Ravens find way to finish — by the skin of their teeth — in Dallas

The Ravens did finish in Dallas on Sunday. 

You certainly wouldn’t write it in capital, bold-faced letters with an exclamation point after they were outscored 19-0 in the fourth quarter, which transformed a 22-point laugher into an unnerving 28-25 road victory over the Cowboys. Yes, a win is a win when you enter the day 0-2 and are coming off a blown fourth-quarter lead a week ago, but John Harbaugh’s team must learn how to close out games better than that. 

For the blood pressure of its fan base if nothing else. 

Baltimore was too dominant for three quarters to play that way it did in the final period. That the FOX telecast even had to flash that dreaded graphic about the Ravens owning an NFL-high 10 losses after leading by at least seven points in the fourth quarter since 2021 said it all. 

The offense got conservative, the special teams — including a struggling Justin Tucker — faltered, and a defense that had been superb was dreadful in the fourth quarter for the second straight week. 

Every season is different, but you wouldn’t know it watching the Ravens as they were in danger of losing their 10th game in which they led by multiple scores or owned a fourth-quarter lead since the start of the 2022 campaign. And though you have to be good to be in that position so many times in the first place, this remains an alarming part of the identity of a team with Super Bowl aspirations. 

The near-collapse overshadowed so much to like about Sunday’s performance. 

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Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens bludgeoned an awful Cowboys run defense for a total of 274 rushing yards to quiet the angst about the offensive line — that didn’t undergo any changes after all — for at least one week. Jackson’s 15 pass attempts were the fewest of his career in games he’s started and finished, but he completed 12, which included a touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman late in the first half and the game-saving 9-yard completion to Zay Flowers on a third-and-6 with 2:36 left in the game. 

Defensively, Kyle Van Noy — playing with a fractured orbital bone suffered in Week 1 — registered two sacks for a second straight week, continuing his strong start to the season. 

The Ravens even had all three of their timeouts for the final drive of each half.  

But there were still too many concerns for coaches and players to sleep comfortably Sunday night, especially with pivotal AFC matchups with Buffalo and Cincinnati looming these next two weeks. 

It’s becoming more difficult to ignore the struggles of seven-time Pro Bowl kicker Justin Tucker, who missed another field goal wide left that would have given the Ravens a 31-6 lead with just under 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. This one wasn’t even beyond 50 yards with the 34-year-old misfiring from 46, a distance from which he’s been automatic throughout his brilliant career. 

That the Ravens punted from the Dallas 40-yard line later in the quarter — indoors, mind you — didn’t reflect much confidence in their star kicker. Having missed no more than a total of three field goals in seven different seasons, Tucker has now missed a field goal in three straight games for the first time in his career.  

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After making life miserable for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense for three quarters, the Ravens summoned last week’s fourth-quarter defense with missed tackles, costly penalties, and Swiss-cheese pass coverage. The league’s 32nd-ranked pass defense entering Week 3 allowed 187 passing yards and two touchdown passes in the final quarter alone and 361 net passing yards for the game, all but assuring it’ll remain dead last in that department. Stopping the run is great, but that only goes so far if you can’t stop a one-dimensional offense in crunch time.

Perhaps most concerning was the same aura from last week returning in all three phases when the game began to turn. It just looked and felt as though the Ravens were bracing for bad things to happen throughout that fourth quarter. 

After Tucker’s miss and the first Dallas touchdown of the game, the Ravens failed to recover an onside kick with under nine minutes to go. The Cowboys scored another touchdown on the ensuing drive, and Baltimore responded by going three-and-out when Jackson made an errant throw on Mark Andrews’ only target of the game on third-and-3. After Dallas scored again to make the score 28-25 with 2:58 to play, Henry lost his footing on a second-and-6 run for no gain, setting up the terrifying thought of another three-and-out on the final drive. 

Thankfully, Jackson and Flowers connected on an out route as Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs was bearing down, which prompted a first down and a needed exhale. The two-time MVP quarterback sealed the win two plays later with a 10-yard run for a first down coming out of the two-minute warning. 

Yes, the Ravens did finish — by the skin of their teeth. But it shouldn’t have been that difficult. 

They were too great over three quarters for the game to come down to that. 

One only hopes the Ravens finally learned their lesson in victory this time around.