Lamar Jackson Electric as Ravens Cruise Past Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys

The Baltimore Ravens earned a much-needed win to snap a three-game losing skid, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 34-17 on Tuesday night at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

The Ravens are still one game back of the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC's final wild-card berth with four weeks left in the regular season.

Dallas, meanwhile, falls two games behind the New York Giants and Washington Football Team in the NFC East. The Giants lead the division by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker over Washington. The Cowboys are also guaranteed to finish with a losing record for the first time since 2015.

Greg Zuerlein put the Cowboys ahead with a 31-yard field goal before Lamar Jackson responded with a 37-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left in the first quarter to help make it a 7-3 game.

Dallas answered back with Michael Gallup's 13-yard touchdown reception inside the first minute of the second quarter. A Jackson touchdown pass and Justin Tucker field goal allowed Baltimore to take a 17-10 halftime lead, and the Ravens didn't look back from there.

Notable Performers

Lamar Jackson, QB, Ravens: 12-of-17, 107 yards, two touchdowns, one interception; 13 carries, 94 yards, one touchdown

J.K. Dobbins, RB, Ravens: 11 carries, 71 yards, one touchdown

Gus Edwards, RB, Ravens: seven carries, 101 yards

Andy Dalton, QB, Cowboys: 31-of-48, 285 yards, two touchdowns, one interception

Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Cowboys: 18 carries, 77 yards; four receptions, 18 yards

Michael Gallup, WR, Cowboys: seven receptions, 86 yards, one touchdown

Jackson Proves Too Elusive in Return

Jackson was absent in Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and he was only activated Monday. The reigning MVP lacked some sharpness, missing badly on a few throws you would have expected him to complete with relative ease.

His 20-yard touchdown toss to Marquise Brown in the third quarter was a notable exception.

Jackson was every bit his usual self as a runner.

It was a nice night to be any member of Baltimore's backfield, really. Head coach John Harbaugh split the workload pretty evenly between Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram II, and all three were effective. Together, the trio went for 8.3 yards per carry.

At some point, Dobbins will be the Ravens' primary ball-carrier, and that will be bad news for opposing teams.

Playing the Cowboys was the perfect tonic to shake Baltimore out of its recent funk. This was an offensive performance reminiscent of the 2019 Ravens that set a single-season record for rushing yards.

Defensive Breakdowns Doom Cowboys

Let this serve as the overarching summary of the Cowboys' 2020 season:

On Tuesday, that largely applied to Dallas' defense. The Ravens had a pretty one-dimensional offense, but it didn't matter as they got whatever they wanted on the ground. The Cowboys knew what was coming and had no answers whatsoever.

They experienced inexplicable mishaps, such as leaving Miles Boykin wide open in the second quarter, as well.

There really isn't much to say about Dallas that hasn't been stated multiple times already. The defense has been a liability all year, and an offense led by Andy Dalton and this version of Ezekiel Elliott isn't good enough to make up the difference.

Elliott didn't perform badly against the Ravens, either, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. But establishing the run isn't very helpful when you can't stop the other team.

You need to put points on the board, too, which is difficult when Zuerlein finishes 1-of-4 on field goals.

What's Next?

Dallas stays in the AFC North as it travels to play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Baltimore has a rivalry game against the Cleveland Browns on the road Monday night at 8:15 p.m. ET.