Few who know what they’re talking about when it comes to football personnel doubt that the 2019 Cowboys are loaded with talent. It’s what set the bar so high coming into this season. It’s what made the team the favorite in so many games. It’s what has kept the experts picking the team to eventually turn it around against seemingly overmatched opponents. It’s what makes their current 7-8 record and sudden status as a postseason outsider so surprising.

And it’s the Cowboys’ embarrassment of riches at skill positions that makes their personnel package for the most important play of the year downright staggering. With the Week 16 game, a season sweep of the Eagles, and a playoff berth all hanging in the balance but within reach, top wideout Amari Cooper and nine-year veteran Randall Cobb were not on the field. Questions about why were met with answers that don’t quite add up … and may help seal the fate of head coach Jason Garrett.

Despite another slow start and playing from behind all afternoon, Dallas was still – perhaps inexplicably – in a position to steal a win in Philadelphia on Sunday and claim the NFC East throne. Quarterback Dak Prescott had led the offense 69 yards and was set up inside the Eagles’ 20 at the two-minute warning. After that break, Prescott was sacked for a loss of 4 yards. Next, Prescott and Cooper were unable to connect on a third-down deep shot to the end zone.

The following play represented the Cowboys’ last best chance. From shotgun formation on fourth-and-8, Dallas lined up with running back Ezekiel Elliott in the backfield, receivers Michael Gallup and Tavon Austin split wide, and tight ends Jason Witten and Blake Jarwin working midfield.

Amari Cooper, the squad’s leading receiver with 75 receptions, eight touchdown catches,and 1,097 yards on the season, was standing on the sideline.

“Coach just took me out,” Cooper told reporters after the game. “I had just ran a deep ball. Took me out.”

Prescott’s final throw went to Gallup in the end zone. The second-year Colorado State product made a leaping try, but Philadelphia cornerback Sidney Jones knocked the ball away. Replay officials reviewed the play for possible pass interference, as Jones had seemingly hooked one of Gallup’s arms, but the play stood without a penalty.

Gallup played well, hauling in five catches for 98 yards on the day and passing 1,000 yards on the season. He’s been a bright spot in a frustrating season, but on this critical play, he was the clear-cut No. 1 option for the Eagles’ secondary to cover. It left many to wonder why Cooper, a three-time Pro Bowler reportedly in line for a massive contract extension, and Cobb, specifically brought in for 2019 to be a legitimate threat from the slot, weren’t also in the huddle.

“We had an opportunity outside to ,” Garrett said of the play call in his postgame press conference. “We had different routes going inside so the ball can go any of five places on that play based on the coverage they get. Obviously in those two-minute situations, those guys ran a lot of plays in a row. Each of those guys, particularly Randall, came up big at different times. We had a great matchup outside, but unfortunately we weren’t able to cash in on it.”

Cooper had just four catches in this game on 12 targets. A high quantity of drops led to some speculation that Cooper had been benched for poor play, much like cornerback Chidobe Awuzie had been earlier in the game.

Cooper is the league-leader in dropped balls since 2015, according to Pro Football Focus, but the Cowboys knew what he was when they traded for him. Occasional drops are nothing new for Cooper. Nor is his baffling tendency to disappear in road games (although the rest of the world is just now figuring this out). No, even for the Cowboys coaching staff, the deciding play of the season would be an uncharacteristically odd time to suddenly yank Cooper for habits he’s had his entire career.

“On my behalf, I know I didn’t play my best game at all,” Cooper told the media. “It was terrible.”

The Alabama alum has been dealing with some nagging lower-body injuries this season; was there something physical limiting him on Sunday that took him off the field on that key fourth down?

“I’m good,” Cooper said afterward. “My body’s OK. You know, you have nicks and bruises at this point of the season, but in terms of anything limiting me? Nah.”

Garrett confirmed Cooper’s health status when asked. “He wasn’t . We were rotating Tavon in there. Had a couple good opportunities with Tavon, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to cash in on them.”

Austin has made a handful of important plays for Dallas this season, none bigger than Week 15’s 59-yard touchdown versus the Rams, his only score of 2019. But with just 12 catches and 176 total receiving yards on the year, his presence over Cooper or even Cobb on the play that could have won the division is puzzling, even for a team that says it wants to attack with multiple players and in different ways.

If Cooper was on the sideline because he was winded (or because the team was stuck in hurry-up mode), why not call a timeout before the fourth-down play? The Cowboys still had all three of them at that point. A stoppage might have allowed the team time to work up a higher-percentage play, and it certainly would have given the 25-year-old time to sufficiently catch his breath for one more route.

But Garrett kept the timeouts in his pocket, saving them for the defensive stand that started when the Eagles took over on downs. The Cowboys did stop the clock three times, but it only prolonged the inevitable. Dallas lost the game, control of the NFC East is no longer in their hands, and the playoffs are a long shot. Garrett’s job is in serious doubt, and he’ll be answering more questions about apparently sticking with some mysterious “rotation” instead of having his best players on the field at the most important moment.

“It’s very disappointing,” Cooper said of being held out. “Obviously, you want to be out there, try to make a play for the team.”

Cooper even seemed to have a play in mind that he felt would have worked against the Eagles defensive backs.

“Just the way they were playing, we could have ran more deep routes. I feel like the ‘go’ ball was a good route to run tonight, but we didn’t really get to it.”

Except they did get to it. It’s the route Cooper ran on third down, on the incompletion right before he reported to the sideline, according to Cooper himself.

“I had a ‘go’ ball on the play before, and I was taken out.”

Whether the main weapon of the team’s receiving corps was sidelined on the biggest play of the year because he needed a breather or because of too many drops or because it was hurry-up time or because that’s just the way the rotation happened to go in that moment, it’s one of many, many, many things that will leave an awful taste in the mouths of everyone associated with the club in 2019.

It simply makes no sense. And, like almost everything else about this Cowboys season, the more it’s dissected and picked apart and analyzed, the less sense it makes.