Week 3 is here, and the matchup with the Baltimore Ravens looms in beautiful Brazil. Let’s take a look at the 2026 Ravens.
What’s new in Baltimore?
Baltimore looks like a team in transition. Jesse Minter is in his first season as head coach and defensive play-caller, Declan Doyle is calling the offense for the first time, and both sides have shown the ability to produce big plays but neither has been particularly consistent. Baltimore opened with a 41-23 demolition of Indianapolis, where they gained over 500 yards of offense,
then lost 24-17 to New Orleans after failing to score in the final 18 minutes of that contest.
So which Ravens team is Dallas getting? Probably somewhere in between.
Lamar Jackson is still Lamar Jackson
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. The Cowboys are facing a two-time MVP quarterback who can ruin a defensive game plan with either his arm or his legs, and if the first two weeks reflect this team’s defensive struggles against mobile quarterbacks, the Cowboys may be in for a long day.
Jackson opened the season by throwing for 324 yards and a touchdown against Indianapolis, while adding 40 rushing yards and another score. He followed that with 235 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception against New Orleans, plus 34 rushing yards. Through two games, he’s thrown for 559 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while adding 74 yards on the ground.
The Week 2 performance wasn’t nearly as explosive, but that’s part of the challenge with Jackson. The Saints sacked him three times, and Baltimore’s offense couldn’t find much of a rhythm after halftime. But Jackson can still turn a broken play into a 30-yard gain, and Dallas’ defense has already shown that containing mobile quarterbacks will be one of its biggest tests.
For Christian Parker’s defense, this is less about stopping Jackson from running entirely and more about making him consistently beat them from the pocket. That’s easier said than done.
Derrick Henry isn’t slowing down either
If Jackson is the knife that will cut you up, Derrick Henry is the blunt instrument, and, well, he’s still pretty good. Henry opened 2026 with 144 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries against Indianapolis. He followed that with 68 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries against New Orleans. That’s 212 yards and four touchdowns through two games.
But something interesting happened in the Saints game. Henry had just two carries in the second half, and Baltimore ultimately went away from its running game while trying to protect its lead. As mentioned earlier, the Ravens were shut out in the final 18 minutes.
That’s something Dallas should remember. Baltimore’s offense is at its most dangerous when Jackson and Henry are working together. If the Cowboys can make Baltimore more one-dimensional, the Ravens have shown that their offense can become much easier to handle. The problem is obvious: making Baltimore one-dimensional means finding a way to slow down Derrick Henry. After seeing this Cowboys defense through two games, good luck with that.
Zay Flowers will likely be back
Zay Flowers was Baltimore’s biggest offensive receiving weapon in Week 1. He caught five passes for 150 yards and a touchdown, including a 54-yard score against Indianapolis. He also set a career high in receiving yards. Then he missed Week 2 with a hamstring injury.
That’s one of the biggest things to watch heading into Brazil. As of Monday, Minter said he felt the Ravens had a “good shot” with several injured players returning, including Flowers, but Baltimore won’t know more until later in the week.
If Flowers plays, he immediately becomes one of the biggest problems for Dallas’ secondary. If he doesn’t, Rashod Bateman becomes the top returning receiver, while Baltimore can lean more heavily on Mark Andrews and its running game. Bateman already had a big Week 2, catching seven passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. So even without Flowers, Dallas can’t ignore this receiving corps.
Ravens have some great pieces on defense
Baltimore brought in Trey Hendrickson this offseason to bolster a pass rush that needed more production. He didn’t record a sack in Week 1, but he generated eight pressures against Indianapolis. He got his first sack as a Raven against New Orleans.
Behind him, the Ravens still have some familiar names. Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins give Baltimore plenty of veteran and young talent on the back end. Smith was particularly good in Week 1, recording an interception and earning Baltimore’s highest PFF grade on defense. Wiggins also had an excellent game against Indianapolis.
But the Saints exposed some cracks. New Orleans finished with 298 total yards, including 233 through the air, and second-year quarterback Tyler Shough helped the Saints rally from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
So, this isn’t necessarily the same suffocating Ravens defense we’ve seen in years past. There’s talent, there’s speed, but it’s still developing, and Dallas may be able to take advantage of it with their explosive offense.
Fighting History, travel and the field?
There isn’t much history between these two franchises, but what history they do have has been pretty one-sided. The Cowboys are 1-6 all-time against Baltimore, with their only victory coming in 2016. The Ravens have won the last two meetings, including a 28-25 victory in Dallas in 2024. So, yeah, Baltimore has Dallas’ number.
On top of that, for the first time in franchise history, the Cowboys are playing a regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro. They’ll travel Thursday, practice in Brazil Friday and then play Sunday at Maracanã Stadium.
That’s a different routine for an NFL team, and the Cowboys aren’t pretending otherwise. Brian Schottenheimer called it a “unique week”, with Dallas essentially shifting its normal practice schedule before making the overnight trip to Brazil.
The travel itself isn’t necessarily what decides a football game, but it does add another variable. Players are leaving their normal routines, crossing an international border and adjusting to a new time zone and environment only days before playing a physically demanding game.
And then there’s the field. This has become one of the bigger storylines surrounding the game. From a prominent sports journalist in Brazil we get a look at the field. His tweet reads:
The Maracanã pitch is in TERRIBLE condition
And then they’ll say on Monday, the 28th, that it’s the NFL’s fault.
When the stadium hasn’t even managed the pitch well for football (soccer).
Soccer players who regularly play at Maracanã have publicly criticized the playing surface in recent days. Flamengo goalkeeper Agustín Rossi described “bumps everywhere,” while midfielder Giorgian de Arrascaeta said the field had been getting worse. The stadium has also dealt with unusually heavy rainfall over the past six weeks.
That’s obviously worth watching when you’re talking about NFL players wearing cleats and moving at full speed. The NFL, however, has pushed back on the concern. Field director Nick Pappas said Monday that the league was confident the surface would be ready, noting that the NFL had already sent a crew to Rio and shipped a tarp to help protect the turf. He also pointed out that some soccer-specific concerns don’t necessarily translate to football because the football isn’t on the ground nearly as often.
So there’s still a little uncertainty heading into Sunday, and maybe that’s fitting for this matchup. Dallas has never played a regular-season game in Rio. The Cowboys have only beaten Baltimore once. Both teams are entering their third game under new circumstances, and now they’re being asked to do it thousands of miles from home on a playing surface that has become a story in its own right.
