The Cowboys failed to snap their first three-game winning streak of the season, losing to the Bengals 27-20. It was a close game from start to finish, and while there aren’t any individual plays from that entire game that stick in anyone’s memory, here are five plays that were crucial to the game’s final result.

Cooper Rush’s interception gives away points

The Cowboys offense was on fire from the start, moving down the field with ease and scoring a touchdown. The Bengals managed to tie the game at 7-7 on their next drive, but a great play by CeeDee Lamb put Dallas back in the firing line.

Then tragedy struck. Rush took a quick look toward Lamb, but the receiver never arrived. He was thrown to the ground by a defender, a clean play since it occurred inside the five-yard box, but that allowed Geno Stone to deflect the pass.

There really wasn’t anything that could be done differently here, as Lamb didn’t have time to evade the defender and Rush got the ball out before it even happened, but the play was great. The Cowboys needed as many points as possible, and scoring them early in the red zone was devastating.

Luke Schoonmaker’s penalty strengthens the offense

The Cowboys were also hot to start the third quarter, scoring a touchdown on their first drive and beating Joe Burrow right after. With a 17-man draw, the Cowboys had real potential to move the ball.

After a first-down conversion by Rico Dowdle, Rush was sacked for a loss of one yard. During the scrimmage, Luke Schoonmaker shoved a Bengals defender, who then made an award-worthy display of histrionics and fell to the ground, drawing a flag.

Schoonmaker was assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty, and since the foul occurred after the play, that meant the down was counted and the 15 yards were then assessed. The Cowboys simply found themselves on second-and-26 and, as expected, had to settle for a field goal. That’s a bitter pill to swallow after the ride seemed to beg for more.

Joe Burrow finds Mike Gesicki on a hot note

Still, Brandon Aubrey’s field goal gave the Cowboys a 20-17 lead, and the Bengals had to respond. The fourth quarter had just begun and time was ticking away before they were able to regain the lead.

A couple of big plays put them right at the edge of field goal range. On first down, Burrow dropped back to pass, but was quickly greeted by Micah Parsons, who screamed down at him, completely unblocked. The quarterback threw a quick pass across the middle of the field to Mike Gesicki, who had beaten Donovan Wilson on his break.

Gesicki collected 13 yards and brought the Bengals safely into field goal range. More importantly, Burrow’s quick thinking prevented a particular sack that likely would have put them out of the reach of kicker Cade York, who tied the game just four plays later.

The whole punt block fiasco

Yes, of course we will talk about this piece. Without question, the most impactful play of the game came right after the two-minute warning. A series of penalties for the Bengals and a third down sack led to a fourth-and-27.

Cincinnati came out to punt. The Cowboys did something great. And then something that is the exact opposite of great.

Nick Vigil made a game-changing block on the punt that could have potentially sealed a game-winning field goal attempt for Aubrey, and Amani Oruwariye literally let it slip through his fingers. It was a mental error of Leon Letts proportions. As a result, they not only lost their excellent starting position, but also gave the Bengals a series of new defeats. Three plays later, Burrow scored the game-winner on a goal from Ja’Marr Chase.

Cooper Rush isn’t completely open about CeeDee Lamb

As disastrous as the blocked punt fiasco was for the Cowboys, it wasn’t the end. The quick score for Chase was actually a good thing, as it gave the ball back to Rush and the offense with 61 seconds left and all three timeouts.

Soon, however, the Cowboys faced fourth down and needed seven for the first down right on their side of the 50. Rush ended up shooting high and incomplete to Jake Ferguson, but Lamb got wide open in the middle of the field just before he threw it.

Had Rush seen Lamb, the first down would have been easy, and Lamb probably wins a lot more. The offense would have been under time pressure to get up and get the ball, but they would have at least had a better chance than they did when Rush Ferguson missed and effectively ended the game.