With seven seconds left, Baltimore had already reached the edge of the cliff. Then it trusted a returning receiver, a first-year play-caller, and a kicker still trying to settle the question of whether he could finish the biggest moments.
The Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys, 34-31, on Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal as time expired, but the final sequence was built long before Loop ever stepped onto the field. It started with Declan Doyle designing a play for Zay Flowers, and it ended with Lamar Jackson and the offense putting the ball in the hands of a player who had just come back at exactly the right time.
Doyle’s call produced a 27-yard gain for Flowers with 7 seconds left, creating the opening for the game-winning kick. It was the kind of snap decision that can disappear if the timing is off by a beat. Instead, Flowers found space, Baltimore moved the ball into range, and Loop finished the job.
Flowers’ return mattered because it was not just a box checked on the injury report. He finished with 5 receptions for 86 yards in Week 3, and his presence gave Baltimore a target it had missed the week before. The Ravens’ offense struggled in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints without him, and Sunday’s final drive showed how much the passing game changes when he is available to make a play in a tight spot.
Flowers was direct about the way the sequence came together.
“Everybody just did their job,” Flowers said.
That was the simplest way to describe a drive that required a lot of things to go right at once. Jackson got the ball to Flowers. Doyle’s design created the opening. Flowers turned it into 27 yards. And then the Ravens handed the last, most pressure-packed piece to Loop.
The kick itself carried its own weight. Loop’s 56-yarder was the biggest kick of his career, and it came with the added pressure of a record that had not yet been settled in the NFL’s most unforgiving moments. Before Sunday, he was 0-for-1 in game-winning attempts. After Sunday, he was 1-for-2, and 2-for-2 on field goals from 50-plus yards in 2026.
That is the part of the finish that made the Ravens’ trust look even more deliberate. They did not just ask Loop to make a kick. They asked him to make a 56-yarder after a drive that started with the clock nearly gone and ended with the game on his foot.
Lamar Jackson said he never doubted it.
“I had no doubt in my mind [Loop was making it],” Jackson said.
Head coach Jesse Minter was just as emphatic afterward.
“Super happy for him. He kind of sticks to his process, keeps his head down. He works. He has a real positive mindset,” Minter said.
The final drive also gave Baltimore a second late-game focal point. Flowers’ catch was the setup; Loop’s kick was the finish. Rashod Bateman, watching the sequence unfold, summed up the reaction from the sideline in a way that fit the moment.
“I don’t even know what to say about that [play],” Bateman said.
For Baltimore, the sequence was more than a dramatic ending. It was a snapshot of how the Ravens handled the last seven seconds: a returning receiver trusted in space, a play-caller willing to put the ball in his hands, and a kicker asked to settle everything from 56 yards away.