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The Cowboys lost on Sunday, and all the talk today is about the ways they botched the ending of the game. But if the Cowboys had succeeded on their final drive, the talk would be the ways the 49ers botched the ending of the game. Because San Francisco’s decision-making and execution was far from perfect.
Among the 49ers’ mistakes was a false start called on offensive tackle Trent Williams that negated what would have been a game-clinching quarterback sneak by Jimmy Garoppolo in the final minute. But while Williams was the player called for the penalty, Garoppolo was at fault for not giving Williams a chance to get set after he motioned from the left side of the line to the right.
“We just shifted to an unbalanced,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said, via NBCSportsBayArea.com. “It was on the silent count and it was quarterback sneak all the way, but Jimmy got really excited because of the look. Didn’t let Trent get set. He’s got to let him get set. It ended up not being a problem though, would have been a struggle to answer that one if it was.”
Garoppolo admitted Shanahan’s critique was correct.
“Kyle said that?” Garoppolo said. “Yeah, I mean that’s pretty much what happened.”
It was a big mistake at a big moment in the game, overshadowed only by bigger mistakes made by the Cowboys at a bigger moment in the game.
