The Cowboys went 36-15 in Micah Parsons’ first three NFL seasons. They are 5-8 after an unfathomable 27-20 loss to the Bengals on Monday night.
“This one hurt me more than any loss this year, probably even worse than a playoff loss to be honest, because of where we were going, how we were playing, playing good football,” the All-Pro linebacker said. “I’m going to sit on this, but I have to find a way to keep these guys alive. There’s still football to be had. There’s still openings to be had. We have to take advantage of every opportunity the rest of the way. We can’t let these type of games slip away like we did today.”
On the first play after the two-minute warning in a tie game, Cowboys linebacker Nick Vigil blocked the punt of Ryan Rehkow. Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel frantically waved his hands and jumped up and down on the far sideline, imploring the Cowboys to leave the ball alone.
Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who was activated from injured reserve Monday, didn’t get the message. He tried to pick up the ball and run with it and instead Maema Njongmeta recovered for the Bengals at the Cincinnati 43.
The Cowboys gave up a 40-yard touchdown reception to Ja’Marr Chase three plays later with 1:01 left.
ESPN cameras caught Parsons rocking back and forth on the bench after the touchdown, mouthing, “No! Oh, my God!” He put his head in his hands in disbelief.
Parsons was so distraught he left the field before the clock hit zero, and he had a hard time finding his words in the locker room afterward.
“Oh, I hurt,” Parsons said, pausing. “Um, um, um. I won’t wish this on anybody. You can’t even put that in words, bro, to be honest.”
Parsons said the defensive players had no idea what had happened when they were called to return to the field.
“I wasn’t even grasping what was going on. Nick made a great play,” Parsons said. “I asked the ref, ‘Explain what happened,’ and he told me we touched the ball. It was definitely a huge momentum shift. We just got a huge stop. We’re going in the two-minute drill. It’s just real hard. You’d like to think you can pull that game out from that situation. That hurts.”
The Cowboys have had no luck this season, and they now have little chance of reaching the postseason.
“I don’t want to say it’s snowballing, but I don’t know,” Parsons said. “It seems like we’re paying a due that’s not fair. I don’t know if it’s bad luck, karma, what.”