Cowboys fall to Ravens

By Elwyn Henderson

The Dallas Cowboys, 0-1 in preseason action this year, took on the 1-0 Baltimore Ravens at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Saturday night. As expected, very few of the Dallas starting units played in the game, but the coaches from both teams did get a chance to look at several players on the bubble to see who might be worthy of making the final 53-man roster when cut downs come next week.

Dallas was never really in the game and ended up on the short end, losing 28-13 in front of 80,695 fans.

Baltimore won the coin toss to begin the game and they elected to receive. Brandon Aubrey kicked the ball off and the kick landed in the landing zone and bounced into the end zone, resulting in the Ravens beginning their first possession at their own 20.

Former Cowboys backup quarterback started the game for the Ravens. The Dallas defenders forced a three-and-out and after Jordan Stout came in to punt the ball away. There was a fair catch at the Dallas 10 but a 5-yard penalty against Baltimore resulted in another Stout punt. The ball was caught at the 10 but Dallas was called for an illegal block, moving the ball back to the 6.

Joe Milton, acquired from the New England Patriots in an off-season trade began at quarterback for Dallas on their first possession. On the third play of the possession Milton was sacked for a safety with 11:20 left in the first quarter, putting Baltimore on the board and they led 2-0.

 Aubrey’s free kick after the safety was returned up to the 27 and Rush and company took over for their second possession of the game.

Rush drove the team down to the Dallas 11 where the defense forced a 29-yard field goal by Tyler Loop with 3:51 left in the opening frame, giving the visitors a 5-0 lead. The drive was 15 plays, 62 yards and 7:29.

The ensuing kickoff was returned to the Dallas 23 where Milton brought the offense back out on the field. It was a quick three-and-out and Bryan Anger punted the ball down to the Ravens 28 and Rush came back on the field.

On the third play of the possession Andrew Booth intercepted Rush at the Ravens 40 and returned the ball into the end zone for a pick-6 with 1:31 left in the first quarter. Aubrey added the PAT and Dallas took a 7-5 lead.

Aubrey’s kickoff after the TD was returned from the 2 up to the 24 and Rush brought his unit out to the field once again.

Rush redeemed himself, as he led his offense the 76 yards into the end zone for a go ahead score. The TD came with 9:49 left in the first half as he hit Kirkwood in the end zone from 1 yard out on a 4th down for the score. The drive was 13 plays and took 6:46 off the clock. Loop added the extra point and the Ravens led 12-7.

Dallas returned the kickoff after the score out to their 36 and Milton led the Cowboys offense back on the field. They moved the ball up the field but failed to convert a 4th and 1 and Cooper Rush brought his charges out once again.

The defense gave but didn’t break and forced a 51-yard field goal try by Loop. The kick was god and the Ravens extended their lead to 15-7 with 3:57 left till the halftime break. The drive was 7 plays, 22 yards and took 3:33 off the second quarter clock.

Jalen Cropper returned the next kickoff up to his 27 and Milton and company returned to the field, hoping to add points before the end of the half. After picking up one first down Anger punted away again and the Ravens set up on their 16 with 2:21 left in the half.

After picking putting up one first down, Rush was intercepted by Kemon Hall at the Baltimore 40 with 1:34 left in the half and Dallas had one more chance to light up the scoreboard before the half. Unfortunately, on the first play after the pick Milton was intercepted in the end zone and the Ravens took back over on their 20with 1:27 left in the half.

Baltimore moved down to the Dallas 29 with 16 seconds left in the half. Rush completed a pass down to the 24 and the visitors called their final time out of the half to set up 42-yard field goal try by Loop. The kick was good with 5 seconds left in the half and advanced the lead to 18-7. The drive was 8 plays, 56 yards and took 1:52.

The final kickoff of the half sailed out of the end zone and Dallas took over at their 40. Milton took a knee and the half ended with the Cowboys set to receive the second half kickoff.

   Loops kick went out of bounds at the 7 and Dallas began at their 40 for their first possession of the second half.  Unfortunately, it was another three-and-out and after an Anger punt the Ravens began their first possession of the second half at their 20.

