Eatman: Add another gut-punch to this 2024 season

ARLINGTON, Texas – Seriously, what else can happen in this crazy season?

It's literally every single week we're seeing something – either on the field, off the field, or sometimes both – that we've just never seen before.

And if we have seen it, it's been over 30 years.

Yes, every single Cowboys fan that was alive for that 1993 Thanksgiving Day game probably thought of Leon Lett instantly after Amani Oruwariye muffed the blocked punt that led to an eventual game-winning touchdown.

But here's why the Leon Lett play in the snow doesn't sting so bad … the Cowboys never lost another game that year and won the Super Bowl. Same reason why his fumble in the previous Super Bowl when he was holding the ball out and let the Bills receiver catch him, doesn't hurt either. That only prevented a record, but the Cowboys still won the game, winning a freakin' Super Bowl.

This year, we've got all the pain … and no Super Bowl in sight. In fact, the chances to even make the playoffs basically went out the window after this dramatic 27-20 loss to the Bengals.

The Cowboys were battling Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and the Bengals. It wasn't pretty and they looked overmatched at times, but here they were with a chance to win... and several chances to get the ball, but they came up short.

I'll be honest, that play where Oruwariye tried to field the ball and missed, will go down as the play of the game for sure. I think the Cowboys could get into field goal range and take the lead. If that were to happen, it would just come down to how much time the Bengals had left to operate.

But while that play changed the game, that's not when the Cowboys really lost the game. To me, it was the back-to-back fumble opportunities they didn't get.

I've seen the play three or four times and it still looks like a fumble to me. Once you're tucking the ball in to run, I've thought that was a "football move" and that's when it came out. If the Cowboys get that ball right there at the Bengals 28, that would've changed everything because they had all the momentum.

But when the replay officials in New York signaled down to change the call, there's really nothing to review at that point. The booth had already seen it and wasn't going to change it.

But on the very next play, the Cowboys get the ball out again with Wilson and Liufau getting a sack and fumble … and the Bengals still recover it.

That's when I said in the press box, " this game is over." I really felt that way because for the entire game, even when it was tied 17-17 and even when the Cowboys took a 20-17 lead in the fourth, I felt like the Bengals were up by 10. Obviously, they weren't, but that's what it felt like the Cowboys had to overcome to win this game.
But here they are in the middle of the fourth and two chances to get a turnover come up, and they don't get either? Yeah, it's just not your night.

And even with that, they had a shot and it didn't work out.

I mean, seriously, only in this 2024 Cowboys season can you block a punt in the final two minutes of a tie game… and it turns out to be a negative play. That's just not supposed to happen, but in a season like this, it's actually pretty normal.

I'm sure the coaching staff is getting its share of blame for this outcome, whether it's Mike McCarthy or John Fassel or both. But I'm not buying that one at all.

I was sitting up here in the press box when half of the people in here said "get away from it" and then everyone was like, "what is he doing?"

No one up here knows all of the rules, but most of them know that one – just like Oruwariye does as well. We're not talking about a rookie, but a veteran in his sixth year who has played plenty of special teams.

As Jourdan Lewis said, he was trying to make a play and he didn't field it. Simple as that.

And with that, the Cowboys find a way to lose a winnable game – one that probably dashes what was already slim-to-none playoff hopes.

Just when you thought we have seen it all in this 2024 season, we get a kick-in-the-groin reminder that's something else out there to see.

But unlike the Leon Lett moments, there doesn't seem to be any glory at the end of this journey.