Sunday's meltdown at Maracanã may have been devastating to Cowboys Nation, but the last-second loss to Baltimore actually didn't torpedo the team's standing in most sets of power rankings. According to the outlets included in this roundup, dropping to 1-2 didn't move Dallas more than two spots... and taking the Ravens down to the wire even bumped them up the ladder by a rung in several.
As was obvious to anyone who watched the game, there was blame to go around, but most observers are laying this one squarely at the feet of head coach Brian Schottenheimer and a handful of bewildering clock and playcalling decisions made in the game's final minute. To be expected from someone helming just his 20th NFL game? Perhaps. But every move of the Cowboys'
offseason has screamed "win-now" mode; losing one they had all but in their grasp could easily haunt them for the rest of the 2026 campaign.
Still, the sky is not falling in Dallas if the overall consensus of the power rankings is to be believed. Here's where the major outlets ranked the Cowboys heading into Week 4 and what they had to say about the Brazilian Blunder.
ESPN: No. 15, ▲1
"[George] Pickens looked great in training camp, and he was the WR12 in our draft rankings. So it's surprising to see he has not scored or registered a catch for at least 20 yards. His production was better against Baltimore (seven catches, 82 yards), but the Cowboys need to get Pickens involved more. A team that lived on big plays in 2025 hasn't been as effective on them this year. Pickens is averaging just 9.6 yards per catch, and he has gone five straight games without a touchdown."
NFL.com: No. 11, ▲1
"Dallas could have scored a major victory in an international setting if coach Brian Schottenheimer hadn’t micromanaged the end-game situation with an underlying fear of defeat powering his decisions. There were plenty of positives in this game, though: The Cowboys' maligned defense finally earned a signature stop with a goal-line stand that opened the door for a fourth-quarter comeback, Dak Prescott continued to play at an elite level with both CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, and rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham logged the first significant stop of his pro career. The same problems surfaced in the end, though, when the defense allowed the Ravens to complete a deep pass to set up a walk-off field goal that never should have been on the table in the game’s final second. I suppose it’s a good lesson to learn in the first month of the season."
The Athletic: No. 17, ▼1
"Dak Prescott missed a wide-open George Pickens in a critical moment Sunday, but the Cowboys were ultimately undone by a bad defense and poor game management. It was a perfect microcosm of Prescott’s 11-year career: really good but not good enough to overcome everything else. Since being drafted in the fourth round in 2016, Prescott is fifth in the league in passing yards (36,719), sixth in passing touchdowns (250) and 10th in EPA per dropback (0.12). He has two playoff wins."
CBS Sports: No. 16, ▲1
"Losing to the Ravens with one second left is a tough one to take. Now they face a tough turnaround against a desperate Texans team on the road."
Yahoo Sports: No. 16, ▲1
"The Cowboys completely blew the final 23 seconds. They threw it incomplete on first down, then took a false start before second down. On third down, Dak Prescott, despite plenty of time and no pressure, threw it away instead of waiting for George Pickens, who was wide open. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Prescott was throwing it away, for some reason, and took the blame by saying he had been stressing to make sure Dallas didn't blow the field goal opportunity.
After taking the tying field goal, the Cowboys kicked off for a touchback, leaving seven seconds on the clock. That's a bad clock management error because it gave the Ravens enough time to get a completion and a long field goal. Ravens head coach Jesse Minter admitted his team might have decided to go to overtime if there was any less time on the clock.
'Honestly, anything less than seven seconds, it would have been really hard to do the play that we did,' Minter said, according to the transcripts. 'We may have even just ran the clock out. But [with] seven seconds left, and with the touchback rules, they decided to kick a touchback [and] gave us the ball on the 35. We really only needed 18-plus yards to get to our end-of-game type of range.'
The Cowboys might still be good this season, but that loss will linger."
Bleacher Report: No. 17, --
"Although it sounds like a broken record with this team, the Dallas Cowboys defense is a liability. In Rio de Janeiro, defensive coordinator Christian Parker set up his unit for failure, leaving the middle of the field open for Lamar Jackson to connect with Zay Flowers on a 27-yard completion before Tyler Loop kicked a 56-yard game-winning field goal. Dallas has allowed nearly 400 total yards in all three of its games. Parker needs to make overall and situational adjustments on his side of the ball."
USA Today: No. 14, ▼2
"Used their last timeout too early Sunday. Shouldn't have allowed the Ravens a touchback to start their final drive. Forgot to cover WR Zay Flowers. Basically a key breakdown in every phase inside the final 15 seconds of game play. Same old Cowboys?"
SI.com: No. 19, --
We talk often about the magic dust wearing off of coaches in Year 2 and, for some of the lucky ones, in Year 3. While Brian Schottenheimer is certainly a candidate, I thought his complete and total willingness to take the blame for Dallas’s poor playcalling down the stretch was an appropriate self-own that will diffuse a season that hasn’t started according to plan."
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Power Rankings Roundup: Cowboys' brutal loss has surprise effect on Week 4 standing
