The Cowboys and Ravens are headed to Brazil with identical records, but the journey to their 1-1\u00a0records has been\u00a0rather different.<\/p>\n
While Dallas picked up a much-needed win after losing its opener, the Ravens missed\u00a0a chance to improve to 2-0\u00a0by falling to the Saints\u00a0after\u00a0a second-half collapse.<\/p>\n
Now, they head to Rio de Janeiro for a critical Week 3 matchup. Both teams have some key injuries to overcome but will bring two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL as Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott square off at the historic Marcana Stadium.<\/p>\n
Here are 10 key storylines for the game, with five each for the Cowboys and Ravens.<\/p>\n
Ravens<\/p>\n
Week 2 setback\u00a0\u2013 After dominating their opponents in the preseason, then carrying\u00a0that\u00a0momentum\u00a0into\u00a0the regular season with a blowout over the Colts in Week 1, the Ravens\u00a0suffered\u00a0a major setback last week, losing a second-half lead to the Saints, who stunned Baltimore with a 24-17 win. It was the first loss for new head coach Jesse Minter, who\u00a0took\u00a0over for longtime coach John Harbaugh, who is now with the Giants. Minter and the staff\u00a0are\u00a0facing controversy for not protecting a second-half lead, something that has become\u00a0a trend for the Ravens\u00a0in recent years.<\/p>\n
More touches for Henry\u00a0\u2013 While the Ravens’ fan base is frustrated by Derrick Henry\u00a0getting only\u00a0five carries in the second half of last week’s loss, it’s not that Baltimore has\u00a0forgotten\u00a0about him. Henry is among only three backs in the NFL with\u00a0more than\u00a0200 yards, as he ranks third with 212 and is fifth in the league in attempts with 40. Henry has faced the Cowboys twice in his career, once with the Titans and once with Baltimore. He’s rushed for 178 yards, and his\u00a05.74-yard\u00a0average is the fourth-highest in his career against one team.<\/p>\n
Dual-threat Lamar\u00a0\u2013 While he’s always mentioned as one of, if not the very best, running\u00a0quarterbacks\u00a0of all time, Lamar Jackson seems to be rather underrated as a passer. His 102.2 career QB rating is No. 1 in league history, and this year, he’s fifth in the NFL in passing yards with 559. His 10.0 average per attempt currently ranks No. 1 in the league. Add that to his rushing ability,\u00a0with 74 yards in two games this year, and Jackson (2-0 vs. Dallas) once again should be the Cowboys’ top focus as they try to beat him for the first time.<\/p>\n
Injuries to Flowers & Stanley\u00a0\u2013 Two prominent Ravens offensive players have dealt with nagging injuries so far this year. Zay Flowers\u00a0reaggravated\u00a0a hamstring injury in Week 1 and missed last week’s game against the Saints. Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley had to leave the game Sunday with a toe injury. Both players have a chance to return this week in Brazil, but that decision could\u00a0come closer to kickoff.<\/p>\n
Heading to Rio\u00a0\u2013 The Ravens will make just their third trip for an international game in franchise history, with\u00a0both previous appearances coming\u00a0in London. However, Baltimore’s roster might have a little more\u00a0international-game\u00a0experience than the Cowboys, having last played overseas in 2023, whereas it’s been 12 years for Dallas. Still, this trip to Brazil will be unlike any other with the long flight to South America, plus the expected field issues that could\u00a0make for\u00a0tough sledding for both teams.<\/p>\n
Cowboys<\/p>\n
Collecting the must win\u00a0\u2013 Yes, the season is still very early, but the Cowboys were already 0-1\u00a0after\u00a0a disappointing showing in Week 1 and couldn’t afford\u00a0another\u00a0NFC East loss. So the way they put things together in the second half to pull away from Washington and secure the 37-20 win was encouraging. It didn’t matter\u00a0as much that\u00a0the defense gave up more yards to the Commanders, despite\u00a0Washington\u00a0playing two quarterbacks. The Cowboys needed a win in the worst way, and going to Brazil with an 0-2 record would’ve been demoralizing.<\/p>\n
Secondary issues\u00a0\u2013 The Cowboys are getting their share of injuries, especially at the same position, which is creating quite a dilemma in the secondary. Not only did Malik Hooker (forearm) suffer an injury that has sidelined him for a couple of games, but now safety P.J. Locke (foot) and Cobie Durant (hamstring) have injuries that will likely keep them out for this game as well. It’s setting up a\u00a0good-news\/bad-news\u00a0situation for the Cowboys because while it doesn’t appear\u00a0that\u00a0Hooker, Locke or Durant\u00a0will need\u00a0to go to IR, the team is now scrambling to fill those\u00a0spots\u00a0during the game with\u00a0backups and\/or players from\u00a0the practice squad. A good candidate to be elevated this week from the practice squad is Reddy Steward, who has experience at safety and slot corner.<\/p>\n
Record-setting QB\u00a0\u2013 What a moment it was on Sunday for Dak Prescott, who became the Cowboys’ all-time leader in passing touchdowns, surpassing Tony Romo (248). Dak is now the Cowboys’ leader in passing yards, completion percentage, attempts, completions, passer rating and touchdowns. The only regular-season stat\u00a0in which\u00a0Dak doesn’t rank first is\u00a0QB wins\u00a0as a starter. Prescott is currently third with 84, needing one to tie Roger Staubach at 85. The leader is Troy Aikman with 94. More than anything, Dak had a four-TD game to\u00a0get the Cowboys’ offense\u00a0back on track, something that is critical this season as the defense continues to learn and grow under new DC Christian Parker.<\/p>\n
Defensive improvement, but \u2026\u00a0\u2013 Yes, there\u00a0were\u00a0some signs of growth on Sunday against Washington. But had Commanders QB Jayden Daniels not been injured before halftime, who knows how the second half would’ve gone. Still, Dallas stepped up and made some plays, including a critical forced fumble by rookie Jaishawn Barham, which led to the Cowboys scoring\u00a0and opening up\u00a0the game. But stopping the run has been a problem\u00a0through\u00a0the first two games, as Dallas is giving up 173.5 rushing yards per game. And it doesn’t help that Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson are waiting for them in Brazil here in Week 3.<\/p>\n
Where’s the run game?\u00a0\u2013 Not sure\u00a0what\u00a0is more staggering:\u00a0allowing\u00a0173.5 rushing yards per game or averaging only 67.5 rushing yards on offense. Either way, the Cowboys have just as much of a problem running the ball as they do stopping it. At least for the offense, there is a potential fix in sight with Tyler Smith (thumb) expected to return from IR soon, perhaps as early as Week 5. But until then, the offensive line must figure out ways to open holes for Javonte Williams and the running game. Brian Schottenheimer\u00a0acknowledged\u00a0the run-game issues so far this year but pointed out\u00a0that\u00a0the game plan was to throw the ball\u00a0more\u00a0on Sunday and attack Washington\u00a0through\u00a0the air, which they did for 266 yards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cowboys and Ravens are headed to Brazil with identical records, but the journey to their 1-1\u00a0records has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,153265,1090,4033,3487],"class_list":["post-444902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-featured-balvsdal-2026","tag-news-all-news","tag-news-big-picture","tag-news-nick-eatman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}