Loop’s 56-Yard Kick Beats Dallas After 7 Leftover Seconds

Tyler Loop drilled a 56-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Baltimore Ravens a 34-31 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro. The kick ended a 7-second possession that started after Dallas had just tied the game, and it sent an announced crowd of 72,792 into a roar at Maracana Stadium.

Dallas did the hard part of a last-minute drive, then left Baltimore a clean snap. Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards, called timeout with 1 second left, and Loop tucked the ball inside the left upright.

Seven Seconds Were Enough for a Winner

First-year Ravens coach Jesse Minter let Jackson throw from his own 35 instead of kneeling for overtime. Flowers, back after a hamstring injury in Week 1, went up over the middle, came down at the Dallas 38, and Jackson waved for the clock to stop. Officials put 1 second on the board for the kick.

Everyone was on the same timing. 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!’

Lamar Jackson, Ravens quarterback

Jackson finished 15 of 20 for 186 yards and two touchdowns, ran six times for 50 yards, and posted a 136.7 rating with no interceptions. The box score looks modest next to Dak Prescott’s 276 yards. The last snap is the one that will travel.

NFL analyst Benjamin Solak wrote that a database of games since 1978 has no later start to a game-winning drive after a kickoff, and that this was the quickest game-winning drive on that list. He also wrote it was the first Super Bowl-era game in which both teams kicked a field goal in the last 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.

More context here:

The Ravens' game-winning drive started with 0:07 on the clock — the latest a game-winning drive has ever started (after a kickoff) in the ESPN database (since 1978).

That was the quickest game-winning drive ever. https://t.co/10P4aBKwQi

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 28, 2026

Minter, hired on January 22, 2026 as the fourth head coach in Ravens history after John Harbaugh was fired on January 6, had a simpler read. “You practice for those moments, you wait for them to come up and it came up today and we were ready,” he said.

The Touchback That Handed Jackson a Shot

Brandon Aubrey’s 23-yard kick tied the game at 31 with 7 seconds left. A field goal stops the clock, so Dallas still had to kick off. Aubrey’s kick was a touchback. Baltimore started at its 35 with those 7 seconds still intact, which is the sequence Dallas cannot take back.

A squib would have burned time and pinned Jackson farther from Loop’s range. The touchback did the opposite. It gave Baltimore a full play from a hash it wanted, and Loop’s career long of 57 yards meant 26 yards of offense was enough.

THE FINAL 23 SECONDS

1. 0:23: Nate Wiggins is called for pass interference as his arms lock with CeeDee Lamb, and Dallas is at the Ravens 2.
2. After the penalty: Prescott throws incomplete, then a false start backs Dallas to the 7.
3. 0:07: Aubrey makes the 23-yard kick to tie it at 31, and the ensuing kickoff is a touchback.
4. 0:07, Ravens ball: Jackson hits Flowers for 27 yards to the Dallas 38.
5. 0:01: Jackson’s timeout is granted, and Loop’s 56-yard kick wins it.

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 Kicker From Lucas, Texas

Loop grew up in Lucas, Texas, and kicked at Lovejoy High School before Arizona. Baltimore took him as a sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft, 186th overall, then released Justin Tucker in May 2025 and handed Loop the job. On Sunday he beat the club from the other side of the Metroplex with a buzzer-beating 56-yard field goal that snuck inside the left post.

As a rookie he made 30 of 34 field goals as a rookie and 44 of 46 extra points, an 88.2 percent clip, but he was 1 of 4 from 50-plus. In Week 18 of 2025 he pushed a 44-yard try wide right against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a miss that kept Baltimore out of the playoffs. Teammates swarmed him under the Maracana lights after this one.

LOOP’S KICKING LINE

• Sunday in Rio: He made both field goals, from 27 and 56, and all four extra points for 10 points.
• 2026 through Week 3: He is 5 of 6 on field goals and 11 of 11 on extra points, with a long of 57.
• From 50-plus this year: He is 2 of 2 after the walk-off, after going 1 of 4 from that range as a rookie.

The 56-yarder was a 38-yard-line attempt, the standard 18 yards of end zone and holder depth. Loop is 25. He is no longer the anonymous name on Tucker’s old job.

How the Cowboys Reached a Tie

Dallas jumped out 10-0 on Aubrey’s 28-yard field goal and a 2-yard Javonte Williams run, after Roquan Smith had sacked Prescott at the 1 on the first trip inside the red zone. Derrick Henry answered with 4-yard and 3-yard scores, Loop added a 27-yard field goal, and Baltimore took a 17-13 lead into halftime after scoring 17 straight.

Keondre Jackson blocked Aubrey from 59 yards in the third quarter, and four plays later Jackson found Chris Moore for a 4-yard touchdown and a 24-13 lead at 3:44. Prescott hit Jake Ferguson from 19 yards and found Lamb for the 2-point throw, cutting it to 24-21. Henry then had first-and-goal at the 3 and was stopped three times inside the 5, with rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham dropping him for a loss on fourth-and-inches.

