SEATTLE – This was the hardest.
Inches and seconds away from their first playoff win since 1996, the Cowboys saw their season end in bizarre fashion when Tony Romo dropped a good snap on a 19-yard field goal attempt with 1:14 to play.
Instead of advancing in the NFC playoffs and keeping alive hopes of a Super Bowl trip, the Cowboys lost, 21-20, to Seattle in the wild-card round Saturday.
"That was a heartbreaker, as you know," said Cowboys coach Bill Parcells.
But it didn't have to be.
The seesaw of emotion began with 6:32 to play when a safety – which was changed from a Seattle touchdown after a Dallas replay challenge – cut the Cowboys' lead to 20-15. Before Terry Glenn fumbled the ball out of the Dallas end zone, the Cowboys had stopped Seattle at the 2 on a goal-line stand.
"Just to see the opportunity for the players and also for the coaches go out the window on something like that," said Parcells, whose team dropped its final three games. "We were an extra point away from being down to eight teams left. That's the hardest thing."
The Cowboys thought they were in position to win the game with a last-second field goal after Jason Witten was given a first down on what appeared to be a 7-yard catch.
But with 1:19 to play, the replay officials in the booth decided to review where the officials on the field spotted the ball. The coaches have no control of replay in the final two minutes of each half, and official Walt Anderson determined that Witten's forward momentum was stopped a half yard short of the first-down marker, setting up fourth down.
Still, the Cowboys needed only a 19-yard field goal from Martin Gramatica to end their playoff drought.
L.P. Ladouceur's snap sailed into Romo's hands, but he bobbled it as he attempted to place it on the ground, setting off a chaotic scramble.
Romo, whose elusiveness helped him win six of his first 10 starts this season, picked up the loose ball and appeared headed for the winning touchdown. Gramatica got a slight shove on cornerback Jordan Babineaux, but not enough to slow him down.
As Romo's eyes grew wider with the blue-painted end zone yards away, Babineaux, whose interception in last year's regular-season meeting with the Cowboys set up the game-winning field goal on the final play, dived, clipping Romo's feet. Romo was stopped at the 2, a yard short of a first down.
"I cost the Dallas Cowboys a playoff win," said Romo, who threw for 189 yards in his first playoff action. "That's going to sit with me for a long time."
Said Parcells: "He's been our holder all year. I don't think we've had one [bad hold] all year."
Parcells thought the Cowboys had a chance to stop the Seahawks. Dallas had three timeouts. The ball was at the 2 with 1:14 to play. But Shaun Alexander, held in check the entire game, gained 20 yards on first down.
The Seahawks were forced to punt with seven seconds left, and Ryan Plackemeier's kick went off the side of his foot, hurried by a low snap, to midfield.
Two seconds and 50 yards away from winning the game, Romo's final fling hung in the cool Seattle air as Terrell Owens and other circled under it, but it was knocked down, perhaps fittingly, by former Cowboy Pete Hunter, who was signed just this week.
Romo walked dejectedly off the field to a locker room that was largely silent. Parcells did the same after his midfield handshake with his counterpart Mike Holmgren, who is 2-0 vs. Parcells in the postseason.
The defense, shredded over the final month, had its best showing in a long time. The running game turned on late, led by Julius Jones' 112 yards. And the special teams play was brilliant, with Miles Austin returning a kickoff 93 yards for a score in the third quarter.
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LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN Tony Romo (9) scrambles toward the end zone after fumbling the snap on a last-minute field goal attempt. |
Then came the overturned first-down call and the dropped snap, followed by the broken hearts.
After the game, owner and general manager Jerry Jones reiterated that he wants Parcells (34-32 including playoffs) to return for a fifth season. Jones said he also wants Owens, whose first season in Dallas ended with just two catches for 26 yards.
Parcells said he does not have a meeting planned with Jones this week. According to multiple sources, Parcells has to inform Jones of his decision by Feb. 1, and he needed just five days last year to decide to come back.
How is he leaning?
"I haven't thought about it right now," Parcells said.
Of course he wasn't. Moments earlier he was inches and seconds away from advancing.
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
