‘I gave it everything I have’: Distraught Cowboys begin to cope with another playoff flop
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A stoic Jayron Kearse walked off the field and through a Levi’s Stadium tunnel like he’d seen a ghost for a second time. Twenty minutes later, as dozens of teammates showered and dressed, the Cowboys safety sat in full uniform, hands clasped, head down, his body swaying back and forth as if strapped to a rocking chair.
Defensive line coach Aden Durde walked over and spoke quietly to him. Joe Smith, a GA athletic trainer, followed and did the same. Then came safety Malik Hooker, as an inconsolable Kearse finally splintered the quiet room with a heaving cry.
Kearse received help to remove his shoulder pads, and he slammed the bottom of his locker.
That bottoming feeling again.
The Cowboys never forgot their emotions when the San Francisco 49ers ousted them from the playoffs last January. That sunken, ever-unwelcome feeling returned Sunday. Another 12-win regular season and another tight-knit team met their end to the 49ers by another one-score margin, this one a 19-12 final.
The finality was palpable.
There was Tony Pollard, the lightning-rod running back who dazzled all season, exiting the stadium on crutches with his left foot in a protective boot. He suffered a high ankle sprain and fibula fracture that will require surgery, a person familiar the injury said. There was defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, who also wore a boot because of a calf injury.
There was Kearse.
“That’s what makes it hurt so much because you see how we are,” Hooker said. “There ain’t no fake nothing out of none of us in this room. We really love each other like that, and we’ve been carrying each other like that all year. Even if somebody felt like they were having a bad week, whatever the case may be, we tried to do everything we could to pick guys up.
“To see our main guys like JK crying like that and these guys hurting, it’s because they gave it all. It’s disappointing. It’s disappointing. It comes down to making more plays, and we didn’t do that tonight.
The Cowboys relived last year’s disappointment.
How they got there Sunday, though, was decidedly different.
Dallas experienced a slow start in 2022 as though mentally unprepared for the moment. The 49ers scored on the first four offensive drives at AT&T Stadium. Over the course of that game, the Cowboys eventually settled in and made a game of it, a chance to tie the contest coming on the final drive.
On Sunday, there was no lack of readiness.
The 49ers began by testing the Cowboys’ perimeter run defense. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence set the edge, and linebacker Micah Parsons caught running back Christian McCaffrey in back-side pursuit for no gain. On second down, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa sacked quarterback Brock Purdy to set up a three-and-out.
But there were missed chances for an interception, including a drop by cornerback Trevon Diggs off a ball that linebacker Anthony Barr tipped. The defense committed three penalties on the 49ers’ only touchdown drive, which culminated in the fourth quarter.
Two interceptions from quarterback Dak Prescott led to 49ers points.
Kearse was far from the only one visibly distraught in the losing locker room. Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott, close friends who have shared many laughs since entering the NFL in 2016, sat for several minutes about 6 feet apart, not exchanging words, processing how the Cowboys fell short of an NFC Championship Game appearance again.
Diggs was the last one to have his uniform still on, a white towel draped over his head while he sat, scrolling through his phone that he held over his game pants.
But it was Kearse who perhaps embodied what was best of this team.
He suffered a sprained left MCL six days earlier in a first-round win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He dealt with fluid in the knee and his calf in the days leading up to Sunday. He had a back issue. He suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder on Thanksgiving, an injury that has proven season-ending for some players.
Not for Kearse, who quietly endured and will undergo offseason surgery.
He still played against the 49ers. He still played for his teammates. He still played for revenge that did not come.
“That’s part of the reason why it hurts,” Kearse said, “because I know I gave it everything I had. I fought constantly week in and week out, regardless of the circumstance. I can find peace. I can find peace one of these days. I don’t know if it will be on the flight back. But I gave it everything I have. That makes it a little bit easier down the line.
“As of right now, it’s tough.”
Again.
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