That stop flipped the game. Prescott drove 96 yards, including a 49-yard strike to Lamb, and KaVontae Turpin ran 9 yards for a 28-24 lead at 9:42. Jackson answered with an 11-play, 64-yard march and a 2-yard toss to rookie tight end Matt Hibner at 1:30. Prescott still had time, and the Wiggins penalty put Dallas at the 2 before the false start and the chip-shot tie.

SUNDAY’S SCORING

Dallas outgained Baltimore 415 yards to 378 and held the ball 30:38 to 29:22. Williams ran 19 times for 98 yards. Lamb had 7 catches for 112 yards. Pickens added 7 for 82. The Cowboys lost Ferguson’s shovel-pass fumble and never forced a Ravens turnover. Baltimore is 2-1. Dallas is 1-2.

Ninth on the Rushing List After 89 Yards

Henry carried 26 times for 89 yards and those two short touchdowns, with a long of 29. A 5-yard run early in the second quarter moved him past Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, who finished with 13,259 yards, and into ninth place on the career rushing list. Henry entered 2026 with 13,018 yards and has 301 on 66 carries with 6 rushing touchdowns through three games, which puts him at 13,319.

THE NAMES HENRY STILL HAS TO CATCH

Bettis is 343 yards ahead. Tomlinson is 365 ahead. Martin is 782 ahead. Henry is 32, a five-time Pro Bowl back still on a 100-yard pace, and the Cowboys spent a lot of Sunday stacking the box to keep him there. They did that work and still left Loop a 56-yarder.

Maracana Finally Gets an NFL Finish

This was the NFL’s third regular-season game in Brazil and the first in Rio de Janeiro. The two earlier games were at NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo, where the 2024 Eagles-Packers opener drew complaints about slipping and forced players to change cleats. The league stitched synthetic fibers into the Maracana grass, field director Nick Pappas said Saturday that the surface met league and union standards, and on Sunday the turf held up through a 65-point game.

The league has said Brazil has more than 36 million NFL fans and has committed to at least three regular-season games in Rio over five years, starting with this one. Commissioner Roger Goodell called Rio one of the world’s most iconic cities and said the league wants to deepen its ties across South America. The 72,792 who showed up nearly filled a stadium listed at 78,838.

THE NFL’S THREE GAMES IN BRAZIL

1. September 6, 2024: Philadelphia 34, Green Bay 29 at NeoQuimica Arena before 47,236, the league’s South America debut, with players changing cleats on a slick hybrid surface.
2. September 5, 2025: Los Angeles Chargers 27, Kansas City 21 at the same stadium before 47,627 after a turf rebuild.
3. September 27, 2026: Baltimore 34, Dallas 31 at Maracana before 72,792, the first NFL game in Rio and the first walk-off field goal the Brazil series has had.

Mark Andrews left with a hand injury in the first half and returned. Dallas lost safety Jalen Thompson to a hamstring injury in the second quarter; safety Markquese Bell left with dehydration in the third and came back. Baltimore hosts the Tennessee Titans next Sunday. Dallas goes to the Houston Texans.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did the Ravens win with only 7 seconds left?

After Aubrey’s tying kick, Dallas kicked off for a touchback, so Jackson started at his 35 with the full 7 seconds still on the clock. He needed about 26 yards to reach Loop’s range, because Loop’s long this season is 57 yards, and the 27-yard catch put the ball at the Dallas 38 for a 56-yard try. The clock looked spent when Flowers went down, and officials restored 1 second once they granted Jackson’s timeout.

Who is Tyler Loop, the Ravens kicker?

Steven Tyler Loop, born August 4, 2001, kicked four seasons at Arizona after starting there as a punter, made a program-record 62-yard field goal in 2024, and was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist. He was named Baltimore’s kicker in August 2025 after going 5 of 6 on field goals in a preseason game against these same Cowboys, the tryout that closed out Tucker’s 13-year run in Baltimore.

Was Sunday the first NFL game in Brazil?

No. It was the third, and the first in Rio. Maracana lists 78,838 seats after the 2014 World Cup rebuild, down from a historic capacity above 150,000, and Sunday’s 72,792 was the largest crowd of this Brazil series by more than 25,000. Flamengo’s 73,244 for a 2025 Brazilian title match remains the largest club crowd at the new Maracana.

Where does Derrick Henry rank on the all-time rushing list?

He is ninth at 13,319 yards after Sunday. The next names are Bettis at 13,662, Tomlinson at 13,684, and Martin at 14,101, so he is 343 yards from eighth. He also has 6 rushing touchdowns in three games this season, after 16 in each of the past two years in Baltimore.

Loop stood on the Maracana grass with teammates climbing him after a kick that started with a Dallas touchback. Seven seconds had been enough.