Lamar Jackson’s pass was still five yards away from Rashod Bateman when Jackson threw his hands up. The wide-open Bateman hauled in a 13-yard touchdown pass for an 18-point Ravens lead late in the first half, and the Ravens were rolling against a dejected, defeated Dallas team.
At least that’s how it looked at the time. But this is the Ravens, for whom nothing is easy and no lead is truly safe.
The Cowboys came roaring back in the second half, thanks in part to a couple of Ravens special teams mistakes, some leaky defense and costly penalties. But when Lamar Jackson dived for a first down with less that two minutes left and the Cowboys out of timeouts, the Ravens could finally exhale, as they avoided another late collapse and escaped from Dallas with a 28-25 win at AT&T Stadium on Sept. 22.
After opening the season with losses to Kansas City and Las Vegas, the Ravens (1-2) faced about as close to a must-win game as any team could have in September. They played with appropriate urgency early, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives for a 14-3 first-quarter lead.
Sparked by Derrick Henry and a dominant running game, the Ravens led 28-6 lead with 10 minutes left in the game. To that point, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and his offense had gotten into no rhythm against a physical Ravens defense.
But in the span of four minutes, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker missed a field-goal attempt, Prescott led the first touchdown drive of the day for the Cowboys, the Ravens botched the ensuing onside kick, and Prescott led the Cowboys on another 56-yard touchdown drive that trimmed the Ravens lead to 28-18.
For a team that has blown more big fourth-quarter leads than any other team over the past few years — including a 10-point lead against the Las Vegas Raiders last week — this began to look eerily familiar.
The Ravens quickly went three-and-out on their next possession, with Jackson misfiring to tight end Mark Andrews on third-and-3.
Taking over at the Dallas 9-yard line, Prescott led the Cowboys on an 11-play, 91-yard drive that was aided by a pair of Ravens defensive penalties. Prescott hit KaVontae Turpin with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 2:53 left and the ensuing conversion kick cut the Ravens once huge lead to 28-25.
On their next possession, the Ravens were staring at third-and-6 and the possibility of punting the ball back to the Cowboys, whose kicker, Brandon Aubrey, had already boomed a 65-yard field goal earlier in the game. But Jackson found Zay Flowers in the right flat for a gain of 9 with 2:28 left.
With the Cowboys out of timeouts, Jackson later faked a jet sweep to Flowers and ran for what proved to be the decisive first down to secure the win.
Jackson finished 12-for-15 for 182 yards passing and ran for 87 yards and a touchdown, continuing his mastery of the NFC; he improved to 21-1 against NFC competition.
Here are five key observations of the win, the Ravens’ sixth in seven meetings against Dallas in franchise history:
1. This is the running game the Ravens envisioned.
Leading 28-6, the Ravens took over midway through the third quarter. Derrick Henry ran left for 3 yards, then plowed up the middle for 9. Lamar Jackson gained 9 on the right side, then Henry gained 3. Justice Hill replaced Henry and ran for 13.
This all came after Jackson had rolled around left end for a 9-yard touchdown to open the scoring, Henry had powered over the goal line from a yard out for a 14-3 lead — set up by a 56-yard pass play from Jackson to Nelson Agholor — and Henry had rumbled 26 yards for the Ravens third rushing touchdown of the game.
That third-quarter drive was derailed by two penalties by the offensive line — two of 13 flags assessed against the Ravens — and the Ravens ultimately had to punt. But the drive ate up more than six minutes with a 22-point lead.
Henry finished with 25 carries — the most by a Ravens running back in nine years — for 151 yards and two scores. Jackson carried 14 times for 87 yards, including a touchdown and the game-clinching first down. Overall, the Ravens piled up 274 rushing yards yards on 45 carries.
Dallas, which had yielded 190 rushing yards by the New Orleans Saints last week, had no answer. In fact, it’s fair to question why the Ravens were ever throwing the ball in the second half with a big lead. A third-and-3 incompletion to Mark Andrews with 5:34 left saved the Cowboys some valuable time.
When the Ravens signed Henry this offseason, this is what they envisioned: A punishing, clock-eating ground game that features the power and strength of Henry paired with the elusiveness of Jackson, Hill and perhaps Keaton Mitchell later in the season.
This is the first time that ground game really got up to speed, and the Ravens have to like what they saw.
2. Kyle Hamilton returned to his 2023 form.
On the Cowboys’ opening possession, safety Kyle Hamilton fired off the edge on a blitz and chased down Dak Prescott, forcing an incompletion. Later, Hamilton hit Prescott near the line of scrimmage, and buried Ezekiel Elliott for no gain.
The Ravens use Hamilton in multiple ways, but it seemed that defensive coordinator Zach Orr was more committed to using Hamilton near the line of scrimmage at Dallas than he had been in the first two games this season.
