3 Cowboys most to blame for another playoff disappointment against 49ers

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K Brett Maher, Dallas Cowboys. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

The Dallas Cowboys again died out in the playoffs. These three people are most responsible for another disappointing outing in San Francisco.

Another January ended bitterly for the Dallas Cowboys, who were knocked out of the NFL playoffs after a pathetic 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The most frustrating part for Cowboys fans is that this game seemed hugely winnable thanks to a massive effort from the Dallas defense, which kept the 49ers to just 312 yards on offense.

There’s plenty of blame for Dallas, which has now gone 27 years between appearances in the NFC Championship Game. Let’s take a look at the three culprits most responsible for the Cowboys’ latest playoff flop.

3. Brett Maher put the Cowboys behind the eight ball early

The fact that Maher was allowed to kick in that game after missing four extra runs in Monday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should raise questions about Jerry Jones’ decision-making process. Things got ugly early for Maher, who missed an extra point early after Dallas scored a first-quarter touchdown, leading the Cowboys to chase that point for the rest of the afternoon.

Maher’s yelps also changed the Cowboys’ reckoning on fourth attempts, as they were forced to take a more aggressive approach over fears Maher couldn’t convert a kick. To his credit, Maher converted a pair of field goals in the game, but few would have believed him to score an extra point if Dallas entered the end zone in the fourth quarter.

It was more of a self-inflicted error by Dallas, which should have cut Maher and brought in a new kicker for this game. The Cowboys have no one to blame but themselves for letting Maher’s inopportune misses leave them in a bad position throughout the game.

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