RIO DE JANEIRO — Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Sunday that he overcoached Dak Prescott on the Cowboys’ final third down, a throwaway from the Baltimore 5 with 14 seconds left.
Brandon Aubrey kicked a 23-yard field goal on the next snap to tie the game at 31. Seven seconds later, Tyler Loop made a 56-yarder as time expired, and the Baltimore Ravens won 34-31 at Maracanã Stadium in the NFL’s first game in Rio de Janeiro.
Dallas had used its third timeout after Prescott scrambled for 2 yards on second-and-goal from the 7. George Pickens was the target on third down, as he had been on first-and-goal from the 2, when Prescott’s throw fell incomplete.
“We called a quick out. I probably overcoached Dak on that one, because we had the points,” Schottenheimer said. “And I probably overcoached him on that because it had to go to, with the time, no timeouts, it had to go to GP or throw it away.”
“Yes, he was throwing it away, yep. And again, that’s on me. I overcoached him,” Schottenheimer explained.
Prescott said afterward that Pickens probably was open toward the front pylon and that he wished he had trusted the throw, as he detailed after the game.
Brian Schottenheimer On Luke Schoonmaker False Start At The 2
The Cowboys got to the 2 with 23 seconds left when Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins was called for a 20-yard pass interference penalty against CeeDee Lamb. After an incompletion, a false start on tight end Luke Schoonmaker moved Dallas back to the 7 with 20 seconds remaining.
Dallas had a couple of plays it felt good about from the 2, according to Schottenheimer.
“It can’t happen. [Schoonmaker] knows that. At the end of the day, we were down there low. I liked the call that we had,” Schottenheimer said. “But you move us back, it definitely hurts because there’s a couple things that we had that we felt really good about down there low. But again, I’m a broken record, I apologize, but 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.”
“[It was] a man-to-man robber look that we had where we were playing soft, and again, got to force the ball to go to the underneath in-cut, not the deep one behind some of the players,” Schottenheimer continued.
The Cowboys went 60 yards in nine plays on the drive after taking over at their own 35 with 1:30 left.
“We thought we were going to score the touchdown. And we moved the ball really well down there. We got to find a way to punch it in,” Schottenheimer said. “I got to call some better plays to get it in. And then, of course, when it became fourth down, we had to take the points.”
“But so proud of this team, this group of young men. They laid it all on the line,” Schottenheimer continued. “I mean, I know we got beat to hell. I don’t have all the injury reports, you guys can ask me about that, but we got beat up pretty good, and next man up was real tonight.”
Brian Schottenheimer On Kickoff Plan Before Tyler Loop’s 56-Yard Winner
Aubrey’s kickoff after the tying field goal went for a touchback to the Baltimore 35. Two of his earlier kickoffs had gone out of bounds, each giving the Ravens the ball at their own 40.
“At the end of the day, we just felt like, hey, let’s boom it through. Let’s put them out there, make them throw the ball short, and we’ll be fine, play for overtime,” Schottenheimer said. “And that’s what the plan was.”
Ravens coach Jesse Minter called the touchback “huge” in giving Baltimore a chance to reach Loop’s range, the Ravens’ team website reported. On the first snap, Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards to the Dallas 38, and Baltimore called its final timeout with 1 second left.
Schottenheimer was good with the defensive call and said the ball had to be forced underneath rather than to Flowers on the deeper route.
“John said to me he looked up and there was one second left on the clock. Bottom line is we need to keep that ball in front of us,” Schottenheimer said. “But at the end of the day, really just feel bad for the guys. We played hard, we fought back, long trip, had our chances to win. And unfortunately, we didn’t get it done.”
Dallas fell to 1-2. The Cowboys play at the Houston Texans on Sunday, Oct. 4, at Reliant Stadium, with kickoff at noon CT on FOX.
