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FRISCO, Texas -- A 60-minute NFL football game is never fully decided by one play or one drive with both teams having chances to make plays throughout the first three quarters before crunch time. 

However, it certainly felt like a particular play did indeed swing the outcome of the Dallas Cowboys' 27-20 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals on "Monday Night Football" that snapped their two-game winning streak and dropped their record to 5-8. With the game tied at 20, Cincy was punting the football back to Dallas with two minutes to play. The Cowboys had all three timeouts and a shot to get kicker Brandon Aubrey an attempt at a game-winning field goal. 

That's when chaos broke out. Cowboys linebacker Nick Vigil blocked the Bengals punt so Dallas cornerback Amani Oruwariye went after the loose football in an attempt to give his offense advantageous field position. Instead, he muffed the recovery, which made it a live ball, and the Bengals jumped all over it, which gave their offense another chance. Three plays later, Cincinnati wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase escaped to the end zone with the 40-yard, go-ahead touchdown. 

Despite the miscue giving Cincinnati's offense another shot late, Oruwariye stands by his instinctual effort to go for the football. 

"Yeah man, just a normal punt return play. ... In the moment, I'm taking my guy, and then I heard a thump. I didn't know what is was. It could have been a punt, it could have been blocked whatever it was. All I know is I turned around to react like any athlete would, and I saw the ball there," Oruwariye said Wednesday. "In a split decision, I made a decision to go try and secure the ball. That's just part of the game. It was something that I felt in that moment was a reactionary thing to do, so I'm standing by it."

In the moment, Cowboys Pro Bowl return man KaVontae Turpin attempted to communicate to Oruwariye in real time that he shouldn't touch the football, yelling Peter -- the long-used code word on special teams throughout decades of football to communicate the return team needs to stay from and not touch the ball. 

"That's my job to yell Peter, and that's what I was coming up and doing," Turpin said Wednesday. "I just feel like he wanted to make a play and change the football game. I ain't mad at him or have anything against him. I understand it. That's what it is."

The realization hit Oruwariye immediately after his role in a game-changing play gave the Bengals another chance with under two minutes left to play in a 20-20 game. 

"Just kind of seeing everyone's emotion, I'm like 'dang, that was a pretty big mistake in the moment,'" Oruwariye said. "Like I said, it was reactionary in the moment. The ball kind of got up on me pretty quick, so I wish I could have secured it. I wish I could have just not touched it. Either way, it kind of unfolded how it did, and that's part of the game. That's part of life, things you got to kind take and learn from and move on from."

Dallas All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was among his Cowboys teammates to express their emotions about the play Monday night since he wished he and the offense could have had one last chance to get Aubrey set up for a game-winning kick. 

"I wish we would have got the ball," Lamb said postgame on Monday. ... "At that point, you just can't be a superhero. You got to do what you go to do. Let the ball just die. Whatever yards that we lose on the roll, we'll get it back on offense. I feel like he saw that as an opportunity to make a play for us, and obviously it went the other direction."   

After the game Cowboys defensive backs, including Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs, rallied around Oruwariye in the locker room, opting to show support for him by blocking him from speaking with the media in the immediate aftermath. 

"It's a testimony to the kind of guys we have in this locker room," Oruwariye said. "Just great guys, great teammates. Just wanted to rally around me, console me, support me. In a moment like that, it's just a very emotional moment. Like I said, I didn't want to feel like I was letting anyone down. They quickly assured me that I wasn't, what I did. That was a good feeling to feel that from my guys."

Oruwariye also received full-throated support from Cowboys special teams coordinator John "Bones" Fassel postgame and throughout the day on Tuesday in the form texts and an eventual phone call.

"I talked to him right after the game," Fassel said. "He had a towel over his head in the locker room. I know he needed some time. I texted him last night [on Monday]. I texted him again this morning. I called him quite a few hours ago. I asked him how he was doing, word for word. He said, 'I'm doing good.' I said, 'Good because you should be doing good. You have no reason to think you cost us the game or you made a mistake or that you let the team down.' All words that came out of his mouth. All those things are not true in my opinion. He did not let the team down. He worked incredibly hard to come off IR after missing [five] games. He tried to make a play on the ball. So none of that stuff should be written about [Oruwariye]. He didn't let the team down. He felt bad about it. I'm glad that he is good today. Football happens."  

The result of Monday night's happenings didn't officially knock the Cowboys out of playoff contention, but their postseason dreams are essentially out of reach. CBS SportsLine simulation models now have the Cowboys with a bleak 0.3% chance to reach the postseason. Fassel has likened special teams to the "wild, wild West." The somewhat untamable nature attributed to special teams came around to bite a doomed 2024 Dallas squad that has greatly benefitted from that phase of the game in the past thanks to heroics from Aubrey and Turpin. Simply put, 2024 is just not the Cowboys year.