The Cardinals were on the positive end of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett's fateful decision to call timeout before his own kicker's attempt at a game-winning field goal Sunday in Arizona.
You'll recall that Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey made his initial 49-yard attempt, subsequently negated by Garrett's timeout, then misfired on his next kick, forcing overtime.
On Tuesday, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt explained his thinking during those tense moments in his team's 19-13 overtime victory.
"The official came to me and asked (if I wanted a timeout)," Whisenhunt said on NFL Network. "I said, "No, I'm not going to call a timeout, I'm going to stand here beside you and make it look like I'm going to call a timeout,' because you never know. Maybe the kicker looks over and sees and thinks you're going to and maybe it gets him a little bit out of his rhythm.
"You really don't have any other options at that time, so you give it a try."
Whisenhunt added that in 2008, he attempted to ice Cowboys kicker Nick Folk before a game-tying attempt late in regulation. Folk missed the first kick wiped away by the timeout, then made the one that counted. On Sunday, Whisenhunt decided to do the opposite and hope luck took over. Garrett did instead.
Is anybody else blown away by how much thought NFL coaches put into this stuff? Gamesmanship is one thing, but it's edging toward madness here.
