I thought the over all game plan was pretty good. They implemented quicker passes and a moving pocket to stay away from Hardy. I would've liked them to run the ball a bit more in the first half, but Dallas was playing well, way over their talent level.
That said, situational play calling is terrible. Low percentage long sideline throws on 3rd and 4 are never going to make me really happy. Once in a while, fine. Especially if you're in FG range, but 3rd and 4 is makeable, so why throw the play away on a play that good teams make at around 35% of the time ?
End of the game was terrible. Of course, it's in the red zone, where I'm convinced that every play we have is on some sort of cocktail napkin. We run an outside zone stretch and Lynch gets knocked out of bounds. Then, with 2:07 left, we run the ball again. Here is the perfect time to win the game and do something unexpected: pass the damn ball. Here's the deal: line up heavy and go with PA to Matthews on the outside, or Graham lined up inline on a play fake. Just make sure you burn the same 7 seconds you did with the run play, which isn't hard with Wilson. You either throw it quickly on a sure TD, or run around playground style then huck it out of bounds. Hell, Wilson might even get a rush opportunity to punch it in on a scramble, although it's doubtful in a compressed field.
What do we do ? Run it, when the defense KNOWS what's coming. We run a whopping 7 seconds off the clock. Then after the 2 minute warning, we throw the ball, when the defense KNOWS it's coming. We were going to throw the ball anyways, why not do it on the other side of the 2 minute warning ? Then run your running play, kick the FG and give the ball back to the Cowboys with about 30 seconds instead of a minute and a half.
Just one example of play calling a game not to lose it, instead of winning it. Carpenter kicked a 53 yard FG this game that would've been good from 63. The Cowboys were down by 1 point. Go for the freaking TD please.
On the bright side, we still won the game.