Hamilton finished with a team-high 12 tackles, the highest total of his career. He was all over the field, playing as a safety, as a dime linebacker, and as a slot corner, but it was Hamilton’s physicality near the line of scrimmage that set the tone early for the Ravens’ defense.
The Ravens like to mix and match, and in this game, rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins started at one outside spot, with Marlon Humphrey in the slot and Hamilton at safety. At times, Humphrey slid outside, Eddie Jackson came on to play safety and Hamilton moved to the slot.
Former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald unlocked something with Hamilton last season. Hamilton’s length, coverage ability and tackling still play downfield, but as Hamilton demonstrated last year with his three-sack game against Indianapolis, and his deflection-turned-pick-six against Cleveland, the Ravens’ defense is more imposing, more physical, and more disruptive when he plays closer to the line of scrimmage.
That showed up again in Dallas.
3. The maligned offensive line made a statement.
The Ravens’ offensive line took its share of heat during the team’s 0-2 start, and on Friday, head coach John Harbaugh had suggested there might be changes up front in this game. Whether that was meant to publicly challenge this group is unclear, but the Ravens responded in a big way.
For the first time this season, the Ravens’ line consistently won in the trenches. The line opened up huge holes at times for Derrick Henry. The Ravens averaged 6.1 yards a carry and ran at will at times.
And, to offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s credit, a little misdirection also helped. On Lamar Jackson’s touchdown run, the Ravens loaded up the right side, with left tackle Ronnie Stanley lining up to the right of right tackle Patrick Mekari. Everything signaled a run right, but Jackson scooted left, behind a block from tight end Mark Andrews, for a 9-yard score.
The Cowboys’ pass rush is a strength of the team but was no factor. Jackson threw just 15 passes, a product of the team getting a big early lead, but Cowboys All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons was neutralized. Jackson was not sacked at all, and the Cowboys recorded just one quarterback hit.
Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta have stressed the long-term potential of this offensive line. They committed to massive Daniel Faalele as a people-mover at right guard, and they banked on the promise of Andrew Vorhees, essentially a rookie, at left guard.
DeCosta had acknowledged there might be “a couple of hiccups along the way,” and for the first two weeks, that looked like a gamble gone awry. But against a Cowboys defensive front that is a soft spot, this group, anchored by the Pro Bowl duo of center Tyler Linderbaum and Stanley, showed its potential.
It’s a big collective step forward.
4. John Harbaugh’s special teams are supposed to be sharper than this.
When the NFL changed the onside kick rule a few years ago, it made the play much harder for the kicking team. With the new “dynamic kickoff” this year, the element of surprise is completely gone, as the kicking team must announce its intention to try an onside kick. In other words, it should never work.
Except when the Cowboys tried an onside kick trailing 28-12 in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Zay Flowers — on the “hands team” for his ability to possess the ball in these situations — completely whiffed. The ball went right through his hands, and the Cowboys recovered, leading to another touchdown.
That botched onside kick came about two minutes after Justin Tucker hooked a 46-yard field-goal try wide to the left, his third miss in eight field-goal kicks this season.
Harbaugh has always emphasized special teams, he actively works with coordinator Chris Horton and the special teams units in practice, and he cut his teeth as a special teams coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, so these miscues have to be especially infuriating.
Flowers did successfully recover a second Cowboys onside kick, but among the Ravens’ shortcomings in this 1-2 start, it’s hard to overlook special teams issues. Whether it’s Tucker missing kicks, punter Jordan Stout shanking a key punt late in the loss last week — attributable in part to a suboptimal snap, according to Horton — penalties, or a totally botched attempt to recover an onside kick, very little about the Ravens special teams unit has looked special so far.
5. This win is a start, but the next two weeks will be telling.
The Ravens surely will breathe a sigh of relief after avoiding just the second 0-3 start in franchise history, especially after seeing nearly another fourth-quarter lead evaporate.
But as both head coach John Harbaugh and safety Kyle Hamilton said last week, the NFL is a week-to-week league. There is little time for savoring wins or lingering over losses. Yes, the Ravens righted the ship to an extent with this win, but they fly home from Dallas with persistent questions, and the next two weeks could go a long way toward dictating their position in the AFC’s pecking order.
The Ravens host the Buffalo Bills (2-0 entering a game against Jacksonville Monday night) in a “Sunday Night Football” matchup at M&T Bank Stadium on Sept. 29, and then visit Cincinnati Oct. 6 in a pivotal AFC North matchup. The Ravens and Bengals — like the Ravens off to an 0-2 start — were expected to be the class of the division this year, but the Pittsburgh Steelers have bolted to a 3-0 start.
A win against the Bengals could vault the Ravens right back into the AFC North discussion, depending on what Pittsburgh does in its next two games — at Indianapolis and home against Dallas — while saddling Cincinnati with another loss and a divisional one to boot. Conversely, a loss to the Bengals could leave the Ravens further behind the Steelers, and perhaps behind the Bengals as well.
As early October divisional games go, that one will be enormous.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox