Mike McCarthy says Mike Tomlin's use of last timeout helped Dallas change its call to the right game-winning play

After the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys (20-17) Sunday night, I wrote that I disagreed with Mike Tomlin’s decision to use his last timeout prior to the Cowboys’ fourth-down snap at the goal line with 26 seconds remaining.

The play resulted in a game-winning touchdown pass for the Cowboys. I would have preferred to see Tomlin use that timeout in an effort to avoid a 10-second runoff after Dak Prescott’s first-down scramble toward the end zone came up short and was reviewed.

Or, failing that, I would’ve preferred that he just hold onto it for when the Steelers got the ball back to perhaps aid in a miraculous quest for a long field goal attempt.

But Tomlin decided to use the timeout after he got a look at Dallas’ formation prior to the snap.

“We wanted to gather some information, see the structure they came out in, and get ourselves in the right call,” Tomlin said. “It was a fourth-down play. No hesitation about that. We had an opportunity to win the game right there. Forget what comes after. So we took a time out. We communicated. We got in a call that we liked, and they won the down.”

Sure, but it also gave the Cowboys a chance to get a look at what the Steelers were doing. Head coach Mike McCarthy ended up making an adjustment and says Pittsburgh’s use of the timeout actually helped him make up his mind as to which play he wanted quarterback Dak Prescott to run.

“We were just watching the communication. Probably no different than they were doing. We call it ‘a Kodak.’ Just take a picture of the formation,” McCarthy told reporters after the game. “Common knowledge is maybe make the offensive guy go through his second call. I was in between two calls there. I liked the information that we saw when they called the timeout. So I actually changed the call there for the fourth-down call.”

Prescott ended up hitting Jalen Tolbert for a game-winning score.

“I wanted a little more protection. We had a chip on T.J. Watt. It’s a play that we run a lot and practice a lot. (Prescott) had great patience, and J.T. did a great job putting that ball on that front pylon,” McCarthy said.

The plan worked as both tight end Jake Ferguson and right tackle Terence Steele got their hands on Watt to keep him off of Prescott. Then Prescott threw a well-placed ball to Tolbert, who crossed through traffic just inside the goal line from the right side of the formation to the left cone.

4TH AND GOAL. :20 TO GO.

CLUTCH COWBOYS ???? pic.twitter.com/yM0ObWFmnU

— NFL (@NFL) October 7, 2024

“They ran crossers. (Tolbert) was able to get a step and they got a ball in there,” Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson said. “They called a man-beater. We were in man (coverage). (Tolbert) was running through traffic. And it’s hard for a defender (DeShon Elliott) to navigate through.”

As captured by still shots at Steelers Depot, the Cowboys came out of their own timeout on fourth down with Ferguson on the left side of the formation in the slot with three wide receivers and a running back.

After Tomin called timeout and gave McCarthy time to think about things, Dallas flipped Ferguson to the right side, in front of Watt so he could chip. McCarthy also narrowed the splits of the receivers to tighten the formation, and he flipped the running back to Watt’s side of the field too.

To recap, after a third-down incompletion, Dallas called timeout to get into a play it wanted. The Steelers called timeout once they saw the personnel grouping and the Cowboys’ formation. Then McCarthy used that Pittsburgh timeout to also adjust.

In other words, it was a lot of “I know that you know that we know what you know about what we are doing.”

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So why not put your defense on the field and just defend the offense’s play?

In the end, the QB is always going to be the one with the ball in his hands, knowing where the receivers are going and the defenders are going to have to respond. Unless you are going to use the timeout to come up with some sort of deliberate pass-rush scheme (which the Steelers didn’t do), then keep the timeout for when your offense gets back on the field.

Would it have made a difference to Tomlin on offense with just 20 seconds left? Maybe not. But the Steelers maybe could’ve gotten into a more conventional play than trying to pull off a scoring strike with 50 laterals before the final gun went off.

Granted, that’s all an unknown. What is known, though, is that the last timeout ended up helping Dallas more than it did the Steelers.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss what Mike Tomlin had to say at his Tuesday press conference after the loss to Dallas.