painful losses ever.
