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By Jon Machota
Sept. 28, 2026 6:30 am CDT
RIO DE JANEIRO — The anger was easy to detect from Dak Prescott. Understandably so. The Dallas Cowboys had no business losing in the final seconds of regulation in their first international game since 2014.
Down three and facing first-and-goal from the Baltimore Ravens’ 2-yard line with 20 seconds remaining, a Cowboys group with its sights set on being the “Greatest Offense There Is” came up short and settled for a game-tying field goal, only for Dallas’ defense to then stumble in an inexcusable 34-31 loss Sunday at Maracana Stadium in Brazil.
“Frustrated,” Prescott said. “Frustrated as hell. Embarrassed. We don’t call ourselves the best offense, ‘GOTI,’ and we get down there to the 1-yard line and don’t put it in. It just sucks. Not a lot of words or full explanation of it. Defense shouldn’t have even been in that position. Those guys are over there saying, ‘It’s on us.’ Absolutely not. We’ve got to put the game away, period.”
Here’s how everything unraveled:
• With 28 seconds to play, Prescott looked for star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb up the right sideline. Had Lamb hauled in the pass, it would have been a touchdown. But his arm got tangled with Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins, resulting in a pass-interference flag on Wiggins. It was a questionable call, as Lamb appeared to be grabbing Wiggins as much as he was being grabbed. But the resulting penalty moved Dallas to the 2-yard line.
• With 20 seconds remaining, the Cowboys had a 77.5 percent chance of winning the game, according to ESPN analytics. They were set up to have at least three downs to score from a couple yards away, with a timeout remaining.
On the first of those plays, Prescott threw incomplete to George Pickens.
• What followed was arguably the biggest blunder of them all — tight end Luke Schoonmaker jumped early, resulting in a five-yard false-start penalty.
“It can’t happen,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Schoony knows that. At the end of the day, we were down there low. I liked the call that we had. But you move us back, it definitely hurts, because there’s a couple of things that we had that we felt really good about down there low.
“No one coached or played a perfect game tonight. And, unfortunately, that was a big play in the game — just like some of the mistakes I made.”
Also head-scratching about the sequence was that the Cowboys did not attempt a handoff at any point, despite having run the ball the best they have this season. Running back Javonte Williams finished with 98 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
• Prescott scrambled on the next play, gaining only two yards and setting up third-and-goal from the 5.
• The Cowboys still had a good opportunity to score. Needing five yards on the next play, Prescott had top receiving options Pickens, Lamb, Jake Ferguson and Ryan Flournoy on the field. He looked to Pickens in the right front corner of the Ravens’ end zone — Pickens was open; the nearest defensive back had sunk in coverage. But Prescott threw the ball away over Pickens’ head.
It initially appeared as if the ball had slipped out of Prescott’s hand. However, Schottenheimer (surprisingly) clarified after the game that Prescott had thrown it away because that’s what he is coached to do in that situation.
“We called a quick out,” Schottenheimer said. “I probably over-coached Dak on that one, because we had the points. And I probably over-coached him on that because it had to go to — with the time, no timeouts — it had to go to GP (Pickens) or (Prescott had to) throw it away. … That’s on me. I over-coached him.”
Prescott was hesitant to get into the details of the play after the game.
“Maybe in the week,” he said. “(It’s) still fresh. I’m just upset. I don’t want to get into it.”
After a follow-up question, Prescott acknowledged that he should have waited another second before throwing the ball.
“I probably should have sat on it a little bit longer,” he said. “Sank on my back foot and just put it on the front pylon. Probably should have.”
• On fourth down from the Baltimore 5, the Cowboys tied the game at 31 on a 23-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal with seven seconds remaining.
• Because Aubrey already had booted two kickoffs out of bounds earlier in the game, Schottenheimer elected to have him kick the ensuing kickoff out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. The issue there: No time came off the clock. A kickoff out of bounds gives the opponent the ball at their own 40; a touchback isn’t much better, as it puts the ball at the 35.
“Honestly, anything less than seven seconds would have been really hard to do the play that we did,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. “We may have even just ran the clock out.”
• Instead, Lamar Jackson dropped back and delivered a beautiful 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers between Cowboys defensive backs Caleb Downs, Caelen Carson, Reddy Steward and Alijah Clark. The last three of those defenders were playing because of significant injury issues elsewhere in Dallas’ defensive backfield.
