What an insane game! Who knew that football in Brazil would be so wild? International fans were treated to an exciting one, while fans back in the States were shown that, even playing on a different continent, this team will still find ways to break our hearts.
The Dallas Cowboys lost a thriller in Rio de Janeiro, falling 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens. It was so close to turning out differently and turning our frowns upside down. But it didn’t. Here are 10 thoughts on this wild and crazy contest south
of the equator.
1. Cowboys strike first
The game started off fantastically! The defense forced a three-and-out, and the Cowboys marched down the field and got points. On the Ravens’ next possession, it got even better as the defense forced a four-and-out when Baltimore stubbornly went for it on fourth down, only to be stonewalled by a couple of rookie defenders. The Cowboys’ offense again marched down the field and got points. Before you could blink an eye, they were up 10-0. Were we witnessing a blowout in the making? Spoiler alert: We were not.
2. Ravens answer back
It was great to see the Cowboys jump out to an early lead, but it did not last long. The Ravens answered, and they answered quickly. Baltimore scored touchdowns on their next two drives to take the lead 14-10 early in the second quarter. They went on to score 17 unanswered points and a 24-3 run that lasted late into the third quarter. As happy as we were early, the tide had shifted, and it shifted in a big way.
3. Digging their own grave
After trailing at halftime, the Cowboys were driving down the field on their opening second-half drive, when the ball slipped out of their hands. Literally. The offense was threatening, but Jake Ferguson couldn’t handle a shovel pass, and the ball hit the turf. The officials took a close look at the play, as all turnovers are reviewed, but still chose to uphold the call despite the broadcast team believing it should have been ruled an incomplete pass. A promising drive turned into a whole lot of nothing.
4. More bad breaks
It looked like the Cowboys were going to put that drive-stalling fumble behind them when they forced a three-and-out and were marching back down the field again. Javonte Williams got loose on a 22-yard run, and Dak Prescott connected with George Pickens for a 20-yard gain; however, the play came back after Terence Steele was called for holding. The Cowboys tried to get a long field goal out of it, but the kick was blocked, giving the Ravens great field position. Baltimore scored another touchdown, and the game appeared to be slowly slipping away.
5. Was he offsides?
I don’t know if this is just the emotion talking, but when the Ravens blocked that field goal, were they offsides? It sure seemed like the edge guy came across early, forcing Terence Steele to slide outside and leaving the inside rusher with a clear lane to the kicker. If they were, it was a good trick. Steele has enough trouble blocking one guy, let alone two.
6. Staying alive
Down 24-13 late in the third quarter, the Cowboys needed a big drive in the worst way. Fortunately, that’s exactly what they got. The Cowboys fought back into the game with a six-play, 67-yard drive that took less than two minutes. Prescott found Pickens for 19 yards, with another 15 yards tacked on for a roughing the quarterback. Prescott turned around and found Jake Ferguson for a 19-yard touchdown pass, with a CeeDee Lamb two-point conversion to make it a 24-21 game. Things were suddenly getting interesting.
7. Game-changing stop
It’s really a shame the game ended the way it did because it would be lovely to be talking all week about those remarkable fourth-down stops by the Cowboys rookie defenders. Safety Caleb Downs was the hero early when he crashed through the line to make the first fourth-down stop on Henry. Then, linebacker Jaishawn Barham made an even more impressive tackle for a loss at an even more critical moment of the game, fending off a potential go-ahead touchdown late in the game. It was truly amazing, even if the final result didn’t work out like we hoped.
8. Too many big plays
This is one of those games where the defense made a few splash plays, but they made far more bad plays where they allowed big gains. While they can stuff the short stuff, they absolutely struggled mightily to stop the run. The Ravens ran for 192 yards, rushing the ball 38 times for over five yards per carry. They wouldn’t stop, and why would they? The Cowboys couldn’t stop them. Three different Ravens players had runs of 20+ yards – Jackson, Henry, and Flowers. And the big plays came in the passing game as well as again, three different players had receptions of 20+ yards. The defense has its moments, but they are still downright terrible far too often.
9. Goal line woes
In a nail-biter like this one, every point counts. That’s why it’s extra frustrating to see the offense drive the ball all the way near the goal line, only to have to settle for a field goal. That happened to the Cowboys offense twice, on their first possession of the game and their last. The offense had golden opportunities to punch it in, but couldn’t do it. On the first possession, they abandoned the run for reasons unknown, resulting in an incompletion followed by a sack. On their last possession they committed a penalty, and none of their plays seemed to give them a fighting chance. It was very unpleasant.
10. Total collapse
The only thing worse than not coming away with the go-ahead touchdown at the end was leaving the Ravens seven seconds left, because apparently, that’s a lot of time. Aubrey kicked it out of the end zone because trying one of his squibbers was too risky after kicking the ball out of bounds twice in this game. They absolutely didn’t want to give Baltimore the ball at the 40-yard-line. Just play it safe and kick it out of the end zone. It’s not like the Ravens can connect on a 27-yard play and still leave one second on the clock for the game-winning field goal, amiright?
