Loop’s 56-Yard Kick Turns Seven Seconds Into a Win

Tyler Loop drilled a 56-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the Baltimore Ravens over the Dallas Cowboys 34-31 in Rio de Janeiro. Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards, called timeout with one second left, and the kicker from Lucas, Texas, tucked the ball inside the left upright at Maracana Stadium.

Dallas had more yards, a late flag at the 2, and a tying kick with seven seconds on the clock. That was still enough time for Jackson, Flowers, and Loop to end the first NFL game in Rio without overtime.

One Second Back on the Clock

Brandon Aubrey’s 23-yard field goal tied the game at 31 with seven seconds left, and the kickoff went for a touchback. Under the current rule, Baltimore started at its 35-yard line. First-year Ravens coach Jesse Minter had already done the math: one throw of about 26 yards would put Loop in range, and that route takes about six seconds if the receiver gets down.

Jackson dropped and found Flowers over the middle. The 5-foot-9 receiver went up, secured the ball 27 yards downfield, and hit the ground at the Dallas 38 as the clock slid toward zero. Officials ruled that Jackson had already asked for a timeout. One second went back on the board.

THE SEVEN-SECOND DRIVE

• The kickoff: Aubrey’s kick is a touchback, so Baltimore starts at the 35 with seven seconds left.
• The throw: Jackson hits Flowers for 27 yards to the Dallas 38, and Flowers goes down immediately.
• The timeout: Jackson signals, the umpire puts one second back, and Loop jogs on from 56 yards.
• The kick: The ball sneaks inside the left upright as time expires, and the Ravens lead 34-31.

Jackson described the play as a timing issue more than a scramble. “Everyone was on the same timing,” he said. “The line did a great job protecting, Zay ran a great route and I just had to deliver the baby. He caught it and as soon as he got down, I was like ‘Please see me ref!’”

Unbelievable play by Lamar and Zay. Heads up on the time. You practice for those moments, you wait for them to come up and it came up today and we were ready.

Jesse Minter, Ravens head coach, postgame

Minter later pointed at the touchback rule itself. Starting at the 35, he said, is the same math Dallas likes with Aubrey: a team is only about 15 yards from field-goal range, so one timed throw is a plan, not a prayer. Dallas covered the sideline and left the middle open. Flowers was the open man because the Cowboys played the clock as if overtime was coming.

Dallas Outgained Baltimore and Still Lost

The Cowboys moved the ball. They held it a minute longer. They still left the stadium 1-2, and the Ravens flew home 2-1 in Minter’s debut season.

HOW THE YARDS BROKE

Jackson finished 15 of 20 for 186 yards and two touchdowns, with 50 rushing yards on six carries and no turnovers. Derrick Henry added 89 yards and two scores on 26 carries. Flowers, back from a Week 1 hamstring injury, caught five passes for 84 yards, the last of them the 27-yarder, and ran once for 20.

Dak Prescott went 25 of 40 for 276 yards and a touchdown. CeeDee Lamb had seven catches for 112 yards, including a 49-yarder that flipped the field. George Pickens added seven for 82. Javonte Williams ran 19 times for 98 yards and a score, and Dallas topped 100 rushing yards for the first time this season.

None of that showed up on the final board. Baltimore was 0-for-2 on fourth down. Dallas was 1-for-2. The Cowboys still had the yards, and the Ravens had the last kick.

Why the Cowboys Kicked With Seven Seconds Left

The last 90 seconds were three scores, and Dallas authored the middle one. Matt Hibner, a rookie tight end, caught a 2-yard touchdown from Jackson at 1:30 of the fourth, capping an 11-play, 64-yard drive for a 31-28 lead. That left Prescott enough clock, and he used it.

Nate Wiggins, the Ravens corner, locked arms with Lamb on a throw at the goal line with 23 seconds left. Officials flagged Wiggins for defensive pass interference and spotted the ball at the 2. The broadcast booth argued the other way, that Lamb had hooked Wiggins. The flag stayed on Baltimore.

Dallas could not finish the gift. An incompletion, a false start on tight end Luke Schoonmaker that backed the Cowboys to the 7, and no touchdown. Aubrey tied it from 23 yards with seven seconds left. A chip shot after a flag at the 2 is how a team gets a tie and still loses the clock.

THE LAST THREE SCORES

Dallas had already lived this game at the goal line. Early in the fourth, rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham blew through and dropped Henry for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from inside the 5. Prescott then led a 96-yard touchdown drive after the stop, hitting Lamb for 49 and sending KaVontae Turpin around left end for 9 yards and a 28-24 lead with 9:42 left. Baltimore answered with Hibner. Dallas answered with Aubrey. Baltimore answered with Loop.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer did not dress it up. “I am hurting, they are hurting,” he said. “It is a long trip (to Rio), but no one cares. We also have a long flight back.”

The Miss in Pittsburgh Followed Loop to Rio

Loop grew up in Lucas, Texas, about as close to Cowboys country as a Ravens kicker can be, and he spent the offseason under a kick that ended Baltimore’s 2025 year. In the regular-season finale at Acrisure Stadium, with the AFC North and a playoff berth on the line, he pushed a 44-yard try wide right. Pittsburgh won 26-24. The Ravens finished 8-9 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2021.

It was his first true game-winning attempt as a sixth-round pick out of Arizona, the 186th selection in the 2025 draft, and his only miss from inside 50 yards that season. He went 30 of 34 on field goals as a rookie. In June he said the way through it was to acknowledge and accept the miss, then treat the next kick as the only one that counted.

Baltimore still signed Jake Moody to the practice squad in August after Loop missed three times in the preseason, including kicks of 49, 51, and 58 yards. Minter kept saying Loop would be the kicker. On Sunday he was, from 12 yards longer than the one that had followed him from Pittsburgh.

