The Dallas Cowboys made two wrong decisions in the final 10 seconds that cost them an opportunity to go to overtime against the Baltimore Ravens and led to a loss in regulation.
First, a special teams blunder. Second, a defensive lapse.
After Brandon Aubrey kicked a 23-yard field goal to tie the score at 31 with seven seconds remaining, the Cowboys chose to kick the ball out of the end zone for the first time in the game. The touchback didn’t run any time off the clock. Lamar Jackson then completed a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers that set up Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal that gave Baltimore a 34-31 victory in Brazil on Sunday.
If Aubrey kicked the ball in the landing zone, at least a few seconds would’ve run off the clock. But Dallas didn’t want to risk a return for a touchdown and opted for the touchback that gave the Ravens the ball at their 35.
“We felt like, let’s boom it through, put them out there, make them throw the ball short and we’ll be fine,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Play for overtime. That’s what the plan was.”
It backfired because the defense got beat.
Rookie defensive coordinator Christian Parker inexplicably chose to play man-to-man coverage instead of a deep zone. Flowers won his one-on-one and Jackson fired a perfect strike down the middle for the completion with one second remaining.
Former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, an analyst on NBC, criticized the decision to play man coverage during halftime of the Rams-Broncos game.
“I’m really surprised they’re playing man-to-man in this sequence,” Tomlin said. “Most people in these circumstances are going to play what we describe as an umbrella zone.”
The two mistakes at the end ruined an impressive comeback by Dak Prescott and the offense. The Cowboys trailed 24-13 in the third quarter before Prescott led a pair of touchdown drives. But the offense also failed in a clutch spot.
After Jackson and the Ravens took the lead, Dallas had a chance to reclaim it. The Cowboys had a first down at Baltimore’s 2 with 23 seconds to go but failed to score a touchdown.
Prescott threw an incompletion on first down. He scrambled five yards back to the 2 after a false start penalty on second down. Another incomplete pass forced the Cowboys to settle for a field goal.
The Ravens took advantage.
It was one of 12 games that were decided by one score, a record for the most such games in a week.
