Dallas Cowboys' YouTube
Cowboys veteran responsible for muffed punt vs Bengals opens up about disaster play
When Dallas Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye headed to the locker room at the end of Monday's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, he did so with a towel covering his head.
Moments earlier, Oruwariye muffed a punt when trying to field the same football his teammate Nick Vigil had blocked seconds earlier. In the instances between Vigil's block and Oruwariye's muff, the Cowboys went from being almost guaranteed a third consecutive win to losing the game three plays later as the Bengals made the most of the mistake to score a touchdown and make it 27-20 with a minute remaining.
Oruwariye's costly muff essentially took a win right out of the Cowboys' pockets. Since then, the Cowboys veteran is more at peace with the blunder as he discussed it with the media on Wednesday.
"Just a normal punt return play," Oruwariye explained about his point of view. "In the moment. I'm taking my guy, and I kind of heard a thump. Didn't know what that was—it could have been a punt, could have been blocked, whatever it was. But all I know is I turned around to react like any athlete would and saw the ball there. In a split decision, I made a decision to go try to secure the ball, and that's just part of the game."
Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel explained a similar version on Tuesday, explaining Oruwariye wasn't aware the punt was blocked in the first place.
"I felt like it was something that, in that moment, was a reactionary thing to do, and so I'm standing by it," Oruwariye added.
Watching Micah Parsons and teammates' reactions on the sideline, Oruwariye realized something had gone terribly wrong. However, in the locker room, he found nothing but support from Cowboys players and coaches.
"It's a testimony just to the kind of guys we have in this locker room, just great guys, great teammates," Oruwariye said. "They just wanted to rally around me, console me, support me in a moment like that. It's just a very emotional moment. I didn’t want to feel like I was letting anyone down. They quickly assured me that wasn’t what I did."
It already was highly difficult to imagine the Cowboys making it to the postseason before suffering their eighth loss of the year on Monday. However, with the way the game went as the defense held Joe Burrow and company to 20 points, the night was tough pill to swallow for the franchise.
Fortunately for his own wellbeing, Oruwariye seems like a player that has turned the page, an important development after such a costly mistake on a national stage.
"It was a tough play, but as time goes on, you realize it's life, there are things bigger than this game outside of life," Oruwariye said. "It's a learning lesson. Me being in year six, there are still things I can learn and build upon, and that's what I plan to do."
