“Just stop.” That advice would have been useful for Cowboys defensive back Amani Oruwariye on Monday night, and it would have been equally valuable for team owner Jerry Jones—both during the game and throughout the season.
To recap: Monday’s primetime matchup between the Bengals and Cowboys was a sloppy yet gripping contest. With under two minutes remaining and the score tied at 20-20, the Cowboys appeared poised for a critical possession. The Bengals faced a fourth-and-27 deep in their territory, seemingly gifting Dallas a golden opportunity.
Then, Dallas caught a break. Linebacker Nick Vigil slipped through the line and blocked Ryan Rehkow’s punt. But what followed turned disastrous. Oruwariye tried to field the bouncing ball but failed to secure it after making contact.
Instead of letting it go, which would have placed Dallas near the Bengals’ 45-yard line, Cincinnati recovered. Moments later, Joe Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase for a go-ahead touchdown. Final score: Bengals 27, Cowboys 20.
After the game, Jerry Jones addressed the media with a puzzling take on the events. Whether it inspired a forehead slap or an exasperated shrug depended on the listener.
Cowboys Were … Wrong to Block the Punt?
As usual, Jones relished the spotlight, surrounded by reporters. He suggested, bizarrely, that Dallas might have been wrong to attempt blocking the punt. The logic was, at best, bewildering.
“Well, why block the kick?” Jones said. “Just take the kick and get within field-goal kicking (range). We’ll all be second-guessing that one. After blocking the punt, we touched the ball. That all should be figured in before you decide to block the punt. Especially, you weigh your odds up against catching the ball on the kick and getting it back out and getting within field-goal range. We can all second-guess that.”
The idea of actively avoiding a punt block—a play that should have put the Cowboys within 15 yards of a game-winning field goal—drew widespread criticism across the NFL.
Jerry Jones Is ‘Being Dumb’
On ESPN’s “Get Up,” former NFL players Domonique Foxworth and Jeff Saturday were baffled by Jones’s comments. Both questioned the rationale and the lack of oversight in Dallas’s leadership structure.
Foxworth remarked: “There’s been so many things he has said this year that seem silly. That speaks to me as a person who doesn’t have anyone who can tell him, ‘You’re being dumb. You need to be quiet.’ At a certain point, somewhere along the line, all the silly things that he said this year, someone needs to say, ‘Hey, you’re wrong.’ He doesn’t know that he’s wrong. That’s absurd.”
Saturday added: “You literally question everything that is going on. Who in the owner’s box is agreeing with you? When you come down and you have your press conference … My goodness, to talk about it as a return vs. a block, that is crazy.”
