Did the K-Ball Cost the Cowboys the Game?

Tony Romo isn't the most sure-handed of players. He fumbled nine times during the 2006 regular season. But he is a good holder on field goals and extra points, a job he's had for the Cowboys since the middle of the 2004 season, when coach Bill Parcells demoted punter Mat McBriar, thinking Romo would be more reliable. So what happened last night? Watch the video:

When you look at the close-up replay at about the one minute mark, note how shiny the ball looks. That's one of the NFL's special "K-balls," which are shipped directly from the Wilson factory to the game site and taken out only for kicking plays. They're not broken in the way other balls are. That makes them harder and slicker, more difficult to kick and handle. Former NFL referee Jerry Markbreit explains:

These balls are handled by special ball boys and are kept separated from the regular game balls, even though they are the same. The purpose of the K ball is to make sure that a clean, fresh ball is used for the kicking part of the game.

NFL kicker Jay Feeley says the K ball isn't the same every time:

The interesting thing is that you can get a good K-ball or a bad K-ball. A K-ball is not a different ball in anyway than the regular game ball; it's just a ball that has not been broken in. The balls the quarterbacks use, they'll take them down, they'll rub them, they'll break them in, and use them throughout the week to have them not be so new. The K-balls are brand new right out of the box. You're not allowed to do anything to them. You're not allowed to kick them at all before the game. You can get a good new ball, or a bad new ball.

Did Tony Romo get a bad K-ball? We have no way of knowing. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before conspiracy-minded Cowboy fans accuse Seattle ball boys of purposely sending in a slick one. Maybe Romo got nervous and that's why he botched the hold. Maybe it was just one of those unfortunate things that happens. Or maybe the K-ball on the last play of the game was more slippery than all the other balls he handled yesterday, and that was the difference between the Cowboys winning and losing.