The Dallas Cowboys made an unthinkable mistake that opened the door for the Cincinnati Bengals’ game-winning touchdown on Monday night.
With the score tied, the Cowboys were prepared to get the ball back just after the two-minute warning. Things looked even better for Dallas after Cowboys linebacker Nick Vigil blocked Ryan Rehkow’s punt.
That’s when things took a drastic turn. Cornerback Amani Oruwariye tried to pick up the bouncing ball, but was unable to corral it. If no one from the Cowboys had touched it, they would have had possession on the Bengals’ side of the field with less than two minutes remaining, needing only a field goal. But once the ball fell from Oruwariye’s hands, he was alive. The Bengals recovered…
Three plays later, Cincinnati scored what would be the winning touchdown.
“Of course, that locker room is really devastated by the turn of events on the blocked kick,” Jones said via the team’s official website. “Obviously, they called us on a blocking kick, made us play, and then one of the odds turned against us.”
The sequence evoked memories of a similar mistake by Leon Lett during Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day loss to the Dolphins in 1993. This season, the botched blocked punt proved costly, as the Cowboys are now 5-8 and they are one step closer to elimination in the playoffs. On the contrary, the victory kept the Bengals’ faint hopes of making the playoffs alive.
