This is the biggest Ravens win in some time.

Baltimore beat Dallas 34-31 at the Maracanã on Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal as time expired. A week after losing a fourth-quarter lead at home to New Orleans, the Ravens fell behind 10-0, scored 24 of the next 27 points, and lost the lead again in the fourth quarter. This time they got it back. They did it with Ronnie Stanley inactive, two centers injured by the final drive, and rookie guard Vega Ioane snapping the ball on the go-ahead touchdown and the winning kick.

This game could have gone either way.  It was a true swing game.  The Ravens found a way to win. Not only is it a more enjoyable 9 hour flight home, it’s the type of game that a team can build off of.

Between the lights of RIo, and playing ‘America’s Team,’ this felt like a big game.

Losing another tough game late would have been deflating.

Winning a game like that makes you hope the Ravens have now effectively exorcised their 4th Quarter Demons.

10-0

Dallas opened with an 11-play, 57-yard drive. Williams had six carries for 44 yards on it. Roquan Smith came untouched on a blitz and sacked Dak Prescott on third and goal, and Dallas kicked a field goal.

LaJohntay Wester muffed the ensuing kickoff and recovered at the 21. Three plays later, Baltimore faced fourth and 1 at its own 30 with 6:12 left in the first quarter. Minter went for it. Derrick Henry went up the middle, and Caleb Downs stopped him for no gain. Dallas needed five plays to score, helped by Trenton Simpson’s face mask on a 3-yard completion, and led 10-0.

Last week we defended Minter’s fourth down punt. This was a different decision: first quarter, his own 30, with his defense already having spent more than five minutes on the field. It cost seven points.

24-3

Baltimore answered with 24 of the next 27 points.

Brandon Aubrey’s kickoff went out of bounds, and Baltimore started at its 40. Lamar Jackson ran 21 yards on a designed run behind a good block from Mark Andrews. Zay Flowers caught his first pass since Week 1 for 22. Henry scored from the 4 on a direct snap with Emery Jones Jr. reporting as an extra lineman.

The next drive went 89 yards, and 68 of them came on two Dallas pass interference calls: DaRon Bland on a deep ball to Flowers, and Markquese Bell on a deep ball to Devontez Walker on third and 11. Henry scored from the 3 a play later. Per NFL+, Henry passed Eric Dickerson during the game and moved into ninth on the NFL’s career rushing list.

Dallas went for it on fourth and 1 at its own 44 in the second quarter and was stopped. Baltimore got Loop’s 27-yard field goal out of it after a third-down pass to Flowers fell incomplete at the 9.

In the third quarter, Trenton Simpson recovered Jake Ferguson’s fumble at the Baltimore 25. Keondre Jackson blocked Aubrey’s 59-yard try. Baltimore took the ball after the block and went 51 yards: Henry 29 around right tackle, his longest run of the season; Justice Hill 11; Jackson 12; and Jackson to Chris Moore for a 4-yard touchdown. That made it 24-13 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

Flowers finished with five catches for 84 yards, plus a 20 yard jet sweep, in his first game back from the hamstring. Moore caught a touchdown the week after the third-and-1 deep ball.

The Defense

Against New Orleans, Baltimore had no interior pass rush; all three sacks came off the edge. Nnamdi Madubuike played for the first time in more than a year. The interior showed up. Calais Campbell had three quarterback hits. Travis Jones had two tackles for loss, including the stop that opened the second half. Madubuike was in on three tackles, two of them in the two-minute drill. He was also flagged for roughing the passer on a third-down completion that set up Dallas’ second touchdown.

At the end of the first half, Dallas reached the Baltimore 20 and kicked a field goal. On the third-down stop, Shaffer noted Trey Hendrickson complaining he’d been held, and Baltimore got home with a four-man rush.

