updated 1:18 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2007

SEATTLE - All Tony Romo had to do was put the ball down and let Martin Gramatica make an easy kick — just 19 yards, even closer than an extra point.

That’s where it all slipped away from the Dallas Cowboys. The Pro Bowl quarterback who saved their season ended it, too.

Romo’s bobble on the field-goal try with 1:19 left led to a scramble that ended 2 yards shy of the end zone and a yard short of a first down, preserving a 21-20 victory for the Seattle Seahawks in the wildest of wild-card games Saturday night.

“You coach long enough, you end up seeing just about everything,” Seattle’s Mike Holmgren said. “One more thing for the journal.”

And one moment Dallas coach Bill Parcells would rather forget after coming oh-so-close to his first playoff win since 1998 and the Cowboys’ first postseason victory since 1996.

“It was just one of those things,” Parcells said. “It looked like a good snap. I can’t tell you what happened after that. We’re an extra point from being down to the eight teams left. That’s what’s the hardest thing.”

Seattle will play on the road next weekend, its foe determined by the Philadelphia-New York Giants game Sunday. If the Eagles win, the Seahawks play at Chicago. If the Giants win, the Seahawks play at New Orleans.

Romo was a big reason the Cowboys even made it this far, having turned their season around by winning five of his first six starts after replacing Drew Bledsoe and blossoming into a Pro Bowler.

That was little comfort after Romo’s last-second heave fell incomplete. He walked off the field briskly, head down, and was choked up during a postgame interview. In the locker room, he sat on a chair facing his locker, his shoulders hunched.

“I know how hard everyone in that locker room worked to get themselves in position to win that game today and for it to end like that, and for me to be the cause is very tough to swallow right now,” Romo said. “I take responsibility for messing up at the end there. That’s my fault. I cost the Dallas Cowboys a playoff win, and it’s going to sit with me a long time.”

Gramatica was supposed to cap a thrilling rally by Dallas.

After protecting a 20-13 lead with a stop by the defense, the Cowboys fell behind when Terry Glenn’s fumble turned into a safety and Seattle followed with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens. But with Dallas down a point and 4:24 left, Romo drove the Cowboys right back down the field and into position for the win.

He moved the Cowboys from their 28 to the Seattle 2, where a pass to Jason Witten was initially ruled a first down before a replay showed the Cowboys were short. Parcells seemed tempted to go for it on fourth-and-1, leaving his offense on the field until Seattle called a timeout. Then he sent in Gramatica, the late-season replacement for Mike Vanderjagt who’d already made the coach look good by hitting from 50 and 29 yards.

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Romo — who has been holding on kicks since last season, long before he ever threw a pass in the NFL — caught the snap cleanly but fumbled the ball as he tried to place it down.

Gramatica never swung his leg, instead forced to get out of the way as Romo picked up the ball and darted left to try to make up for his mistake.

He never reached the end zone — or even the first-down marker. Romo was stopped at the 2 on a shoestring tackle by Jordan Babineaux, whose last-minute interception set up Seattle’s game-winning kick the last time Dallas played here.

“I just tried to walk him down,” Babineaux said. “I grabbed him by the ankles, saved the tackle. It was very huge.”

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Holmgren already was thinking about what plays the Seahawks would try on their last drive. Shaun Alexander was talking to receiver Deion Branch about only needing to get within kicker Josh Brown’s range.

“We’re giving the plan for how we can get to the 35 so Josh can make it,” Alexander said. “Then, at the last second, I said, ‘What if he misses it? Deion was like, ‘Don’t even say that. Why even say that?”’

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The Seahawks still had to get away from the shadow of their goal line to protect the victory, but did so right away with Alexander running through the middle for 20 yards. Seattle milked the clock to 8 seconds before a punt that gave Dallas one last chance from the 50.

Romo weaved right then left, then heaved the ball into the end zone. Terrell Owens was among the Cowboys who failed to grab it. With that, Seattle’s rabid fans began smacking together the Shrek-colored gloves they’d been given, producing their loudest cheer of the night. The goal, of course, is another long playoff run that leads to the Super Bowl, as it did last season.

“Some unusual things happened. That’s the playoffs for you,” Holmgren said.

As bizarre as this finish was, it was only the second-craziest of the season for Dallas. On Nov. 5, the Cowboys lost 22-19 to Washington after a last-second field goal was blocked and a flag on the return let the Redskins kick the winner with no time left. It was their only other road loss under Romo.

The punch to the gut of that loss, though, was nothing compared to this one. It will haunt Dallas at least until next season and likely until the longest postseason drought in franchise history ends — whenever that is.

And Romo will have to live with one of the most memorable blunders in playoff history.

“I don’t know if I have ever felt this low,” the disconsolate quarterback said.

Added team owner Jerry Jones: “I feel empty.”

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