Devin Leary came in at quarterback in relief of Cooper Rush to lead the series. Dallas forced a punt after just 3 plays and following a punt they set up on their 26 after a 10-yard holding penalty on Baltimore on the kick.

Milton connected on a brilliant 49-yard pass to Jonathan Mingo down to the Ravens 20 and the ‘Boys were threatening. The drive stalled but Aubrey nailed a 36-yard field goal with 7:59 left in the third quarter to cut the visitors lead to 18-10. The drive was 8 plays, 56 yards and took 3:52.

Aubrey’s next kickoff traveled to the Ravens 1 and was returned up to the 22 where Leary took over once again.

Aided by a roughing the passer Leary led his unit down the field but the Dallas defense held and forced a 36-yard Loop field goal with 2:33 left in the third frame and putting the Ravens up 21-10. The drive was 13 plays, 50 yards and took 5:26 off the clock.

Dallas moved down to the Ravens 29 where Aubrey was brought in to boot a 47-yard field goal. The kick was good with 13:09 left in the game, bringing the score to 21-13 in favor of the Ravens. The drive was 10 plays, 41 yards and took 4:54 off the clock.

Aubrey’s next kickoff was returned up to the 48 and Baltimore was in excellent position to begin their next drive.

Leary drove his team the 52 yards into the end zone with the score coming on a 2-yard run by D’Earnest Johnson with 9:11 left in the game. Loop banged the extra point through and the Baltimore lead advanced to 28-13.

Dallas began their next drive at their 27 after a return of Loop’s kickoff.

Will Grier came in at quarterback for the possession to finish the game. The drive ended with a Will Greer fumble at the Dallas 48 and the Ravens recovered and had the ball once again. The turnover sent fans out of the building in droves as the visitors hoped to run a lot of time off the clock.

They managed to move the ball down to the Dallas 32 and on a 4th and 7 Loop came in to attempt a 50-yard field goal. The kick was no good and Grier led the Cowboys back on the field at their 40 with 4:43 left in the game.

Dallas went backward in the drive and after a 4th down incomplete pass the visitors took over once again at the Dallas 37 with 3:29 left in the game.

The drive stalled at the Dallas 34 and on 4th and 7 Loop came in once again and kicked a 53-yard field goal with 1:10 left in the game, bringing the score to 31-13. The drive was 4 plays, 3 yards and took 2:19.

The final Cowboys possession began at their 40 when the kickoff didn’t reach the Landing Zone and Grier had one last chance to make something happen. It wasn’t in the cards and Grier was sacked on the last play of the game, and Baltimore took the 31-13 victory to move to 2-0 in preseason while the Cowboys dropped to 0-2.

When Cowboys Coach Brian Shottenheimer met with the media after the embarrassing defeat, his opening statement spoke volumes about where the team is currently.

“There’s too many good football players, too many good coaches for us to perform the way that we did tonight. We’re not going to say that that’s just a preseason game. We’re not going to say, oh, we’re going to be fine. No, we’re going to look at it. The fact is, we really lost both paths and it’s something that we have to get corrected. We’re looking to find out the things that we did well. There’ll certainly be a ton of corrections that we have to make, and we’ll dive in there soon.”

 

The Mirror asked Shottenheimer if he thought where he needed to be to make the final cuts next week after the final preseason game.

“I want to watch the film. I think that’s only fair to these players to say, let’s watch the film and see kind of, you know, where we are. But yes, do I believe that that’s the case. I do think a few guys took major steps today. What I don’t get a chance to see a lot of is the special teams, and that’s very critical when you talk about constructing your roster and things like that. So, I want to definitely see the film. But again, I think there were some guys that I thought did a really nice job tonight, and once we see the film we’ll have a better idea.”

There’s no doubt the team needs to make MAJOR improvements before opening the season on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. HOPEFULLY, they can improve in next Friday’s game against Atlanta and start things moving in the right direction, but quarterback Dak Prescott and a great majority of the starters on BOTH sides of the ball will not take a single snap in preseason. That has not worked well in recent years for Dallas. We’ll have to see how it ends up working out this year.