Kyle Hamilton was again the best defender on the field, with eight tackles and two passes defensed. One breakup came on third down, and the other on a blitz where he got his hands up. He was evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter and returned the next series. Roquan Smith led the team with nine tackles and the sack. Trenton Simpson had seven tackles, two for loss, and the fumble recovery.

Dallas ran 71 plays in regulation to Baltimore’s 57, and CBS had Dallas at 35 plays in Baltimore territory by late in the third quarter. The Cowboys were 5 of 13 on third down, better for Baltimore than New Orleans’ 8 of 15. Williams finished with 19 carries for 98 yards.

Then came the fourth quarter. After the goal-line stop below, Dallas went 96 yards in seven plays. CeeDee Lamb caught a 49-yard ball on second and 9 from the Dallas 5, and KaVontae Turpin ran 9 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. On Dallas’ last drive, down 3 with 1:30 left, it went 60 yards to the Baltimore 2. Three completions went out of bounds, and Nate Wiggins’ pass interference took it from the 22 to the 2. Lamb finished with seven catches for 112 yards, and George Pickens had seven for 82.

From there the defense held. Wiggins broke up a pass to Pickens. Roquan Smith brought down Prescott after he escaped a sack. Luke Schoonmaker false-started, Prescott threw incomplete on third down, and Dallas kicked the tie from 23 yards. Holding them to a field goal is what the situation required, but letting them get to the 2 is part of the story too.

Short Yardage

I understand the plan. You have Derrick Henry, and when you need a yard, you line up and make the defense stop him. Early on it worked. Henry scored from the 4 with Jones as the extra lineman, and from the 3 on the next drive.

The fourth quarter went differently:

Situation	Result
3rd and goal at the 2	1 yard (touchdown reversed on review)
4th and goal at the 1	-3, turnover on downs
3rd and 1, own 49 (Jones eligible)	-4, punt
2nd and 2, Dallas 39	1 yard
1st and goal at the 2 (Jones eligible)	No gain

Five carries, minus 5 yards, no conversions. Jaishawn Barham, the rookie who played at Maryland before transferring to Michigan, made the stop on three of them and finished with seven tackles, two for loss. Dallas knew what was coming, and the extra lineman told them.

So at what point do you adjust? Jackson ran six times for 50 yards. Flowers went 20 on a jet sweep. When Baltimore finally used Jackson on a short-yardage down, on third and 1 at the Dallas 38, he ran for 12, and Carson Vinson’s illegal formation took it away.

In the moment, I wanted Baltimore to go for it on fourth and goal. They did, and it was stopped. Dallas then went 96 yards to take the lead, and Baltimore got the ball back down 4 instead of down 1. A field goal there would have meant needing only another field goal. Instead, Baltimore needed a touchdown. I’d have made the same call, but a reminder that decisions have consequences.

The adjustment came on the last drive. After Henry was stopped for no gain at the 2, Jackson threw on second and third down. The third-down throw went to Matthew Hibner for the touchdown.

The Finish

Down 28-24 with 5:45 left, Baltimore went 64 yards in 11 plays and 4:15. Jackson opened with a 17-yard scramble, then went 4 of 5 for 40 yards: Andrews for 10 on third and 6 after a catch short of the marker, Flowers for 14 twice, and Hibner for the touchdown. Along the way, Bell drew his second pass interference, and John Simpson had his third false start. It was 31-28 with 1:30 left.

Dallas used its last timeout with 14 seconds left, threw incomplete on third down, and kicked with 7 seconds remaining. That was enough time for one play.

Jackson hit Flowers over the middle to the Dallas 39. Per Brett Kollmann, Reddy Steward played it expecting help inside that wasn’t there. Baltimore used its last timeout with one second left, and Loop made it from 56.

Jackson finished 15 of 20 for 186 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, plus six carries for 50 yards. Henry had 26 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns. The passing volume was low, but Jackson averaged 9.3 yards per attempt, and Baltimore ran for 5.1 a carry. The Week 3 piece argued this offense’s problem was snaps, not effectiveness. Time of possession was roughly even, and Baltimore scored 34.

