New Rule Saves Ravens Against Cowboys

The Baltimore Ravens were the beneficiaries of an obscure new rule change.

Sep 22, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys Head Coach shakes hands with Baltimore Ravens John Harbaugh after the game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images / Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Ravens picked up their first win of the season with a 28-25 defeat of the Dallas Cowboys, but it's hard to feel too good about it considering how the game ended.

Baltimore held a commanding 28-6 lead early in the fourth quarter, but in a story that's all too familiar at this point, failed to put its opponent away for good. Dallas then scored 19 unanswered points in a six-minute span, thanks largely to a successful onside kick. The Cowboys then went for a second onside kick, but Zay Flowers made up for his previous mistake and held onto the ball.

After cutting the lead to three, though, Dallas kicked deep instead of going for a third onside kick, allowing the Ravens to finally run out the clock. While that decision seems confusing, it actually wasnt' the Cowboys' choice.

At the same time the league overhauled the kickoff rules, it made several changes to onside kicks as well. Specifically, a coach must notify the opposing team of onside kicks, they can only be done in the fourth quarter when the kicking team is trailing, and specifically important in this case, a team can only attempt two of them in one game.

Even if the Cowboys could've gone for a third onside kick, though, it doesn't necessarily mean they would've.

“That was a 50-50 call,’’ McCarthy said, per the Dallas Morning News. “I was right on the fence. [Special teams coordinator] John [Fassel] and I talked about it. You know, we felt we could get the stop with three timeouts.’’

The Ravens managed to escape this time, but if they don't figure out how to close games, they will continue to find themselves in this situation. It's good to be in the win column finally, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

"We consider every game a must-win, but if you don't win a game, your season is not over," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters after the game. "There's a lot of football to be played. [The Cowboys] are a very good football team. You saw it out there – they're very capable, they're a very tough team, [and] it's a tough environment to play in. And I'm just proud of the way our guys handled it.

"We're trying to get a win every week. We're trying to be 1-0. Last week doesn't matter, the next week doesn't matter, it's this week that we're focused on.

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