ARLINGTON, Texas — There have been some brutal losses for any franchise that has been around as long as the Dallas Cowboys have, and the one they suffered on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals will unfortunately go down as one of the most gutting in recent, and not-so-recent, memory.
"I wasn't even really grasping what was going on," All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons said, stunned and nearly speechless as he fought back tears. "Nick [Vigil] made a great play and then I asked the ref to explain what happened. He told me that [Amani Oruwariye] touched the ball. It was definitely a huge momentum shift. I mean, we had just caught a huge stop.
"We were going into the two minute drill. It's just real hard because you think and believe you can pull that game out in that situation. That hurts."
In case you missed it, here's a quick recap of the sequence of events that left the Cowboys more dejected than they've been at any point this season:
Having held the high-powered Bengals' offense to just 20 points at AT&T Stadium before forcing a punt on 4th-and-27 from the Bengals' own 29-yard line, after a sack by rookie linebacker Marist Liufau, and with only two minutes remaining in a tie game, what happened next created what can only be described as emotional whiplash.
Vigil, a veteran linebacker playing special teams, fired through to block the punt, and the stadium erupted in elation. Seconds later, unable to hear special teams' coordinator John "Bones" Fassel frantically screaming from the sideline cornerback Oruwariye to stay away from the "poison" ball, the young cornerback attempted to field it, unsuccessfully.
The Bengals would recover at their own 43-yard line, effectively gaining a first down and 14 yards on the Cowboys' special teams gaffe. Three plays later, it was Joe Burrow tossing the go-ahead touchdown pass to Ja'Marr Chase for a 40-yard strike that would lead to a 27-20 final score and the eighth loss of the season for the Cowboys.
"Of course, that locker room is really devastated by the turn of events on the blocked kick," owner and general manager Jerry Jones said, solemn in the delivery of his words. "Obviously, we had a block kick called, made to play and then had one in so many odds turn against us."
And while some might wonder why attempt the block versus taking the punt and attempting to drive down for a possible game-winning field goal, there's a simple reasoning behind taking the risk.
Field position.
Blocking the kick and allowing it to be called dead after the Bengals touched it, or when the official would call it dead as the ball lay lifeless on the turf, would give the Cowboys the ball in plus territory — instantly in field goal range where they could burn the remainder of the clock and then send All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey out to make what would've amounted to, for him, a chip shot to send the Cowboys to a three-game win streak and a 6-7 record on the season.
It's really just that simple.
"We all would say, 'Well why block the kick? Just take the kick and get in field goal range and kick it,'" said Jones. "We'll all be second guessing that. But I was proud of the way the guys hung in there all day. Their quarterback is outstanding, and I thought we did some really good things out there, patched up.
"... The coach said we made the play and blocked the punt, but then we had a one and X happened — after blocking the punt, we touched the ball. That's all should be figured in before you decide to block the punt."
It wasn't the only reason the Cowboys lost the game on Monday, but it was the one that ultimately nailed the coffin closed.
"We made mistakes out there," Jones said. "That mistake we made at the end was, really, it was very impactful, is all I can say."
