Cowboys muted after special teams gaffe leads to another loss - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — A season that already was painful in many ways took a twisting turn into more anguish for the Dallas Cowboys with their 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday.

Now 5-8 with four games to play, the Cowboys' chances to make the playoffs for a fourth straight season were slim before kickoff and even slimmer after.

«Just do the math,» coach Mike McCarthy said. «Obviously, we're not even back to even. We're still in a hole. So, we need a tremendous amount of help. Just being Captain Obvious here. This one stings. We had to have this one. That's the way we approached it.»

And the Cowboys were in a position to win their third straight game to at least pull themselves closer to the postseason discussion when linebacker Nick Vigil deflected a Bengals punt after the two-minute warning.

Yet instead of steering clear of the ball, Dallas cornerback Amani Oruwariye muffed a scoop attempt, and the Bengals recovered, giving Cincinnati the opportunity to score the go-ahead touchdown three plays later on a 40-yard pass from Joe Burrow to Ja'Marr Chase.

«AO was in a vice situation,» McCarthy said, «and then he heard the roar of the crowd and when he turned — he understands the rule once the ball crosses the line — his response was when he turned, when he heard the crowd, the ball was there and he reacted to it. So, obviously a big play in the game.»

In the locker room after the game, several teammates shielded Oruwariye from the media. He was activated off injured reserve Monday after working through a back injury. He helped clinch the Cowboys' Week 4 win against the New York Giants with an interception of a Hail Mary attempt.

«We can't judge him,» cornerback Jourdan Lewis said of Oruwariye. «None of us played a