Dalton Schultz Blew Two Huge Plays Late Against the 49ers

The Dallas Cowboys were really up against it on their final drive against the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Tight end Dalton Schultz did not make the team’s last gasp any easier.

The Cowboys got the ball back on their own six-yard line with 45 seconds left, trailing 19-12. After an incomplete pass, quarterback Dak Prescott found Schultz for a nine-yard grab. He followed that by finding him for another nine-yard pickup at the 24-yard line, but he got hit in bounds and forgot a very important rule as he went out of bounds.

NFL rules state the ball carrier has to be moving forwards as he goes out of bounds, or the clock runs. Schultz was moving sideways. That meant the Cowboys had to run to the line and run a play to stop the clock. Rather than spike it, Prescott attempted a deep pass down the right sideline that went out of bounds.

Here’s video:

Schultz wasn’t done screwing up. On the next play, Prescott found him on what looked like a 15-yard gain. This time the tight end did get out of bounds with six seconds left, and that was the problem. Schultz was so nonchalant about the play and getting out of bounds to stop the clock that he didn’t actually get two feet down in bounds. On replay, the catch was overturned.

Check it out:

Just two incredibly boneheaded plays by Schultz that cost the Cowboys.

Would Dallas have gone down to tie the game if Schultz had made better plays there? Almost certainly not, but he didn’t help matters.