FRISCO, Texas -- The special teams phase of football is an absolute wildcard that can change the entire trajectory of a game in a heartbeat. That was the case on Monday night for the Cowboys, as a blocked punt bounced right towards Amani Oruwariye who made contact with the football and the Cincinnati Bengals recovered it, setting up their go-ahead scoring drive to eventually win 27-20.
Special teams coordinator John "Bones" Fassel explained to the media on Tuesday that the play call was a seven blocks punt return, not a designed attempt to block the punt, but that the Bengals didn't end up blocking the backside B-gap, allowing Nick Vigil to shoot that gap and get in position to block the punt as he was taught.
"They play call is a very basic, elementary call…" Fassel explained. "We blocked it, the deflection didn't go in our favor, I don't know what else to say, Nick Vigil's technique was perfection."
It wasn't the blocked punt that was the issue, it's what occurred in the ensuing two seconds that would end up giving the ball back to the Bengals.
"[Oruwariye] said that he heard the crowd, which was significant, so he turned back to see what happened and the ball was bouncing at him, he didn't know that it got blocked," Fassel said. "He didn't know if it was a fumble, he didn't know that the ball was where it was. And so he just reacted like I would, see ball get ball."
Obviously, it was a game changing play that allowed Cincinnati to march 57 yards downfield in 3 plays and 52 seconds, with Ja'Marr Chase landing the knockout punch on a 40-yard touchdown. Fassel didn't believe that the punt block was a failure, but just an unlucky break for the Cowboys.
"I don't think this was a failed play, it was an unfortunate bounce off a blocked punt…" Fassel said. "I think this how the special teams volatility kind of goes over the course of the season, and it's an uncomfortable phase of the game for a lot of people because you never know what can happen."
Fassel added that if Vigil was able to get just a little more of a piece of the ball, rookie linebacker Marist Liufau would likely have scored a walk-in touchdown to give Dallas the lead. Instead, because of where the ball bounced, Oruwariye was essentially in no-man's land, with none of his teammates close enough to make a "Peter" or "Poison" call to warn him of the live ball until it was too late.
"We can sit and watch the film and watch the TV copies, but that happens in absolutely brilliant flashes as far as timing of things." Fassel said.
After the game Oruwariye was visibly upset, returning to the locker room with a towel over his head and receiving the backing of several teammates including special teams captain C.J. Goodwin. Fassel talked to Oruwariye after the game, texted him later on that night, and did so again earlier Tuesday morning before making a phone call to reassure him.
"Asked him how he was doing, word for word, and he said 'I'm doing good,'" Fassel said. "And I said 'Good, because you should be doing good, you have no reason to think that you cost us the game, or that you made a mistake, or that you let the team down.'"
In some cases, an instance like this would be the craziest special teams sequence to happen to a team in a season, or maybe even multiple. The Cowboys however have had several unique special teams instances pop up in recent weeks, including a onside kick returned for a touchdown against the Commanders, a blocked field goal in that same game, and plenty of other cases to choose from throughout the year too.
"I think I attribute it to sometimes, special teams is the wild wild west," Fassel said. "There's very unique situations that happen over the last couple of weeks."
And while some of the special teams miscues have hurt Dallas in games this season, Fassel believes that there's still a lot more good than bad coming from their situations this season. Sometimes, the ball just doesn't bounce your way, and that's just how the game of football goes.
"I understand the criticism, but we're talking about blocked punts and a kick returned for a touchdown," Fassel said. "But I get it, it comes with the territory."
