SEATTLE

All Tony Romo had to do was put the ball down and let Martin Gramatica make a short kick. He couldn't do it - and the Seattle Seahawks are still alive in the NFL playoffs.

Romo's botched hold on a 19-yard field-goal try with 1:19 left forced the Pro Bowl quarterback to scramble left, but he was tackled at the 2 and the Seahawks escaped with a 21-20 victory in the wildest of wild-card games Saturday night.

"It looked like it was a pretty good snap. He was the holder all year," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said. "We were in position to win ."

Seattle trailed, 20-13, after getting stopped on fourth-and-goal with about 6:40 to go, but rallied thanks to a Dallas fumble-turned-safety on the next snap and a 37-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens on the ensuing drive.

Romo 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. Dallas still had its offense on the field after being told it was fourth down, then sent in Gramatica - who already had made kicks of 50 and 29 yards - to win it.

At least, that was the plan.

Romo was stopped on a shoestring tackle by Jordan Babineaux. The Seahawks still had to get away from the shadow of their goal line to protect the victory, but did so right away with Shaun 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 scrambled, weaving right then left, and heaved a Hail Mary pass into the end zone. The ball headed in the direction of Terrell Owens, but he was surrounded by Seahawks and the ball was knocked away.

"Some unusual things happened. That's the playoffs for you," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.

Seattle's rabid fans smacked together the Shrek-colored gloves they'd been given for their loudest cheer of the night, already dreaming of another long playoff run like the one that lasted all the way to the Super Bowl last season.

Romo, meanwhile, walked off by himself, head down. His storybook rise from unknown backup to starlet-dating Pro Bowler ended in the worst imaginable way.

The Cowboys remain without a playoff win since 1996. They're 0-for-2 under Parcells and might have played their last game for him. If so, his four-year tenure would end with three straight losses and four in his last five games.

"I'm going to take a look at things, take a look at what we need to do, and go from there," Parcells said.

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

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.

But the punch to the gut of that loss was nothing compared with this one. This one 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.

"That's about as automatic a play, as a coach, as you have.

It's unbelievable," Holm-gren said. "And then, he's a good athlete. He started running. I thought he might get in, but we got him."

Hasselbeck was 18-of-36 for 240 yards with two touchdowns, both to Stevens, and two interceptions, both of which resulted in Dallas field goals.