The flight from Rio De Janeiro to Dallas takes just over 10 hours, and the Cowboys are probably going to kick themselves the entire time following their wild 34-31 loss to the Ravens. 

The Cowboys looked like they were going to send the game to overtime after Brandon Aubrey tied things up when he hit a 23-yard field goal with just seven seconds left to play in regulation. After Aubrey's kick, the Cowboys had a decision to make on the ensuing kickoff: They could either kick it through the end zone for a touchback or they could have Aubrey send the kick into the landing zone for a possible return. 

Both decisions have their pluses and minuses: 

  • If you kick the touchback, the negative is that no time will run off the clock, but you don't have the risk of a long return. 
  • If you kick it in the landing zone, the positive part is that a few crucial seconds will come off the clock, but you risk a return. However, the return would also knock time off the clock, so either way, time is coming off the clock. And with just seven seconds left, that's exactly what you want. 

The Cowboys decided to kick the touchback, and as soon as that happened, there was a good chance everyone in Buffalo winced at the same time. We all remember the famous "13 seconds" game between the Bills and Chiefs in the 2022 NFL Playoffs. The Bills scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left to play and Sean McDermott called for a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. After that, Patrick Mahomes ended up using all 13 seconds to get the Chiefs in range for a game-tying field goal and Kansas City would end up winning in overtime. 

Kicking a touchback now is even worse than it was then. In the playoff game, the Chiefs got the ball at the 25-yard line, so they had to move the ball at least 35 yards to get in field goal range. After the NFL changed the kickoff rule in 2024, which moved the touchback to the 35-yard line, the Ravens only needed to gain 20 to 25 yards to give Loop a realistic chance, and that's exactly what they did. 

The Cowboys made the wrong decision. In their situation, you need to burn off as much time as possible, and the Cowboys didn't do that. At that point, the Ravens knew they had time for one play. After Aubrey kicked the touchback, the Ravens got the ball at the 35-yard line with seven seconds left.

After the game, Ravens coach Jesse Minter made it sound like he was thrilled that Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer made the decision to kick the touchback.

"The touchback rule is huge," Minter said. "It's to the 35-yard line. We felt like, one play that could take six seconds, kind of know the time that that route takes and the yards that we needed. Great execution by our guys."

Lamar Jackson had six seconds to run a play, and he used the time to perfection by connecting with Zay Flowers for a 27-yard catch that put the Ravens in field goal range. 

From there, Tyler Loop took over and drilled a 56-yard game-winning field goal. 

In the Cowboys' defense, they likely had Aubrey kick the touchback to eliminate the possibility of the ball going out of bounds. When that happens, the other team gets the ball at the 40-yard line instead of the 35. 

Out of his first six kickoffs, Aubrey had knocked two out of bounds, which likely spooked the Cowboys. However, on the four kicks that didn't go out of bounds, the Ravens got the ball inside their own 23-yard line on all four, so Aubrey had actually been doing a decent job. Not to mention, one of his kickoffs that went out of bounds ended up rolling out at the one. If it had gone just one yard farther, the touchback would have come out to the 20-yard line. 

Here's where the Ravens started on Aubrey's six kickoffs before the final kick: 

  • BAL 23-yard line
  • BAL 21-yard line
  • BAL 40 (OUT OF BOUNDS)
  • BAL 16
  • BAL 20 (Landing zone touchback)
  • BAL 40 (OUT OF BOUNDS)

If the Cowboys had decided to NOT kick a touchback, the worst-case scenario is that the ball goes out of bounds and Baltimore takes possession at the 40, which is only five yards more than 35. The best-case scenario is that they burn off several seconds, and if the clock had gone down to just four or five seconds, the Ravens simply wouldn't have had enough time to run another play. 

It was a bizarre decision at a crucial stage in the game. 

Overall, the Cowboys struggled with their time management in the final 30 seconds. They also called a timeout with 14 seconds left after a short second-down scramble by Prescott. Dallas threw an incomplete pass on third down, which left 10 seconds on the clock. Aubrey's kick then took three more seconds off the clock. 

If the Cowboys had let the clock run down to 10 or 11 seconds before calling a timeout after second down, the Ravens likely wouldn't have had enough time to score. If they had used their final timeout correctly, Aubrey's field goal could have been the final play of regulation. If they didn't want to cut it that close, they could have left three or four seconds on the clock. Basically, the Cowboys gifted the Ravens at least five seconds between the two sequences, and Baltimore made them pay dearly. 

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