The Cowboys fell to 5-8 with a 27-20 loss on Monday Night Football, giving up a touchdown after this sequence:

The rule is that if a deflected punt goes beyond the line of scrimmage, and the receiving team touches it, it’s a live ball and can be recovered by the kicking team. So if Dallas had just let that roll, they would have regained possession. It was more or less a muff.

Greg Olsen tweeted this out and it’s a good way to look at the play:

“No such thing as a partially blocked punt. If it goes past the LOS it’s not blocked. It’s just a punt.”

Correct. That’s why the fielding rules are the same. If the punt was blocked behind the line, it’s a live ball and anyone can touch it.

Dallas gave up a three-play touchdown drive on the ensuing Cincy possession, then couldn’t score on their final drive, so the Bengals took a knee and that was that. How bout them Cowboys!