“(Flowers) had a 25-, 26-yard dig and caught the ball,” Downs said, when asked what happened on the play. “That’s what it is.”
Flowers got down with one second remaining, and the Ravens called their final timeout. Tyler Loop then won the game by making a 56-yard field goal as time expired.
“I liked the call,” said Schottenheimer of Jackson’s final completion. “We wanted to stay sticky. But at the end of the day, they ran two ins. It’s actually a play we run quite a bit of. The bottom line is you gotta make the ball go to the first one, not the layer that they hit to Zay Flowers. That’s where we have to be better.”
Top Plays from Ravens @ Cowboys
For a game so many were concerned would be decided by poor field conditions, it actually came down to several questionable decisions in the final seconds. When asked for the grade he’d give himself as offensive play caller, Schottenheimer said it was an “F.”
“I was very honest with them,” Schottenheimer said of his postgame message to the team. “I told them this one hurts and I was sorry — I was sorry that we didn’t find a way to win. I was proud of them, how hard they played, how many guys had to step up and make plays and move in and whatnot. It was back and forth.
“It was a hell of a football game, if you didn’t care who won. But I told them I was proud of them. But I also told them it’s supposed to hurt. We have to find a way to win football games and came up a couple points short.”
There were times when Dallas’ defense appeared to be taking another positive step. A couple of impressive early stops stood out, as did some huge plays near the goal line to get the ball back in the fourth quarter. But when the Cowboys needed their biggest stops, their defense looked a ways away from what it’ll take to be a legitimate playoff contender.
(Though no players blamed the field conditions for the outcome, Downs said it was good early but “pretty much just dirt out there” by the end of the game.)
“I think we did a lot of good things,” Downs said, “but we also have a lot of things to clean up.”
It was interesting to hear Prescott say early in his postgame news conference that the defense had tried to take the blame for the loss. He knows as well as anyone that the Cowboys’ offense simply has to put that game away in the final seconds. That unit is the strength of the team. Aside from Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith, who remains out with an injury, the offense has all of its weapons available and is playing at a high level.
And that’s why Sunday’s loss will bother the Cowboys’ franchise quarterback for a while. It’s unlikely that the 10-hour flight back to Dallas was enjoyable.
“I’m sure when I land I will be just as pissed,” he said. “This one hurts.”
Sept. 28, 2026 6:30 am CDT
RIO DE JANEIRO — The anger was easy to detect from Dak Prescott. Understandably so. The Dallas Cowboys had no business losing in the final seconds of regulation in their first international game since 2014.
Down three and facing first-and-goal from the Baltimore Ravens’ 2-yard line with 20 seconds remaining, a Cowboys group with its sights set on being the “Greatest Offense There Is” came up short and settled for a game-tying field goal, only for Dallas’ defense to then stumble in an inexcusable 34-31 loss Sunday at Maracana Stadium in Brazil.
“Frustrated,” Prescott said. “Frustrated as hell. Embarrassed. We don’t call ourselves the best offense, ‘GOTI,’ and we get down there to the 1-yard line and don’t put it in. It just sucks. Not a lot of words or full explanation of it. Defense shouldn’t have even been in that position. Those guys are over there saying, ‘It’s on us.’ Absolutely not. We’ve got to put the game away, period.”
Here’s how everything unraveled:
• With 28 seconds to play, Prescott looked for star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb up the right sideline. Had Lamb hauled in the pass, it would have been a touchdown. But his arm got tangled with Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins, resulting in a pass-interference flag on Wiggins. It was a questionable call, as Lamb appeared to be grabbing Wiggins as much as he was being grabbed. But the resulting penalty moved Dallas to the 2-yard line.
• With 20 seconds remaining, the Cowboys had a 77.5 percent chance of winning the game, according to ESPN analytics. They were set up to have at least three downs to score from a couple yards away, with a timeout remaining.
On the first of those plays, Prescott threw incomplete to George Pickens.
• What followed was arguably the biggest blunder of them all — tight end Luke Schoonmaker jumped early, resulting in a five-yard false-start penalty.
“It can’t happen,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Schoony knows that. At the end of the day, we were down there low. I liked the call that we had. But you move us back, it definitely hurts, because there’s a couple of things that we had that we felt really good about down there low.
“No one coached or played a perfect game tonight. And, unfortunately, that was a big play in the game — just like some of the mistakes I made.”
Also head-scratching about the sequence was that the Cowboys did not attempt a handoff at any point, despite having run the ball the best they have this season. Running back Javonte Williams finished with 98 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
• Prescott scrambled on the next play, gaining only two yards and setting up third-and-goal from the 5.