Jackson talked to him on the sideline before the 56-yarder. He told Loop your legacy starting now, then watched him hit it.

“I was saying on the sideline, ‘Your legacy starting now,’ because I feel like he has been facing adversity,” Jackson said. “I said, ‘What a way to start your legacy in Brazil,’ and he finished the rest. He did it.”

Loop did not linger on the Pittsburgh kick. “It’s been a lot of reflection on my side from a spiritual standpoint,” he said. “Football is a gift. It’s meant to be enjoyed.” Safety Kyle Hamilton put the year in between in blunter terms, saying Loop took the flak, kept his head down, and never complained, and that the stage in Rio made the make land harder.

After the kick, Loop sprinted to the far end, jumped into Cristiano Ronaldo’s Siuuu, and got lifted onto his teammates’ shoulders. In a soccer stadium, that was the local ending, not a borrowed bit. The Portuguese call on the league’s Brazil feed treated the 56-yarder the way this building treats a last-minute gol, which is why the clip traveled farther than the English booth.

Vega Ioane Snapped After Both Centers Went Down

The winning drive was not the only patch job. Baltimore lost both of its centers late, Jovaughn Gwyn with an ankle injury and Ethan Pocic with a knee injury, and both were carted to the training room. Rookie right guard Olaivavega Ioane had to slide over and snap, including on the snaps that decided the game.

Left tackle Ronnie Stanley had already been ruled out with a toe injury, so Carson Vinson made his first career start. Tight end Mark Andrews left in the first half with a hand injury and later returned. The Ravens still rushed for 192 yards and did not take a sack.

Dallas had its own attrition. Safety Jalen Thompson left in the second quarter with a hamstring injury, a problem on a defense already without Malik Hooker and P.J. Locke. Safety Markquese Bell left in the third with dehydration and came back. The Cowboys still forced the early fourth-down stop and still could not close.

The rest of the night had already given Dallas chances it did not cash. Jake Ferguson fumbled a shovel pass in the third after crossing midfield. Aubrey later lined up from 59 yards, and Keondre Jackson blocked it. Four plays after the block, Jackson hit Chris Moore for a 4-yard touchdown and a 24-13 lead. Ferguson atoned with a 19-yard score, and Lamb caught the two-point pass to make it 24-21. The lead kept moving. The last move was Loop’s.

Maracana Finally Hosts an NFL Walk-Off

This was the league’s third regular-season game in Brazil and the first in Rio. The 2024 and 2025 games were at NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo, a building listed around 48,000 seats, and the first of those had players changing cleats on a turf they did not trust. The grass at Maracana had been the pregame argument all week. On Sunday it held.

THE RIO CROWD

• Announced attendance: 72,792, a Brazil NFL record, in a stadium that has hosted World Cups and Olympic nights.
• The series: Third straight year in Brazil, first time the NFL Rio Game at Maracana Stadium is the site.
• The slot: Kickoff at 4:25 p.m. ET, 5:25 p.m. local, with Dallas as the designated home team on CBS.
• The tickets: Buyers from 67 countries, with 88.3 percent of them from Brazil.

Henry scored from 4 yards in the first quarter and from 3 in the second, and a 5-yard run early in the second quarter moved him past Eric Dickerson into ninth place on the NFL career rushing list. Baltimore scored 17 straight to lead 17-13 at half after trailing 10-0. Since 2022 the Ravens had lost 10 games in which they led by eight or more in the second half, most in the league, and this one was heading that way until the last snap.

Baltimore hosts the Tennessee Titans next Sunday. Dallas goes to the Houston Texans. The Cowboys are 1-2 with a long flight and a clock they cannot rewind. The Ravens are 2-1 because seven seconds, a timeout, and a kicker from Lucas were still on the field.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Stadium Hosted the First NFL Game in Rio de Janeiro?

Maracana Stadium, officially Estadio Jornalista Mario Filho, hosted the first NFL regular-season game in Rio on September 27, 2026, with Dallas as the designated home team and kickoff at 5:25 p.m. local time. The two earlier Brazil games, in 2024 and 2025, were both at NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo, where the Eagles beat the Packers and the Chargers met the Chiefs.

What Did Tyler Loop Miss to End the 2025 Ravens Season?

Loop missed a 44-yard field goal wide right as time expired in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers won 26-24 in the Week 18 finale, taking the AFC North while Baltimore finished 8-9. It was his only miss from inside 50 yards as a rookie, and it came after Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell had missed the extra point on the go-ahead touchdown, which had left the door open for a Ravens walk-off.

Where Did Tyler Loop Grow Up and Go to College?

Loop was born in Lucas, Texas, on August 4, 2001, kicked at Lovejoy High School, and played at Arizona before the Ravens took him in the sixth round, 186th overall, in the 2025 draft. He replaced Justin Tucker in Baltimore and entered the Rio game in his second NFL season.

What Is the NFL Touchback Spot That Set Up the Final Drive?

A kickoff through the end zone is now spotted at the receiving team’s 35-yard line, which is why Baltimore needed only about 26 yards to put Loop in range. From the Dallas 38, a 56-yard attempt is the standard add-on of 17 yards for the end zone plus a yard for the snap, so the throw to Flowers was the entire offense the Ravens required.

How Many Fans Attended the Ravens-Cowboys Game in Brazil?

The announced crowd was 72,792, the largest for an NFL game in Brazil, with tickets bought in 67 countries. League figures put 88.3 percent of those buyers in Brazil, 6.9 percent in the United States, and the rest across Mexico, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and 61 other countries.

Loop’s ball was still in the air when Maracana started to sound like a soccer final, and by the time it cleared the left upright he was already running toward the corner. Dallas had the yards. Baltimore had one second. That was the trade the Cowboys made when they kicked it deep.