There is plenty of blame to go around following the Dallas Cowboys’ devastating and demoralizing 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
All the talk about the turf at the city’s historic Maracana Stadium has now given way to talk about the Cowboys’ seemingly continued inability to win a big game and the narrative of quarterback Dak Prescott not getting it done when it matters most.
Prescott was seemingly on the doorstep of an image-changing comeback victory, twice rallying the Cowboys from fourth quarter deficits only to throw the ball and the game away in the final moments.
The turf held up. The Cowboys didn’t.
It wasn’t necessarily that simple.
But that was the end result.
And Prescott was as upset with the result as he’s ever been following a regular season game that dropped the Cowboys to 1-2 and ruined a 10-hour flight to Brazil and now has them fighting up hill to keep their season alive on a short week in next Sunday’s matchup at the Houston Texans (0-3) next Sunday.
“I’m sure when we land I’ll be just as pissed,” Prescott said.
“This one hurts.”
The Cowboys trailed 24-13 in the third quarter before taking a 28-24 lead on a nine-yard run by KaVonte Turpin, capping a 7-play, 96-yard drive directed by Prescott.
The Ravens took a 31-28 lead with 1 minute, 30 seconds to go on a Lamar Jackson touchdown pass.
Prescott then marched the Cowboys right back down the field with passes of 13 yards to Ryan Flournoy, 14 to CeeDee Lamb, 9 to Flournoy and then a 7-yard scramble. A pass interference flag on Nate Wiggins against Lamb gave the Cowboys a 1st and goal at the 2 with 23 second left.
An incomplete pass to George Pickens was followed by an unforgiveable false start on tight end Luke Schoonmaker. Prescott scrambled for 2 yards on second and goal.
And then on third and goal, he had a wide open Pickens on the front of the right end zone and Prescott purposely threw the ball away with :10 left on the clock to make sure they at least got the field goal.
What should have been a sure touchdown and comeback victory turned into a tie game and presumed overtime following 23-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey with :7 to go to make the score 31-31.
Never assume anything.
Aubrey purposely kicked the ball out of the end zone so no time went off the clock, giving the Ravens a first down at the 35. Jackson then hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards.
The Ravens called a time out with :01 left and Tyler Loop nailed a 56-yard field to win the game and send the stadium into frenzy and the Cowboys to the locker room and the doldrums.
The Ravens started their drive with 0:07 seconds left in regulation, the latest start to a game-winning drive off of a kickoff since 1978 (including playoffs).
This is the first game in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) that each team made a FG in the last 0:10 of the fourth quarter.
“I’m disappointed as hell right now because of the pain in that locker room,” Schottenheimer said. “This has been a very cool trip, I just wish would’ve come out with a win.”
Schottenheimer had issues with his play calling and time management. Schottenheimer said they should have run the ball more down close. Javonte Williams rushed 19 times for 98 yards but didn’t touch the ball near the goal line on the opening drive or the last drive when the Cowboys had the ball 2 yards or less from pay dirt and had to settle for field goals both times.
He gave himself an “F” on playcalling.
The defense couldn’t stop the run again, giving up 192 yard rushing getting no heat on the quarterback. Aubrey kicked to kick offs out the bounds and a blocked field goal before Cowboys told him to kick out of the end zone on the last one, which was regrettable.
But Prescott named the offense the Greatest Offense There Is (GOTI) before training camp and the offense missed a layup at the end.
“Frustrated. Embarrassed,” Prescott said. “You can’t call yourselves GOTI and not get it in down there on the one-yard line…We should’ve never put the defense in that position.”
It’s throw away that Prescott will replay over and over again in his head.
Schottenheimer said he over coached Prescott and him thinking about saving time for the field goal and over time.
Prescott, who is the team’s highest paid player and the second-highest player in the NFL with a contract worth $60 million annually, wished he would have been more patient and tossed the ball to Pickens in the front of the pilon.
Prescott didn’t want to analyze what Schottenheimer told him before the play about throwing it away: “Definitely not right now, maybe in a week. Still fresh, just upset.”
Prescott said he takes full blame. He said it was on him and he should have been more patient, planted his back foot and just thrown it to the front of the pilon.
Pickens was not only open but he got open.
Prescott didn’t expect him to be based on the coverage.
“The coverage they were playing 99 times out of 100, they are supposed to cover GP [outside],” Prescott said. They’re supposed to have outside leverage and funnel inside. GP did a great job of winning regardless.”
That the Cowboys didn’t win is going to haunt Prescott for a long time.
It was a team loss.
It was demoralizing. The entire locker room was hurting.
No one is going to bear the brunt of it more than Prescott.
One week after becoming the team’s all-time leader in touchdowns passes, giving him every regular season passing record in Cowboys history, Prescott threw the ball and the game away when it mattered most.
He knows and wears it.
If the Cowboys, who have not been the Super Bowl in 30 years, end up not making the postseason, this loss has the potential be a scarlet letter on Prescott’s historic legacy.
He came into the season talking Super Bowl and threw it away when the Cowboys had a chance to put some substance behind chatter.
