ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The Dallas Cowboys (1-2) are still searching for their first win at home, losing 28-25 to the Baltimore Ravens.
Dallas trailed by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter, and were able to cut that deficit to just three, but ultimately could not complete the comeback.
Quarterback Dak Prescott hosted fellow QB Lamar Jackson on a visit at Mississippi State back in the day—now, the two got to go head-to-head in the NFL for the first time, Prescott coming out on the losing side.
Dallas won the toss and took the ball to start—head coach Mike McCarthy said they were “playing to get the lead as fast as we could.”
On the opening drive, Jackson ran in a touchdown to open things up at AT&T Stadium, and kicker Justin Tucker’s extra point was good.
Brandon Aubrey’s 65-yarder got the Cowboys on the board with 6:33 left in the 1st, missing the NFL record by just 1 yard. Who has it? The other starting kicker in the building—Tucker.
McCarthy described Aubrey as “a weapon.”
“We have to give Brandon those opportunities early… He just keeps delivering,” McCarthy said.
Nelson Agholor ran for 56 yards to set up Derrick Henry for his first touchdown of the day, and Tucker’s PAT was good; Ravens increased their lead, 14-3.
Rashod Bateman added a touchdown to the score when Jackson found him wide open in the end zone with a 13-yard pass. But Aubrey added another three to the board before the end of the half, making it 21-6 in favor of the Ravens.
In the second half, Henry scored from 26-yards out on the Ravens’ second half opening drive, but Tucker missed his 46 yard attempt with just under 11 minutes to go in the half, making it 28-6—Henry’s TD would be the last time the Ravens would score.
It took until the fourth quarter for Dallas to score a TD of their own. KaVontae Turpin set up Dak Prescott for a QB sneak with less than 10 on the clock. The two-point conversion was no good, Cowboys still trailing 28-12.
Dallas then elected to take an onside kick—successfully recovered by C.J. Goodwin. The Cowboys put up 6 points in the drive that followed; Prescott found wide receiver Jalen Tolbert for 8 yards, and once again failed to convert the extra two points.
Turpin scored his second of the day with just less than three minutes to go, and Aubrey’s PAT got the Cowboys within three.
While the Cowboys scored 19 points in the second half, the Ravens still avoided going 0-3, a feat no team has ever come back and won a Super Bowl from, and only one team has made the playoffs starting out that way this century: the 2018 Houston Texans.
Today, Prescott surpassed 30,000 career passing yards, becoming the ninth QB in NFL history to reach the mark in his first 117 career games. He was 28 of 51 for 379 yards and two touchdowns.
Jackson extended his record against NFC teams to 21-1; his only loss to a member of the NFC came at the Giants, 24-20 back in October of 2022.
Baltimore has now beaten Dallas five times out of their six head-to-head contests.
The Cowboys have now gone 0-2 at home to start a season for the fourth time since 2000. They failed to win more than six games and missed the playoffs in those seasons—will they face the same fate again?
McCarthy said he knows the team has a target on their back because of these last two games, and also knows that they are the only ones who can stop it.
Only time will tell.
After back-to-back losses, this coming week is another chance for the Cowboys to get back into the win column, taking on the New York Giants for a primetime matchup on Thursday. Kickoff is slated for 7:15 p.m. CST.
