Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys blunders vs 49ers lead to offseason questions

The season’s over for the Dallas Cowboys, but there’s still things to sort out. The 19-12 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers leaves an empty feeling where the hope of finally ending the long drought should be sitting. The game was intense, edge-of-seat action but from the beginning the feeling of impending doom seemed to be closing in on Dallas.

There were certainly periods of euphoria sprinkled in, but all in all there were too many regret-causing moments for Dallas to pull off the road upset. Here’s a look at the most important takeaways from the contest; which ones were good, which were bad and which were downright ugly.

Good: CeeDee Lamb once again spectacular

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The FOX broadcast booth was busy lamenting a finger injury to Lamb that caused him to get his right pinky taped to his ring finger. Lamb was busy being a boss and not thinking twice about it. On one of Prescott’s best throws of the day, Lamb got behind the 49ers defense, took a DPI bump and still came down with the terrific catch.

It was symbolic of Lamb’s season, he elevated his play when necessary with the departure of Amari Cooper. To that point, Lamb had been a possession receiver, but the 46 yarder helped boost his numbers to 10 receptions for 117 yards.

Lamb is assuredly a No. 1 receiver and he’ll see the fifth-year option slapped on him this season as he and the club begin the extension dance going into Year 4.

Bad: Trevon Diggs whiff and blown interception

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Diggs certainly didn’t have the postseason anyone would’ve hoped for. In last week’s win, Diggs seemed to be totally disinterested in making any tackles. A concern, but not the primary responsibility of a top-tier corner.

But on Sunday, Diggs had two opportunities to make the game-changing plays he’s known for and hopes to be paid for, and came up empty.

The fact they both happened on the same drive, the lone 49ers touchdown drive of the game, made them that much more impactful. On a too-far throw from Brock Purdy to George Kittle, the ball was bobbled up in the air. Instead of shooting for the ball, or making a big stick to keep the completion from happening, Diggs just whiffed as Kittle made the catch of the game.

Later, a tipped ball inside the red zone went straight to Diggs’ bread basket, but he failed to secure the interception. A few plays later Christian McCaffrey was up the middle for the 16-9 lead.

Ugly: Tony Pollard's leg injury

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With under two minutes remaining in the first half, the Cowboys had driven into 49ers territory with the game tied 6-6. Pollard was tackled awkwardly by Jimmie Ward and ended up with a fractured fibula.

At the time of the injury, he was Dallas’ leader in total yardage and his loss made things even more difficult on an offense facing the league’s top defense. Pollard was a first-time Pro Bowler in his fourth season, the final year on his rookie deal.

Now he’ll enter the offseason unable to work out for clubs who could woo him in free agency. Just a tough loss at the worst time for both the player and the team.

Good: A lot left in the Tank

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One of the brightest spots of the game was the Dallas defensive effort as a whole, and their most expensive player was their best on Sunday. Lawrence, who took a pay cut to remain with Dallas in the offseason, hasn’t had a sack since Week 11, but with Micah Parsons playing Christian-McCaffrey spy, Lawrence was the team’s primary player beind the line.

He was relentless with a sack, another hit, a sack that was negated because of a dumb down-field penalty and multiple tackles for loss.

Bad: 4th-Down Punts

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In a defensive struggle, coaching decisions play a much bigger role than they do in a blowout like last week. Teams need every edge and there were a couple of decisions in the game that could have cost the Cowboys an opportunity to continue drives.

With six minutes remaining in the third quarter, Dallas was as San Francisco’s 40-yard line with the game tied at 9. The Cowboys had been bold on two occasions to that point. They converted 4th-and-1 from the SF19 on a drive that led to their only touchdown.

They also went for it on 4th-and-4 from the SF 35, a conversion that led to Pollard’s injury on the next play followed by a Prescott interception (more on that in a moment).

But in the second half, Dallas’ coaches shrunk from bold and daring.

On the opening drive of the half, Dallas had 4th-and-5 from midfield and punted, but Kelvin Joseph forced a fumble that Dallas recovered. Then they punted from the SF 40 on the play referenced above. Down seven points, Dallas went for a field goal on 4th-and-8 from the 49ers’ 25-yard line.

Finally, Dallas punted after a 3-and-out on their own 18 with under three minutes remaining, again down seven.

These weren’t egregious decisions (which is why they aren’t in the ugly category), but they were ones that will be thought about among the on-field mistakes made.

Ugly: Dak Prescott's interceptions

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Prescott led the NFL in interceptions with 15, playing in only 12 games. He had an immaculately clean game against the Tampa Bay Bucs in the wild-card round, having the best performance of all 12 QBs who played. But on Sunday, the issues from the season resurfaced. Prescott through an interception along the sideline in the first half that turned into three points. He threw another when Dallas was in scoring position at the end of the second quarter.

He threw a should’ve-been pick when they had to get a score.

The Cowboys did Prescott no favors in the offseason with their decisions to trade Amari Cooper and re-sign Michael Gallup for big money. They’ll need to reassess their game plan this offseason to see how they can take the next step towards a championship.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire