NFL
By: Joey MacDonald
In an offensive shootout, the Baltimore Ravens needed the leg of Tyler Loop for a walk-off win against the Dallas Cowboys. A game where, in the last 90 seconds, we saw 13 combined points scored by both Baltimore and Dallas offenses. In the NFL’s first game ever in Brazil’s capital, Rio de Janeiro, the fans were treated to an Instant classic. A matchup between 2 teams with high-powered offenses looking to get above .500 early in this very young season. Find the game between the Baltimore did not end the world.
Offense Recap:
The Baltimore Ravens, early on, were down 10-0 in the 1st by a Brandon Aubrey field goal and a Javonte Williams touchdown. Also, they were stopped on 4&1 Derrick Henry by Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, which turned into 7 points. Then, afterwards, the Ravens defense held the Cowboys to only one more field goal at the end of the 1st half.
Afterward, allowing a touchdown after turning the ball over, the Ravens offense got rolling on the next 2 drives. Going 60 yards on 6 plays in 3:14 for Derrick Henry’s first of 2 running touchdowns on the day. On the very next drive, marched all the way down the field for Derrick Henry’s 2nd touchdown of the game.
Derrick Henry’s day was a pretty solid one, rushing for 89 yards on 26 carries and running for 2 touchdowns.
Wide Receiver Zay Flowers, after missing the Ravens’ Week 2 loss against the Saints, made his presence known in Brazil. Flowers on the day had 5 catches for 84 yards on 6 targets, showing no signs of rust following an injury. And, with 7 seconds left, Flowers caught the 27-yard pass from Lamar Jackson to set up Tyler Loop’s GW field goal.
On the day, Lamar Jackson didn’t post his typical MVP stats in the Ravens’ win over the Dallas Cowboys. But he made the big-time plays that were key in winning the game against the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil. On the day, Jackson completed 15-of-20 passes for 186 yards, including 2 touchdown passes, and ran for 50 yards.
Defense Recap:
On the other side, the defense had a difficult time trying to hold the Dallas Cowboys’ high-powered offense, but struggled. The defense allowed 415 yards of total offense against Dak Prescott and Company of Dallas in an offensive shootout.
But some defensive players had some good individual performances against the Cowboys on Sunday despite giving up 415 yards. LB Trenton Simpson had himself a day with 7 total tackles and recovered a fumble in the 3rd quarter. Roquan Smith led the team in tackles on the day with 9 tackles and the defense’s only sack on the day.
Nnadmi Madubuike returned to the field for the 1st time in over a year from injury and had a quiet day. Totalling only 3 tackles on the day, his return was huge for the Ravens in the run-stopping department.
The secondary on the day was hit hard by the wide receiver combination of Cee Dee Lamb and George Pickens. Both of them caught 7 passes on the day for a total combined of 194 receiving yards against Baltimore’s secondary. Also, the run-stopping defense gave up a total of 148 rushing yards, led by Javonte Williams, who scored 1 touchdown.
In the end, even though it’s early in the season, there’s plenty of time to get it together on defense. Not every week the Ravens’ defense will have games like this; there will be things that will get fixed later on.
The Baltimore Ravens are now 2-1 on the season and will now go into their middle-of-the-season schedule going into October. In Week 4, the Ravens will return home to take on the winless Tennessee Titans and quarterback Cam Ward.
