Tyler Loop's 56-yard field goal at the horn lifts Ravens past Cowboys 34-31

Seven seconds of calm before the winner

Dallas appeared to have rescued the game when Brandon Aubrey hit from 23 yards with seven seconds left, tying it 31-31. That kick answered Baltimore's go-ahead touchdown and seemed to set up overtime. Instead, the deadlock barely lasted at all. Loop's 56-yarder on the final play settled one of the day's wildest finishes and gave Baltimore its second lead of the fourth quarter.

That late swing started with Dallas in front. KaVontae Turpin's 9-yard rushing touchdown at 9:42 of the fourth quarter pushed the Cowboys ahead 28-24, a reward for an offence that kept producing yards on the ground and through Dak Prescott. Baltimore answered much later, with Lamar Jackson finding Matthew Hibner for a 2-yard touchdown at 1:30 to restore a 31-28 edge. Dallas still had enough time to tie it, but not enough to keep the Ravens out of range for one final kick.

The frantic ending mattered because the third quarter had already warned both sides that no lead would be safe. Chris Moore's 4-yard touchdown catch from Jackson extended Baltimore's advantage to 24-13 at 3:44 of the third. Dallas cut that to 24-21 before the quarter ended when Prescott connected with Jake Ferguson for a 19-yard score, then found CeeDee Lamb for the two-point conversion. From there, the last 15 minutes became a succession of clean strikes and narrow escapes.

Baltimore's running game kept the pressure on

Baltimore's offence worked from the ground up. Derrick Henry scored both of his touchdowns near the goal line and finished with 89 yards on 26 carries, but the broader damage came from the full rushing mix. The Ravens ran for 192 yards on 38 attempts, with Jackson adding 50 on six carries and Justice Hill contributing 33 on five. Even without a huge individual rushing average from Henry, Baltimore kept Dallas dealing with volume, variety and steady movement.

Jackson paired that rushing support with a precise passing day. He completed 15 of 20 throws for 186 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and Dallas never sacked him. Zay Flowers led Baltimore's receivers with five catches for 84 yards, while Hibner and Moore supplied the touchdown grabs that turned a close game into a winning one. The Ravens needed only 58 plays to produce 378 yards, averaging 6.5 yards per snap and converting four of six red-zone trips into touchdowns.

Dallas, to its credit, created more total offence and still came up short. Prescott threw for 276 yards and a touchdown, CeeDee Lamb finished with 112 receiving yards, George Pickens added 82, and Javonte Williams ran for 98 yards and a touchdown. The Cowboys posted 415 total yards, 27 first downs and held the ball for 30:38. Those are winning numbers on many Sundays. In this one, they were not quite efficient enough near the goal line and not quite clean enough elsewhere.

Our take: one turnover was the difference, and the rest was finish

The cleanest separator was ball security. Baltimore committed no turnovers. Dallas had one, a Jake Ferguson fumble recovered by Trenton Simpson, and in a three-point game that single lost possession carries obvious weight. The Ravens also protected Jackson extremely well. Dallas did not record a sack, while Baltimore's defence got Prescott down once and finished with seven quarterback hits. That is not domination, but it is enough to matter when the margin is a last-play field goal.

That does not mean Baltimore was flawless. The Ravens were flagged nine times for 78 yards and failed on both of their fourth-down attempts. A team does not usually make life easy for itself with that combination. What saved Baltimore was the offence's ability to erase mistakes: 192 rushing yards, no sacks allowed, no giveaways and touchdown finishes on four of six red-zone chances. When an offence stays that efficient, it can survive a few rough edges.

Dallas will look at the wasted chances first. The Cowboys went 3-for-5 in the red zone, took 88 penalty yards and saw Aubrey finish 3-for-4 on field goals. None of those numbers alone explains the loss, but together they form the profile of a team that moved the ball well enough to win and still left a few points behind. Baltimore's improvement case is different. Clean up the penalties and the failed fourth downs, and a dramatic escape can start to look more like the controlled win its rushing attack suggested was available.

Scoring moments

1. Period 1 · 8:10

   Brandon Aubrey 28 Yd Field Goal

2. Period 1 · 4:32

   Javonte Williams 2 Yd Rush (Brandon Aubrey Kick)

3. Period 1 · 1:18

   Derrick Henry 4 Yd Rush (Tyler Loop Kick)

4. Period 2 · 11:23

   Derrick Henry 3 Yd Rush (Tyler Loop Kick)

5. Period 2 · 4:44

   Tyler Loop 27 Yd Field Goal

6. Period 2 · 0:18

   Brandon Aubrey 38 Yd Field Goal

7. Period 3 · 3:44

   Chris Moore 4 Yd pass from Lamar Jackson (Tyler Loop Kick)

8. Period 3 · 1:48

   Jake Ferguson 19 Yd pass from Dak Prescott (Dak Prescott Pass to CeeDee Lamb for Two-Point Conversion)

9. Period 4 · 9:42

   KaVontae Turpin 9 Yd Rush (Brandon Aubrey Kick)

10. Period 4 · 1:30

    Matthew Hibner 2 Yd pass from Lamar Jackson (Tyler Loop Kick)

11. Period 4 · 0:07

    Brandon Aubrey 23 Yd Field Goal

12. Period 4 · 0:00

    Tyler Loop 56 Yd Field Goal