The flight from Rio De Janeiro to Dallas takes just over 10 hours, and the Cowboys are probably going to kick themselves the entire time following their wild 34-31 loss to the Ravens. The Cowboys looked like they were going to send the game to overtime after Brandon Aubrey tied things up when he hit a 23-yard field goal with just seven seconds left to play in regulation. After Aubrey's kick, the Cowboys had a decision to make on the ensuing kickoff: They could either kick it through the end zone for a touchback or they could have Aubrey send the kick into the landing zone for a possible return.
Both decisions have their pluses and minuses: The Cowboys decided to kick the touchback, and as soon as that happened, there was a good chance everyone in Buffalo winced at the same time. We all remember the famous "13 seconds" game between the Bills and Chiefs in the 2022 NFL Playoffs. The Bills scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left to play and Sean McDermott called for a touchback on the ensuing kickoff.
After that, Patrick Mahomes ended up using all 13 seconds to get the Chiefs in range for a game-tying field goal and Kansas City would end up winning in overtime. Kicking a touchback now is even worse than it was then. In the playoff game, the Chiefs got the ball at the 25-yard line, so they had to move the ball at least 35 yards to get in field goal range.
After the NFL changed the kickoff rule in 2024, which moved the touchback to the 35-yard line, the Ravens only needed to gain 20 to 25 yards to give Loop a realistic chance, and that's exactly what they did. The Cowboys made the wrong decision. In their situation, you need to burn off as much time as possible, and the Cowboys didn't do that.
At that point, the Ravens knew they had time for one play. After Aubrey kicked the touchback, the Ravens got the ball at the 35-yard line with seven seconds left. After the game, Ravens coach Jesse Minter made it sound like he was thrilled that Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer made the decision to kick the touchback.
"The touchback rule is huge," Minter said. "It's to the 35-yard line. We felt like, one play that could take six seconds, kind of know the time that that route takes and the yards that we needed.
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