Brian Schottenheimer didn’t hide from the finish in Rio.
After the Cowboys let a late lead slip away against the Ravens in the NFL’s international series, the Dallas coach owned the last 20 seconds of Sunday’s game. Dallas had marched the length of the field while trailing by three, only to get stopped at the goal line and settle for a tying field goal with seven seconds left. From there, the game turned on a touchback, a quick Baltimore strike, and a razor-thin clock ruling that left one second on the board.
That was enough for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Jackson found Zay Flowers over the middle against a soft Cowboys defense, pushing the ball to the Dallas 38-yard line.
As Flowers hit the turf, Jackson was already signaling for timeout, and after a short review, officials determined there was still a second remaining. Baltimore never needed more.
On Tuesday, Schottenheimer took the blame directly.
“I didn’t do very good in the final 20 seconds (of Sunday’s game in Rio),” he said via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “I hurt our chances to win that game.
I’m better than that. … Those things won’t happen again.”
The loss drew plenty of reaction beyond the Cowboys’ locker room. On Pardon Interruption, Michael Wilbon blasted the franchise with a harsh assessment after the ending.
“Dallas is dumb every year,” Wilbon said. “It doesn’t matter what they do to their offense and defense… they just seem intellectually challenged, no matter who’s running that outfit.” Just three weeks into the season, the Cowboys are already behind the 8-Ball.”
Jerry Jones, meanwhile, said he couldn’t offer a clean answer for how it all unraveled.
“There’s no explanation that you’re satisfied with,” Jones said. “None.
Let’s be sure that we all understand that. They don’t have one that they’re satisfied with.
We made mistakes during that time, there’s no question about it. There’s no explanation.
There’s an evaluation of how to not make the same mistakes again, which is what you should be doing. We can’t get that back.
No way to get it back. What you can do is use it - if there’s any aspect of it that you want to just not even think happened.
Any aspect of it, use it to get better.”
Dallas gets its next shot in Week 4 against the Houston Texans.
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Baltimore also saw other linemen and front-seven pieces make their case. Zion Young showed up in the run game and as a pass-rush presence, flashing the kind of quickness and physicality that suggest there is more to come. Calais Campbell, meanwhile, kept doing what he has done for years, turning in another effective performance in his 19th NFL season and reinforcing the idea that the Ravens still have dependable veteran production in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
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Jackson revisited the subject in a later press conference, stressing why the message was important to him and to the room. For Ravens fans, the bigger question is whether the shift in leadership can finally translate into cleaner finishes when the margin gets tight in the fourth quarter. The words were encouraging, but Baltimore still has to prove the habit has changed. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens 2-1 Start Is Hiding Pressure They Cant Ignore
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The schedule is about to tell a lot more of the story. Tennessee and Atlanta are next, followed by a stretch that includes Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Jacksonville, and those games should quickly show whether Baltimore can turn a modest opening into real momentum or keep living with the same questions that have already followed them through the first month. [Read more 🡒]