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- A black cat ran onto the field during "Monday Night Football," stopping the action between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.
- At the time, the Giants led the Cowboys 9-3, but many Cowboys players saw the moment as a sign of bad luck to come for the Giants.
- After the cat finally left the field, the Cowboys took advantage of the Giants' reversal of cosmic fortunes, going on to win 37-18.
- Speaking with reporters after the game, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said he knew the game was over once he saw the cat on the field.
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The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants had an unexpected interruption during their game at MetLife Stadium on Monday night when a black cat ran onto the field.
The play was stopped as the cat scurried about, eventually reaching the end zone prompting celebrations of the touchdown the adorable critter had scored.
The moment was a hit on Twitter, where fans praised both the cat's agility on the field and the call of play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, who wholly committed to broadcasting the cat's run to the end zone as if it were the most important play of the game.
On the field, the Dallas Cowboys decided to take the cat's presence as a sign. Trailing the Giants 9-3, some Cowboys said after the game that they could feel a shift after the cat ran onto the field.
"The first thing that crossed my mind was like: 'F---, they got bad luck now. It just turned on them,'" Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence told reporters after the game. "I was like: 'Man, the game over.' If a black cat runs on the damn field on a 'Monday Night Football' game, a black cat, you might want to call it quits, bro. Y'all's luck is terrible."
While Lawrence supported the cat's effort to bring bad luck to the Giants, he still wasn't getting close to the feline on the field.
"I hate cats, too, so I was like 'f---, f---, f---,'" Lawrence said. "Hurry up and get this cat before it gets to me.'"
Other Cowboys seemed to agree that the moment was a shift in the game.
"Bad luck, stay away," said running back Ezekiel Elliott, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. "I wouldn't say I'm superstitious, but I wasn't going anywhere near it. I'm allergic to cats."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also believed the cat changed the momentum of the game, though he wasn't sure the cat was a fan of his.
"I haven't seen one glare at me that far away before," Jones said, per Machota. "I know he was looking at me the whole time he was out there. But things did kind of change when that black cat came. What was amazing to me was how few people wanted to go grab him."
In the end, the cat proved a fortuitous omen for the Cowboys, who came back from their slow start to take down the Giants 37-18 to move to 5-3 on the season and 4-0 against their NFC East opponents.
Should the Cowboys struggle to start another game in the near future, don't be surprised if Jones calls on another cat to take the field.
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Kevin Harlan's Westwood One radio call of the cat on the field is, as you might expect, an all-time great call. How much of a pro is Harlan? He worked a sponsor read into it. pic.twitter.com/3x0MVNEHNY
- Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 5, 2019
.@TankLawrence shared his feelings on the black cat that was on the field 😆 pic.twitter.com/Tg8AbV8lm5
- SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 5, 2019