The Cowboys went 36-15 in Micah Parsons’ first three seasons in the NFL. He’s 5-8 after an erratic 27-20 loss to the Bengals on Monday night.
“This one hurt more than any loss this year, probably worse than the playoff loss to be honest, because of where we went, how we played, played good football,” the All-Pro linebacker said. “I’ll sit on it, but I’ve got to find a way to keep these guys alive. There’s still football to be played. There’s still a lot of opportunities. We’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity. We can’t let these types of games slip away like we did today .”
On the first play after the two-minute warning with the game tied, Cowboys linebacker Nick Vigil blocked Ryan Rehkow’s punt. Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel was frantically waving his arms and jumping up and down on the far sideline, pleading with the Cowboys to leave the ball alone.
Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who was activated from injured reserve on Monday, did not get the news. He tried to pick the ball up and run with it, and instead, Maema Njongmeta recovered for the Bengals at the Cincinnati 43.
The Cowboys gave up a 40-yard touchdown to receiver Ja’Marr Chase three plays later with 1:01 remaining.
ESPN cameras caught Parsons rocking back and forth on the bench after the touchdown, saying, “No! Oh, my God!” He put his head in his hands in disbelief.
Parsons was so distraught that he walked off the field before the clock hit zero, then struggled for words in the locker room.
“Oh, it hurts,” Parsons said, pausing. “Um, um, um. I won’t wish this on anyone. You can’t even put it into words bro, honestly.”
Parsons said the defensive players had no idea what happened when they were called to get back on the field.
“I didn’t even know what was going on. Nick made a great play,” Parsons said. “I asked the referee, ‘Explain what happened,’ and he said we touched the ball. It was definitely a huge shift. We just got a big stop. We’re going into a two-minute drill. It’s real. You’d like to think, that you get the game out of that situation.”
The Cowboys have been unlucky this season and now have a slim chance of making the postseason.
“I don’t want to say it’s snowballed, but I don’t know,” Parsons said. “It seems we’re paying a fee that’s not fair. I don’t know if it’s bad luck, karma, what.”