• The Cowboys still had a good opportunity to score. Needing five yards on the next play, Prescott had top receiving options Pickens, Lamb, Jake Ferguson and Ryan Flournoy on the field. He looked to Pickens in the right front corner of the Ravens’ end zone — Pickens was open; the nearest defensive back had sunk in coverage. But Prescott threw the ball away over Pickens’ head.
It initially appeared as if the ball had slipped out of Prescott’s hand. However, Schottenheimer (surprisingly) clarified after the game that Prescott had thrown it away because that’s what he is coached to do in that situation.
“We called a quick out,” Schottenheimer said. “I probably over-coached Dak on that one, because we had the points. And I probably over-coached him on that because it had to go to — with the time, no timeouts — it had to go to GP (Pickens) or (Prescott had to) throw it away. … That’s on me. I over-coached him.”
Prescott was hesitant to get into the details of the play after the game.
“Maybe in the week,” he said. “(It’s) still fresh. I’m just upset. I don’t want to get into it.”
After a follow-up question, Prescott acknowledged that he should have waited another second before throwing the ball.
“I probably should have sat on it a little bit longer,” he said. “Sank on my back foot and just put it on the front pylon. Probably should have.”
• On fourth down from the Baltimore 5, the Cowboys tied the game at 31 on a 23-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal with seven seconds remaining.
• Because Aubrey already had booted two kickoffs out of bounds earlier in the game, Schottenheimer elected to have him kick the ensuing kickoff out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. The issue there: No time came off the clock. A kickoff out of bounds gives the opponent the ball at their own 40; a touchback isn’t much better, as it puts the ball at the 35.
“Honestly, anything less than seven seconds would have been really hard to do the play that we did,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. “We may have even just ran the clock out.”
• Instead, Lamar Jackson dropped back and delivered a beautiful 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers between Cowboys defensive backs Caleb Downs, Caelen Carson, Reddy Steward and Alijah Clark. The last three of those defenders were playing because of significant injury issues elsewhere in Dallas’ defensive backfield.
“(Flowers) had a 25-, 26-yard dig and caught the ball,” Downs said, when asked what happened on the play. “That’s what it is.”
Flowers got down with one second remaining, and the Ravens called their final timeout. Tyler Loop then won the game by making a 56-yard field goal as time expired.
“I liked the call,” said Schottenheimer of Jackson’s final completion. “We wanted to stay sticky. But at the end of the day, they ran two ins. It’s actually a play we run quite a bit of. The bottom line is you gotta make the ball go to the first one, not the layer that they hit to Zay Flowers. That’s where we have to be better.”
Top Plays from Ravens @ Cowboys
For a game so many were concerned would be decided by poor field conditions, it actually came down to several questionable decisions in the final seconds. When asked for the grade he’d give himself as offensive play caller, Schottenheimer said it was an “F.”
“I was very honest with them,” Schottenheimer said of his postgame message to the team. “I told them this one hurts and I was sorry — I was sorry that we didn’t find a way to win. I was proud of them, how hard they played, how many guys had to step up and make plays and move in and whatnot. It was back and forth.
“It was a hell of a football game, if you didn’t care who won. But I told them I was proud of them. But I also told them it’s supposed to hurt. We have to find a way to win football games and came up a couple points short.”
There were times when Dallas’ defense appeared to be taking another positive step. A couple of impressive early stops stood out, as did some huge plays near the goal line to get the ball back in the fourth quarter. But when the Cowboys needed their biggest stops, their defense looked a ways away from what it’ll take to be a legitimate playoff contender.
(Though no players blamed the field conditions for the outcome, Downs said it was good early but “pretty much just dirt out there” by the end of the game.)
“I think we did a lot of good things,” Downs said, “but we also have a lot of things to clean up.”
It was interesting to hear Prescott say early in his postgame news conference that the defense had tried to take the blame for the loss. He knows as well as anyone that the Cowboys’ offense simply has to put that game away in the final seconds. That unit is the strength of the team. Aside from Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith, who remains out with an injury, the offense has all of its weapons available and is playing at a high level.
And that’s why Sunday’s loss will bother the Cowboys’ franchise quarterback for a while. It’s unlikely that the 10-hour flight back to Dallas was enjoyable.
“I’m sure when I land I will be just as pissed,” he said. “This one hurts.”
