Jerry Jones: Cowboys ‘crushed’ by blocked punt mistake in defeat to Bengals

The 2024 Dallas Cowboys found a fresh way to lose.

Jerry Jones’ team was defeated 27-20 on Monday night by the Cincinnati Bengals, who capitalized on a Cowboys error involving a blocked punt.

With two minutes remaining, Dallas forced a punt, which was blocked by linebacker Nick Vigil. However, Amani Oruwariye made contact with the ball after it crossed the line of scrimmage, essentially muffing the punt, and was unable to secure it. The Bengals recovered.

Rather than the Cowboys taking possession in prime field position to win, Cincinnati swiftly scored a touchdown in three plays, leaving Dallas with a 5-8 record.

“Of course, that locker room is really devastated by the turn of events on the blocked kick,” said Jones, via the team’s official website. “Obviously, we had a block kick called, made the play and then had one in so many odds turn against us.”

The incident recalled memories of Leon Lett’s Thanksgiving slip in 1993, but it has happened to Dallas more recently.

According to Opta Stats, in the past 10 NFL seasons, there have only been two instances of a partially blocked punt that traveled less than 20 yards being touched by the receiving team and recovered by the punting team for a new set of downs. Both occurred at AT&T Stadium against the Cowboys—once by the Broncos in 2021 and again by the Bengals in Week 14. Dallas also lost to Denver that season, 30-16, but still finished with a 12-5 record.

Following Oruwariye’s mistake, which came after he was activated from injured reserve just before the game, All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons appeared confused on the sideline.

“I wasn’t even really grasping what was going on,” Parsons said. “Nick 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.”

Despite the tough moment, not everyone blamed Oruwariye. Jourdan Lewis stood by his teammate after the loss.

“Big plays happen and everybody sees it,” Lewis said. “We have to stay with him and keep encouraging him. We don’t want that moment to define him. We have to stay behind him. That’s just football. Some things roll your way and some things don’t. I can’t blame him trying to make a play.”

Unfortunately for the former fifth-round pick, the play he made ultimately favored the Bengals.

The loss dropped the Cowboys to 5-8 on the season. Already out of contention in the NFC East, Dallas is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, though Next Gen Stats gives them less than a 1% chance of making it.