In the end, the Baltimore Ravens needed quarterback Lamar Jackson to go into the phone booth one more time at the two-minute warning to stave off an absurd Dallas Cowboys comeback.
A scrappy, come-from-ahead 28-25 result somehow remains deeply troubling, even in earning the precious first purple victory of a season that once again proves last year was a long time ago.
“Find a way to win!” head coach John Harbaugh was shouting on the field at his troops, now a 1-2 battle cry that shouldn’t have been necessary on a day when the Ravens were up 28-6 in the fourth quarter.
Tom Brady was making jokes about his “28-3 Falcons” head space in the 3rd quarter on the Fox broadcast when it felt about as unlikely it sounds. And then the game happened in real time. And America’s Team, which has twice designed clear stadium roofing so God could watch ‘em play down in Tex-ass, nearly authored a divine Sunday comeback miracle at Jerry’s World.
But too much Derrick Henry and Lamar and too little, too late for the Cowboys who weren’t very good on either side of the ball for much of the afternoon.
My partner Luke Jones called it “The Baltimore Ravens Football Experience,” which makes it sound like a nauseating, mirrored Sunday carnival ride. It was the tilt and whirl of the 4th quarter chaos, penalties and even a whiffed recovery of an onside kick that opened the door for a Cowboys comeback. A pair of failed two-point conversions by Dak Prescott and the Dallas offense turned out to be crucial to the Baltimore civic mojo. So did the missed Justin Tucker 46-yard field goal.
Being 0-3 would be bad enough but blowing that kind of lead in Dallas would figure to be an organizational earthquake.
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Instead, Coach Hardball will use this as a teaching moment about “finishing” games, a theme that feels eternal after another near miss on the purple Richter scale. No lead feels safe, right?
But make no mistake about it: for three quarters the Baltimore Ravens usurped the soul of America’s team in Dallas. It felt like a massive step forward a week after imploding at home against the underdog Raiders, who got waxed at home on Sunday by the worst professional franchise on the continent led by Andy Dalton.
It’s only normal to ponder how good the Ravens really are vs. how good they’re supposed to be and how dominant they can be when they aren’t disintegrating under penalties, lost battles and blown assignments.
The Dallas Cowboys stunk for three quarters on Sunday. There was no way the game should’ve ever even gotten interesting. But it did and the defense will need to watch that film, just like the offensive line did last week and improved greatly in Arlington.
The Ravens will find their true 2024 equilibrium over the next 120 minutes of AFC football against the same teams they can expect to see again in January if Josh Allen and Joe Burrow remain upright. There’s no time or rope for a stumble here.
I have been writing and saying (and pleading) that if Derrick Henry got off the purple bus every Sunday morning it would have some real impact on what Lamar Jackson can do with his legs and arm. It took three weeks but King Henry reigned over his Dallas hometown all day, imposing his will and making Cowboys defenders look allergic to contact, let alone actual tackling.
The fun part of beating the Cowboys like a bad habit the first two hours was watching owner Jerry Jones look like someone took all of his money. And thinking, well, that was easier than we thought it was going to be in the big dome.
8And, then, it all unraveled in the fourth quarter with three straight Cowboys scores and the momentum was in free fall until Lamar and Zay Flowers used the reigning MVP’s best play – the sleight of hand with a speedster at his side – to trick and then split the defense up the middle at the two-minute warning to ice a game that was anything if not chilly in regard to just how good you can feel about a road win.
Derrick Henry certainly looked the part in a dreamy first half. “He did what Kings do,” Lamar said. And as His Highness acknowledged in the post game examination room, it was the improved offensive line that allowed it to happen. Physical. Downhill, hitting the holes with aggression. And with the brimming confidence borne of early success and chain movement that led to touchdowns.
The flow was such that we’ll never comprehend why Lamar was running up the middle when the team had a 22-point lead in the 3rd quarter. (I’ll never understand the risk vs. reward of anything that puts Number Eight in line for totally unnecessary direct contact.)
The Ravens’ fourth quarter near-collapse should certainly work to humble any thoughts that this team is just going to roll the ball out and win 13 games again this year.
It certainly was a finish that will not allow for any overconfidence as the Buffalo Bills bring their Mafia to the Inner Harbor for some Sunday night crab cakes and tailgate table diving. (As long as they run to the urinals and not across them…)
The penalties would’ve been the lead story – among many – if the game unraveled further and into a Ravens’ loss. Ditto the now-almost-not-fully-reliable field goals and range of future Hall of Famer Justin Tucker. Lately, his Royal Farms commercials have been far better than his kicking.
We all loved everything about the first three quarters of football in Dallas on Sunday. Then, the fourth quarter happened.
8The Baltimore Ravens escaped the mall asylum in Texas with a win and a lot of work to do to maintain the kind of consistency their head coach preached all last week.
The offensive line provided some hope, frustrating Micah Parsons and the Cowboys defense. Now, will the Ravens be back to 2-2 and feeling stable next Monday morning?
Or will they be staring at 1-3?
Sixty minutes of football ahead and tackling Josh Allen. It’s football season in Baltimore even as the real baseball season heats up across the parking lot this week.
