From Daydreaming Tight Ends to Sleepy-headed Receivers, It's a Cowboys Nightmare

And if only Owens had held onto a pass midway through the third quarter that would have been a certain touchdown, Washington would never have been in the game at all in the fourth quarter.

"I owe this one to the team," Owens said. "I let the team down. I felt I had it and it dropped."

Parcells would not play along. The coach had already blundered, undoubtedly stirring the Redskins with comments that appeared in the New York Times last week suggesting Washington tackle Jon Jansen wasn't the player of two years ago and new associate head coach-offense Al Saunders simply looked to score points with no regard for the pressure it placed on his defense.

Yesterday, he looked less like the genius of the New York Giants and New England Patriots years and more like a coach finishing out his last season. He said he didn't request a replay because his assistant coaches in the booth thought Jones's knee was down before the ball was out of the end zone. When asked about the two-point conversion, he said the chart that many coaches use to determine which situation dictates a one-point or two-point conversion insisted he go for two.

At his postgame news conference, someone suggested that maybe, perhaps with the game still early in the second quarter, Parcells might have wanted to get the sure one-point conversion.

The coach did not agree, snapping, "I go by the chart."

So many problems, so many places to look. Dallas owner Jerry Jones stood just outside the door of the locker room, glanced at the final statistics sheet and scrunched his face. "What did we have? 150 yards in penalties?" he said.

Actually it was 153 on 11 infractions -- everything from Anthony Fasano's false start on the 1-yard line that might well have led to the safety to the unsportsmanlike conduct Owens drew in the third quarter when he used the ball as a pillow and pretended to take a nap in celebration of his touchdown.

And, of course, there was the face-mask penalty called on the Cowboys' Kyle Kosier that gave Washington one last field goal try.

"At the end of the day, penalties did us in," Parcells said.

But that would be forgetting Owens's other dropped pass on the sideline or Fasano falling on the sideline on the Cowboys' last drive with nothing but green field and end zone in front of him or safety Roy Williams having a sure interception slip through his hands and bounce off his helmet.

"It's a heartbreaker," Parcells said.

Later, Jones lamented the team's 4-4 record. It could easily be 6-2. He has never been known to be patient when his team stumbles. This time, he frowned. It was a frown that said nothing and so much at the same time.

And you had to wonder if the Cowboys, in their carelessness, had lost more than just a football game yesterday.