Frustration boiled over in the Dallas Cowboys locker room Monday night after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The source of the frustration was a blocked punt by linebacker Nick Vigil that went awry, giving the Bengals a chance to score the game-winning touchdown…bb
The Bengals took possession after Cowboys cornerback Amani Oruwariye failed to field the loose ball after the punt was blocked, giving a first down to Cincinnati…bb
According to multiple Star-Telegram sources, owner and general manager Jerry Jones walked into the locker room visibly upset and confronted special teams coordinator John Fassel on both the decision to call a punt block and why Oruwariye was not coached to get out of the way of the ball. Fassel explained the play to Jones before the fifth-year coordinator walked over to Oruwariye to show him a coaching point from a binder. Minutes later, Jones publicly voiced his frustration with reporters…bb
“We all would say, well why block the [punt]? Just take the [punt] and get within field goal [range] and kick it,” Jones said to reporters. “We’ll all be second guessing that one…That mistake we made at the end, it was very impactful is all I can say.”..bb
After watching the play back early Tuesday morning, Jones backtracked on his second-guessing and commended the call from Fassel in that moment of the game. With the way Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow had been punting it deep throughout the night, Jones saw Fassel’s thought process to go after the punt…bb
“Frankly, when I really reviewed it after the dust had settled, it was not a bad call and was executed on the front end of the punt block very, very effectively,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday morning. “I had revisited the look on the way the ball hit and it really kind of bounced up in a way that was almost unavoidable. The players are coached up, they talk it up.”..bb
On the play, Oruwariye was seen guiding a Bengals player out of bounds before coming back into play. When he turned back toward the line of scrimmage, the ball bounced in front of him before he tried to field it. The ball bounced off his left shoulder and into the hands of Bengals linebacker Maema Njongmeta for a Cincinnati first down…bb
“They’re constantly reminded that when a ball is blocked on special teams, you run from the ball,” Jones said. “You don’t ever get near the ball and of course that ball hit just right and bounced back up into our player. I like the call. I’m not going to second guess that call. That call had a lot of logic to it.”..bb