In the moment, it was easy to miss the irony. The NFL’s latest international push, deep into soccer territory, was decided by a kick. A foot meeting a ball. Fûtbol.
Fans in Brazil may have known they were seated for an instant classic after a back-and-forth first half between the Ravens and the Cowboys. But they had no idea that history was waiting in the second half. Before Baltimore’s win on Sunday, no NFL team had ever started a game-winning drive with seven-seconds or fewer on the clock, per ESPN’s
Ben Solak.
Of course, none of those teams had Lamar Jackson.
Mere minutes after driving down the field to re-take a lead his defense simply refused to keep, the two-time MVP trotted out on the field with 31-31 on the scoreboard and 0:07 on the game clock. Within seven seconds, he somehow had to move the ball at least 25 yards and stop the clock before it hit 0:00.
Jackson knew the assignment. He took a deep drop to let his receivers get downfield before firing a rocket to Zay Flowers. The pass traveled 36.4 yards in 1.6 seconds (via Next Gen Stats) – or 46.5 miles per hour. Flowers shook his coverage out of the slot and leapt for the ball right around the 40-yard line. Jackson raced over to the nearest referee to call a timeout right as his teammate hit the ground.
One second remained. Having (once again) donned his superhero cape to will his way to victory, Jackson returned to the sidelines to (once again) watch as the Ravens’ fate was decided by a single kick. To be exact: a 56-yard field goal, to be delivered by none other than Tyler Loop, the second-year kicker whose season-ending miss in January forever altered the course of franchise history.
With the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro’s Maracaña Stadium, Loop stepped up for a chance to fully exorcise his rookie demons. He took his stance off the left hash mark, sent the ball end-over-end, and snuck it inside the uprights to send the arena into hysterics. The local fans may still be learning the finer points of American football, but anyone with a pulse could recognize the moment. Loop led the Ravens to the corner of the field to hit soccer star Ronaldo’s signature ‘SIU’ celebration with a healthy contribution from the adoring crowd.
The Cowboys are America’s team, but the Ravens might be Brazil’s team now.
This story will be updated.
