For Anyone Who Looked Away
The Baltimore Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys 34-31 at Maracanã Stadium when Tyler Loop made a 56-yard field goal as time expired, ending the NFL’s first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro. Dallas had tied it at 31 on a 23-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey with seven seconds left. Baltimore needed all seven.
The announced crowd of 72,792 watched the Ravens move to 2-1 and the Cowboys fall to 1-2. Dallas arrived in Brazil as America’s Team. It left as a case study.
Where the Wheels Came Off
The final two minutes held more decisions than most games hold quarters. Lamar Jackson threw a two-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Matt Hibner on third-and-goal, putting Baltimore up 31-28 with 1:30 left. Dallas answered by reaching the Ravens’ 2-yard line after a pass-interference penalty on Nate Wiggins, but an incomplete pass and a false start pushed the Cowboys back to the 7, and Aubrey tied the game with seven seconds left.
Then came the kickoff. Aubrey sent it through the end zone for a touchback, which ran no time off the clock and gave Baltimore the ball at its own 35. Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards, called a timeout with one second left, and Loop’s kick stayed inside the left upright as time expired.
People Who Understood the Assignment
Jackson finished 15 of 20 for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and Derrick Henry ran for 89 yards and two more scores. Loop’s kick was also a repair job. His miss in last season’s finale ended Baltimore’s season, and both ESPN and the team’s own website framed Sunday’s kick as redemption.
Dallas did not simply hand the game away. Dak Prescott completed 25 of 40 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown, and KaVontae Turpin’s nine-yard touchdown run put the Cowboys up 28-24 in the fourth quarter. Dallas built that lead after trailing 24-13, which is the part of the evening the Cowboys will be asked to remember second.
Who Needs to Explain Themselves
The Associated Press’s analysis of the finish pointed to coaching decisions in the final seconds. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the plan on the last kickoff was to boom it through the end zone, make Baltimore throw short, and play for overtime. The trouble is that a touchback runs no time off the clock, and reports on the finish noted that he had also used a timeout with 14 seconds left, earlier than the situation required.
According to AP, Dallas played man coverage on the last snap and Flowers won his route. Schottenheimer said he liked the call, but that the defense needed to force the throw somewhere else. The Cowboys’ defeat style is a nationally televised existential crisis, and this one arrived with a three-part exhibit list.
So, Are We Panicking Yet?
It is Week 3, and Dallas is 1-2. The Cowboys’ preseason finale also ended on a kick, when a 53-yard field goal from New Orleans’ Daniel Carlson decided it. That one did not count. This one did.
The season is not over, and one finish does not define a coaching staff. It does hand Dallas a week of explaining why the clock was treated as a suggestion.
The Desk Has Ruled
Desk ruling: The Winning Drive Clock was seven seconds. The Cowboys spent theirs on a touchback and a coverage call. The Ravens spent theirs on a 27-yard pass, a timeout, and a kick. Baltimore leaves Rio at 2-1 with a redemption story, and Dallas leaves at 1-2 with a film session that will feature the words touchback and timeout.