The many Ravens fans who made the trip to Dallas were having a party inside AT&T Stadium – from the loud "O!" cheer during the National Anthem to touchdowns on the Ravens' first two offensive drives.
The party lasted three quarters before it turned into a bad case of déjà vu, as the Cowboys stormed back after being 22 points down.
The Ravens held on for a 28-25 victory, their first of the season. Here's a look at why it went so right, especially on offense, at the start, and why the Ravens faltered down the stretch:
Daniel Faalele got physical. Derrick Henry stayed physical.
The offensive line was in the crosshairs of criticism all last week after Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby handed the Ravens a surprising loss. Nobody took more heat than right guard Daniel Faalele.
Tyler Linderbaum had a great game in Dallas (his best ever, according to Pro Football Focus), but that's really nothing new for the Pro Bowl center. Faalele's showing against the Cowboys, however, was like a different version of the 6-foot-8, 380-pound blocker.
Faalele was the lead blocker on Lamar Jackson's 10-yard run to seal the game. Faalele got enough of linebacker Erik Kendricks to give Jackson room to dive for the first down.
"He played with more aggressiveness," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "He came off the ball; he moved people; he knocked people off the ball; he was up on linebackers; he cut people off."
Derrick Henry's physicality has never been questioned. Henry broke 12 tackles against the Cowboys defense, which has struggled against the run this season. That's the second-most broken tackles any player has recorded in a single game this season. He had 45 rushing yards over expected, per Next Gen Stats.
The Cowboys loaded the box against Baltimore but still paid. Henry had 10 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns when facing eight or more Cowboys defenders in the box. The Ravens had a 70% success rate on such runs.
"All that [blocking] created the space that he needed to be who he is, and he was who he is," Harbaugh said. "He saw some things that not every back sees every time, and once he gets that momentum going, man, he's tough. He's different."
Ravens' tight ends get very involved, just not catching the ball.
For just the third time in his career, Mark Andrews finished a game without a catch. He had only one target. Fellow tight end Isaiah Likely caught just one pass for four yards.
But while the Ravens' two-headed tight end monster didn't do much for their fantasy owners, they had a huge impact on Baltimore winning the real game.
Andrews and Likely were heavily involved in perimeter blocking. They were the 1-2 punch leading the way on Jackson's 9-yard touchdown run for the Ravens' first touchdown.
Andrews pancaked Cowboys four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Demarcus Lawrence and he wasn't the only one. Likely showed once again how much he relishes laying hits on defenders out in space. He kicked out defensive end Micah Parsons on a one-on-one block on one running play.
"The perimeter blocking was OK the first two weeks. It was outstanding in this game," Harbaugh said. "Let me tell you what, Mark Andrews might have had three or four pancakes. Isaiah Likely – he was out there reaching guys. The wide receivers had our best blocking game in a long time."
Zay Flowers' downfield block helped Charlie Kolar rumble for 30 yards on the Ravens' opening touchdown drive. Nelson Agholor's block on a safety in the middle of the field helped spring Henry on his longest run of the game, a 29-yarder that won him the "Angry Runs" award.
"To me, that kind of unselfish play … our guys are really buying into that, and that's something that we have to keep building on," Harbaugh said.
Here's how the Ravens neutralized Parsons.
After Crosby wrecked the game last week, making sure Parsons didn't do the same in Dallas was a top priority for the Ravens offense.
Running the ball 45 times for 274 yards, compared to just 15 passing attempts, helped cut the knees out from the talented pass rusher. The Ravens' game plan for Parsons worked, as Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken often put him in conflict with an assortment of read-pass options, bootlegs, different blockers, and more.
When Baltimore did go to the air, Parsons was a challenge to block. On 16 rushes, he had four pressures, one hit, and three hurries. His 90.7 pass rush grade from PFF was his best grade of the season and fifth-best of any EDGE player in Week 3.
However, the Ravens negated some of his impact with quick throws. Jackson got rid of the ball on average in just 2.60 seconds, down from 2.92 in Week 2 and 3.01 seconds in Week 1. Baltimore also utilized screens to keep Dallas' defensive front off-balance.
Part of getting rid of the ball so quickly is that Jackson didn't attack downfield. His only throw that traveled more than 10 air yards was the 13-yard touchdown to Rashod Bateman (nasty route, by the way). Jackson averaged 3.2 air yards per attempt, the lowest mark of his career.
The next question is whether the Ravens' running and short passing game sets up more downfield shots in future games.
Kyle Van Noy makes history, but Ravens' pressure waned.
Kyle Van Noy notched two sacks in back-to-back games, putting him at the top of the Ravens' early-season sack leaderboard. He's tied for third in the NFL with three other players.
The Ravens sacked Dak Prescott three times and should've had a safety when Nnamdi Madubuike jumped on Prescott's back.
However, Baltimore's pressure waned in the fourth quarter. Looking at Prescott's 13 fourth-quarter completions, the Ravens brought safety blitzes twice, a corner blitz, and a linebacker blitz on their final touchdown. None got to Prescott, and they only got pressure once with a four-man rush.
The Ravens' sack rate this season is 7.8%, which ranks 14th in the NFL. Their pressure rate is 26.7%, which ranks 29th. Having fresh legs to help pressure the quarterback could be part of the reason why General Manager Eric DeCosta added Yannick Ngakoue.
What happened in the secondary in the fourth quarter?
Baltimore's secondary forced Prescott to throw into a tight window on 35.3% of his pass attempts in Week 3, his highest rate since Week 4 in 2018.
But Prescott got very hot in the fourth quarter, going 13-of-13 for 187 yards and two touchdowns.
Pressure was one issue, but the Ravens also gave up too much over the middle as they tried to keep plays in front of them. Prescott found multiple windows underneath Baltimore's over-the-top coverage and over their underneath linebacker or safety.
"The easiest place to complete passes is in the middle of the field," Harbaugh said. "You have to get between the quarterback and the football, and we're not doing a good job of that. It has to stop. We have to put a stop to it."
Prescott also made some high-level throws, including a 26-yarder down the seam to tight end Jake Ferguson on the second-to-last play of the third quarter.
Cornerback Nate Wiggins had trouble with slants throughout the game, including a 24-yarder to Jalen Brooks in the fourth quarter that set up one of the Cowboys' touchdowns. Wiggins was beaten too often at the line of scrimmage, giving up quick inside space. Harbaugh called it a "learning game" for the first-round rookie.
"Some of the leverages he'll learn from. Nate's a competitor," Harbaugh said.
