Cowboys are penalized for not holding

One side had an unlikely hero.

The other had a fallen one.

On the same night Seattle got two touchdowns from tight end Jerramy Stevens, the goat of last year’s Super Bowl, Dallas was knocked out of the playoffs by quarterback Tony Romo’s critical error with 1 minute 19 seconds to play.

Romo botched the hold on a 19-yard field-goal attempt -- a would-be game-winning kick -- picked up the ball and ran for the goal line. He was caught from behind two yards short of the end zone -- and a yard short of a first down -- and the Seahawks wound up hanging on for a 21-20 wild-card victory.

Seattle’s divisional opponent depends on the outcome of today’s game between Philadelphia and the New York Giants. If the Eagles win, the Seahawks will play at Chicago next Sunday. If the Giants win, Seattle play at New Orleans on Saturday.

Either way, the Cowboys are done, having lost four of their final five games. Adding to the bitterness of the defeat is the uncertainty surrounding the future of Coach Bill Parcells, who might step down despite the Cowboys’ interest in having him stay. After the game, he gave no clues to what his decision will be.

Asked which way he’s leaning, Parcells said: “I haven’t thought about it right now. I’m going to think about it and we’ll see.”

This season, when Romo rocketed to stardom, Parcells warned the media not to anoint him too quickly. With the game on the line Saturday, it was as if Romo had that anointing oil all over his hands.

“I didn’t catch the ball and I didn’t get it down,” he said. “It happened pretty quick. ... It obviously cost us the game.”

In a game that started sleepily and ended with a slugfest, the winning score proved to be a 37-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter by Stevens, who dropped at least three passes in last season’s Super Bowl XL loss to Pittsburgh.

“I know what I can do,” said Stevens, who also had a 15-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. “It doesn’t always go your way in football, man. Ball bounces funny sometimes. Sometimes when you get knocked down, you’ve got to get back up.”

The same might be said of Seattle’s secondary, which came into the game without its top three cornerbacks, all of whom are injured. The starting corners Saturday were rookie Kelly Jennings and Jordan Babineaux, a converted safety. The Seahawks also had Pete Hunter making a major contribution in the secondary, even though he was signed only Tuesday and was working as a mortgage broker.

It was Babineaux who made the game-saving tackle of Romo.

“I had no choice,” Babineaux said. “It’s either catch him or go home. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It was just one of those moments.”

The momentum shifted back and forth in the second half. Seattle took a 13-10 lead with Stevens’ touchdown in the third quarter, but the Cowboys immediately answered when Miles Austin ran back the kickoff 93 yards for a score.

Dallas extended its lead to 20-13 with a field goal in the fourth quarter, then mounted a goal-line stand that quieted the crowd.

But that lull didn’t last long. On the first play after that defensive boost, the Cowboys, backed up to their own end zone, made a big blunder. Romo threw a quick screen to Terry Glenn, who stumbled and then had the ball stripped by Jennings. It bounced back into the end zone, and initially it was ruled that Seattle had recovered for a touchdown. Officials studied the replay and determined it was a safety, which narrowed Dallas’ lead to 20-15.

That set the stage for the second touchdown by Stevens, then the blown opportunity by the Cowboys, who lined up for the field goal only after an apparent first down at the one had been overturned on a replay review.

Team owner Jerry Jones said the game left him with “nothing what but what might have been. ... The main thing I take away is this really deep, dark, hollow feeling that we’re through playing ball this year. That hurts more than anything.”

In the Seattle locker room, the players were relieved and invigorated.

“I call this team the greatest persevering team I’ve ever been on,” running back Shaun Alexander said. “The injuries we’ve had, the windstorms. I think I didn’t have power in my house for a week. Over and over, just stuff you wouldn’t imagine one team would go through. Yet we still win the [NFC] West, we still play our home playoff game, we win to get in there, and now we are officially going to hunt for this thing.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com