Minter Explains How NFL Rule Impacted Ravens' Surprising Win vs. Cowboys amid Controversial Decision

The Baltimore Ravens used some late magic to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 34-31 in Sunday's NFL Rio Game, and head coach Jesse Minter explained how a recent rule change helped them to pull it off.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer after the victory, Minter discussed how the rule that a touchback into the end zone now puts the ball at the 35-yard line gave the Ravens just enough time to get into field-goal range.

"I thought they may just kick it down there, which makes your returner use some time, which then we would have probably kneeled it out and went to overtime," Minter told Breer. "You also risk a return, so I understand the touchback theory. But with the rules, I mean, there's a six-second play, really, to try to get the 20 yards or so needed to get in range. And it's really not a high risk, because they're going to be playing to prevent that. It's not like you're going to be throwing into a ton of traffic. And if it's incomplete, you go to overtime."

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After tying the game at 31-31, the Cowboys kicked the ball into the end zone with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter. While Minter said he normally would need all seven seconds to pull off a play to get into field-goal range, star quarterback Lamar Jackson and wide receiver Zay Flowers were able to connect quickly before Flowers used Baltimore's last timeout with one second left on the clock, setting up Tyler Loop's game-winning 56-yard field goal.

"It's knowing where the line is, knowing that as soon as you catch it, you've got to get down," Minter said. "You can't catch it and feel like you've got space and try to gain a couple more yards because you'll run out of time. So, just a great job by him and Lamar putting the ball where it needed to be for us to be able to execute that."

Minter praised Jackson, Flowers and the rest of his team for having situational awareness and executing efficiently to end the game.

"Really cool," Minter said. "Really cool. … Just great execution by Zay, running the route to perfection, running to the right depth. Lamar, obviously, making a great throw on time, which is super important. And a major shout-out to our game management crew—we've repped those situations a lot, and you wait for them to come up, and it comes up, and the guys are ready to do it."