The Indianapolis defense spared quarterback Peyton Manning's blushes in the National Football League playoffs on Satur-day, but there was no such escape for the Cowboys' Tony Romo.
Romo, hailed as a savior in Dallas after replacing Drew Bledsoe as quarterback, mishandled a snap on a field goal attempt with just over a minute to play as the Cowboys fell 21-20 to the Seattle Seahawks in a National Football Conference wild card game.
"I cost the Dallas Cowboys a playoff win," said Romo of his first playoff game.
Before the gaffe, Romo had appeared poised while leading the Cowboys into field-goal range.
When the Cowboys set up for a 19-yard field goal with 1:19 to play, they seemed sure to get their first playoff victory in a decade.
But Romo bobbled a perfect snap from L.P. Ladouceur, then picked up the ball and ran to his left, but was tripped up from behind by Jordan Babineaux just shy of a first down at the 1 yard line.
It was the last in a series of wild plays in the fourth quarter, which also featured a goal-line stand from the Cowboys.
On the previous play, Romo completed a seven-yard pass to Jason Witten on 3rd-and-7 to the 1, a play originally ruled a first down.
But after a replay, Witten was ruled to be just a bit shy of the first down -- a major factor because the Seahawks were out of timeouts.
Overshadowed by the chaos was Matt Hasselbeck's 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jerramy Stevens with 4:24 remaining, which gave the Seahawks a 21-20 lead. The duo also hooked up for a 15-yard TD in the third quarter.
The defending NFC champion Seahawks will visit either Chicago or New Orleans next weekend in the second round.
"That was a heartbreaker, as you know," Dallas coach Bill Parcells said. "We were an extra point away from being down to eight teams left. That's the hardest thing."
The Colts booked a berth in a second-round clash with the Baltimore Ravens with a 23-8 victory over Kansas City in Saturday's American Football Conference contest.
The Colts defense, which ranked last against the run in the regular season, were able to neutralize workhorse Larry Johnson while also having little problem shutting down the rest of the Chiefs' offense.
Indianapolis limited Kansas City to 16 total yards on 18 plays in the first half.
"Our defense was awesome today," said Manning, who threw three interceptions in a tentative performance.
"It is embarrassing," Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez said. "There's no way this offense should not be able to pick up a first down in a whole half."
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