December 9, 2024
Mike McCarthy looks up
Amani Oruwariye made a huge mistake in his Dallas Cowboys’ 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Monday night, and the blunder had everyone saying the same thing.
The Bengals and Cowboys were tied at 20 in the fourth quarter, and Cincinnati had been forced into a punt on 4th-and-27 from their 29. The Cowboys rushed after the punt and even blocked it. But rather than just let the ball stop on its own after being blocked, Oruwariye tried to field the blocked ball and fumbled it, which allowed the Bengals to recover and retain possession. Cincinnati ended up throwing a touchdown to take the lead and win the game.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! 😱
THE COWBOYS BLOCKED THE PUNT BUT CINCY GOT THE BALL BACK AFTER A DALLAS PLAYER TOUCHED THE BALL! #CINvsDAL | ABC, ESPN pic.twitter.com/vaMWLRHxIa
— ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2024
All the Cowboys had to do was stay away from the ball and they would have had possession because the ball would have been ruled dead. Instead, Oruwariye made his big mistake.
The mistake was very similar to one made by former Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett in a Thanksgiving game in 1993. Lett tried to recover a field goal attempt that the Cowboys had blocked, but he muffed it, allowing the Dolphins to recover and kick a field goal to win it.
Everyone was making references to Lett in response to Oruwariye’s play.
Leon Lett thinks this was messed up. https://t.co/GCeAjyJekN
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 10, 2024
The Ghost of Leon Lett visiting Jerry Jones tonight
— Jimmy’s Famous Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) December 10, 2024
OMG the Cowboys just pulled another Leon Lett.
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) December 10, 2024
Leon Lett is sitting somewhere, enjoying a decent MNF game, when all of the sudden his world explodes like it’s 1993 all over again.
— G (@GeoffreyHoman) December 10, 2024
Yep, it sure resembled Lett’s mistake.
Leon Lett! pic.twitter.com/hgUlWwuzKp
— Steve Palazzolo (@StevePalazzolo_) December 10, 2024
How does this happen? How does an NFL player not know the rules of the game he is playing?
The 27-20 loss dropped Dallas to 5-9 and left some of their players completely stunned.