Penalties And Calls

Baltimore was flagged nine times, and six were on the offensive line: three false starts by John Simpson, two ineligible-downfield penalties on Jovaughn Gwyn, and Vinson’s illegal formation that erased Jackson’s 12 yard run. With Rosengarten’s against New Orleans, that’s three ineligible-downfield flags in two weeks.

Three calls drew objections from the CBS booth. Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt thought Bland’s pass interference should have been offensive interference on Flowers. Gene Steratore would have ruled Ferguson’s fumble incomplete, though replay upheld it. In the final minute, Watt and Steratore both thought Wiggins’ interference on Lamb, which moved Dallas from the 22 to the 2, should have been offensive interference. Steratore explained afterward that it started as mutual hand-fighting, but Lamb’s arm lock at the end looked to him like offensive interference.

Two went Baltimore’s way and one didn’t. You win calls, you lose calls, and different people watching the same replay saw different things.

Injuries

• Stanley was inactive. Vinson started at left tackle.
• Gwyn left with an ankle injury.
• Ethan Pocic replaced him at center, hyperextended his knee on a helmet to the knee with 3:11 left, and was carted off.
• Ioane moved from guard to center for the final two drives.
• Andrews (hand) left in the first half and returned.
• Hamilton was evaluated for a concussion and returned.

Takeaways

Loop. You have to feel good for him. He entered the season with extended pressure on him. Hitting a 56-yarder game winner in Rio as time expired has to do wonders for his confidence. Also for the fanbase believing in him.

Jackson late. Through three quarters he had thrown 13 times. In the fourth he went 6 of 7 for 72 yards and a touchdown, and the one miss was the high throw to Bateman at the goal line. He opened the go-ahead drive with a 17-yard scramble, converted 3rd and 1 with a 12-yard run that Vinson’s penalty erased, and with 7 seconds left found Flowers over the middle to set up the kick.

Pressure, but one sack. Baltimore hit Prescott seven times: three from Campbell, two from Hendrickson, one each from Roquan Smith and Tavius Robinson. The only sack came on Smith’s untouched blitz on the opening drive. The four-man rush got stops, including the one before halftime, but it didn’t finish plays, and Prescott ran four times for 19 yards, including escaping a sack on the tying drive. How Baltimore gets home more often is an open question. Some of it may come as Madubuike’s snaps build after his first game in more than a year. Some of it depends on Hendrickson, who is playing with a cast on a broken finger and spent Sunday telling officials he was being held. And some of it is a choice for Minter about how often to blitz.

A healthy Flowers. Five catches for 84 yards on six targets, a 20-yard jet sweep, a 19-yard pass interference drawn, and the catch that set up the winning kick. He also had a drop on 3rd and 6 at the 9 that would have been right at the first-down marker. In Week 2 without him, Chris Moore started opposite Bateman nine days off the practice squad. Sunday, with Flowers back, Moore played a smaller role and caught a touchdown from the 4.

The rest of the room. Hibner caught two passes for 23 yards: a 21-yarder that answered Dallas’ two-point conversion and the go-ahead touchdown. Josh Cuevas’ 14-yard catch on a well-designed play set up the second-quarter field goal. Walker didn’t catch a pass, but his one target drew Bell’s 49-yard pass interference on 3rd and 11. Bateman and Andrews combined for five catches and 61 yards, including Bateman’s 31-yarder late in the third and Andrews’ conversion on 3rd and 6 after coming back from the hand injury. Justice Hill ran five times for 33 yards, including a 7-yard conversion on 3rd and 5 and an 11-yarder on the Moore touchdown drive.

Week 4: Tennessee Comes To Baltimore

Sunday, October 4th, 1:00 p.m. ET, M&T Bank Stadium. Ravens -11.5, total 43.5. ESPN’s Match-Up Predictor gives Baltimore an 82.1% chance to win.

