Six seconds. That’s all it took for the Baltimore Ravens to destroy any hope the Dallas Cowboys had of winning their first international game in over a decade. We’re talking about a moment late in the game that turned into a horror show for Cowboys Nation.

But behind the 34-31 scoreline was a completely calculated move, one that turned the final result, as Ravens head coach Jesse Minter made abundantly clear. 

“Everybody nowadays with all the game management people throughout the league, like you’re aware of the time constraints on these situations and what you’re able to do,” Minter said in the post-game press conference. “The touchback rule is huge. It’s the 35-yard line. We felt like the same way with their kicker. 

“When they get the ball in the 35, like they’re 15 yards from being in field goal range. We felt like, again, one play that could take six seconds, kind of know the time that that route takes and the yards that we needed. Great execution by our guys and [they] came through.” 

Minter was talking about the build-up to the actual rule coming into effect. After the Cowboys had missed a touchdown opportunity, they went for a field goal, tying the game 31-31. And with seven seconds left, with seven seconds left, all they had to do was punt and run the clock down. 

However, Minter knew something his opponents neglected. You see, the team owners had updated the dynamic touchback rule to move the touchback spot for kicks entering the end zone on the fly or sailing through it up to the 35-yard line. 

Aubrey kicked a touchback for 65 yards, allowing the Ravens to start their final drive at their 35-yard line. The game had already been tough for Aubrey, who had sent two kickoffs out of bounds. And that made the head coach hesitant to ask him for a shorter kickoff in the final seconds. 

“Again, it happens occasionally,” Schottenheimer said. “It can’t happen twice in a game. We don’t expect that from Brandon. We know how talented Brandon is, but like I said, no one coaches or played a perfect game, and because of that, we ended up coming up short to a good football team and a team that played well tonight.”

But with just seven seconds left, Aubrey had played right into Minter’s hands, as the Ravens coach later explained. 

“Honestly, anything less than seven seconds, it would have been really hard to do the play that we did. We may have even just ran the clock out. But [with] seven seconds left, and with the touchback rules, they decided to kick a touchback [and] gave us the ball on the 35 [-yard line]. We really only needed 18-plus yards to get to our end-of-game type of range. And [it was] just an unbelievable play by Lamar [Jackson] and Zay [Flowers], heads up on the time. You practice those moments, and you wait for them to come up, it came up today, and we were ready.” 

Quarterback Lamar Jackson completed a 27-yard deep pass to Zay Flowers and reached Dallas’ 38-yard line for another first down. And Tyler Loop ended the game with a 56-yard field goal. 

Had the Cowboys decided not to let Brandon Aubrey kick the touchback and burned about two more seconds before the field goal, they could have managed to take the game into overtime. It would have been tough for the Ravens to score the goal in just five seconds. 

Schottenheimer initially planned on going for a touchdown to end the game. But he called for a field goal after Dak Prescott recorded four incomplete passes at the end zone in the final minute. The field goal tied the score at 31-31 with just seven seconds remaining on the clock.

“We thought we were going to score a touchdown,” Schottenheimer told the media at the presser after the game. “And we moved the ball really well down there. We’ve got to find a way to punch it in. We’ve got to call some better plays to get it in. And then, of course, when [on] fourth down, we had to take the points. I’m so proud of this team, this group of young men. They laid it all on the line.” 

The play reminded the NFL world of the 13-second game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs managed to secure a 42-36 overtime win with a 13-second drive in 2022. After Sean McDermott called for a touchback, the Chiefs got the ball at the 25-yard line. And Mahomes used the remaining 13 seconds to tie the game with a field goal. That was the turning point for the Chiefs to claim a victory. 

Jesse Minter’s situational awareness turned seven seconds into an instant win. And it happened all because of the NFL’s touchback rule.