Cowboys get weird with intentional safety, onside punt and Twitter loves it

Jacob Hancock

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Cowboys get weird with intentional safety, onside punt and Twitter loves it image

The Cowboys pulled out lots of trick plays in their 23-9 loss to the Eagles on "Sunday Night Football," but the weirdest sequence of plays came late in the fourth quarter and were a perfect representation of the NFC East this season.

Down by 12 points with the ball and facing a fourth-and-17 at its 16, Dallas (2-6) elected to take a delay of game penalty and then snap the ball out the back of the end zone while in punt formation, resulting in a safety. That made it a 14-point deficit — still a two-possession game — with 3:55 to play and gave the Cowboys a chance to recover an onside free kick from their 20.

MORE: Scoring updates, highlights from Cowboys-Eagles

Then it got even weirder. Kicker Greg Zuerlein, who was the lone offense for Dallas on the night with three field goals, lofted a shallow punt, leading to a huge dogpile. Philadelphia (3-4-1) came out with the ball, but it was still a pretty clever idea and nearly paid off.

Fans loved it. Who wouldn't want to see more onside punts?

Jacob Hancock