Tennessee

The Titans are 0-3 after losing 12-7 to the Giants in New York. We had them 30th in our Week 3 power rankings and projected them at 5-12.

We took Tennessee in that game because Jaxson Dart is out for the rest of the season, and the market moved the same way: the line went from Giants -6 to -2.5, and the total dropped from 40.5 to 37.5. The Giants won anyway, with Jameis Winston at quarterback. Their defense played without Banks and Adebo, lost Hood during the game, and saw Brian Burns helped off with his ankle.

Tennessee’s first half produced one first down, 54 yards and no points. Dike fumbled the opening kickoff. The Giants never reached the end zone; Zvada kicked four field goals, and New York was flagged 10 times for 88 yards. Ward finished 23 of 36 for 181 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and was not sacked. He overthrew an open Carnell Tate in the end zone, then hit Wan’Dale Robinson for four yards with 5:39 left to make it a one-score game. The last drive, starting with 3:13 left, came up short. Tennessee outgained New York 262 to 238, sacked Winston three times, and lost time of possession 34:26 to 25:34.

Week 1 was a 23-10 home loss to the Jets: 195 total yards and 11 first downs, with the only touchdown in garbage time.

Week 2 was the Titans’ best game of their 3 so far. Philadelphia opened with three straight drives of 11 or more plays in 98-degree heat, and Tennessee still led 20-17 with 1:56 left. Amani Hooker intercepted Jalen Hurts in the end zone and returned it 92 yards to set up the first touchdown. Marcus Harris’ interception set up Joey Slye’s go-ahead field goal. Hurts then covered all 65 yards on the winning drive and hit Darius Cooper with nine seconds left. He converted nine third downs at an average of 7.9 yards to go, and Philadelphia held the ball 36:25.

Tennessee has scored 10, 20 and 7. It has lost time of possession by more than eight minutes in each of the last two games. Its defense has kept every game within a score.

Saleh And Daboll

Robert Saleh is in his first season as Head Coach and hired Brian Daboll as Offensive Coordinator to develop Ward. After Week 1, Daboll said the offense wasn’t good enough and that it started with him. Three games in, it still isn’t.

Cam Ward

Tennessee leans on bunch formations. Per Next Gen Stats via Turron Davenport, Titans receivers have lined up bunched 22.0% of the time this season, fourth in the league, after leading the NFL at 25.1% last year. Ward averaged 5.9 yards per attempt throwing to bunch receivers in 2025. Through two games he’s at 13.4, on 67 yards, about five throws.

The 2nd year QB is in a tough situation where he doesn’t have a ton of surrounding talent, and there are also questions about his own development.

Things To Watch

Who snaps the ball? Gwyn’s ankle, Pocic’s knee and Stanley’s toe. Baltimore finished Sunday with a rookie guard at center.

Short yardage. Does Baltimore keep going to Henry with the extra lineman, or has Sunday changed the plan?

Does Baltimore have the ball? In Week 2, we predicted a big Henry game off Detroit’s tape against New Orleans, and he ran for 68. Tennessee’s offense hasn’t sustained drives, which should mean more Baltimore possessions. Check that before assuming a big day on the ground.

The interior rush. Madubuike’s snap count in his second game back, and whether Campbell and Travis Jones keep getting home.

Offensive line penalties. Six on Sunday. Would like to see that cleaned up.

Do The Ravens take care of business?  KC was pushed by Miami into the 4th Quarter today.  Washington beat Seattle.  The Bills found a way to win despite having 5 turnovers, and trying to give that game away to LA.  Today feels like a big win for the Ravens, but it’s only significant if they build on, starting with not allowing an inferior Titans team to hang around next Sunday. There isn’t a ton of talent around Ward, Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley, and Carnell Tate isn’t nothing. Take the Titans out of the game early, and don’t give them a chance to hang around.

Our Pick: Ravens big.  27-7.