TWICE AS RICE: The Ravens’ Ray Rice celebrates one of his two touchdown runs in yesterday’s 31-29 triumph over the Cowboys in Baltimore. Dallas’ Dan Bailey missed a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds. (
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BALTIMORE — Eight yards deep in the end zone when he caught the kickoff, Jacoby Jones had an instant to decide: take a knee or run.
He ran — all the way into the record book.
“You know when you get that itch? I wanted to scratch it,” Jones said. “So I took it.”
Jones tied an NFL record with a 108-yard kickoff return, and the Ravens held off the Cowboys 31-29 yesterday for their 14th straight regular-season home win.
The Cowboys amassed 481 yards against a crippled Baltimore defense and held the ball for more than 40 minutes. Dallas totaled 227 yards rushing, the most against the Ravens since the franchise arrived in Baltimore in 1996.
It wasn’t enough. Jones’ return put the Ravens (5-1) ahead 24-13 in the third quarter, and Dallas (2-3) never got even against a defense that lost cornerbacks Lardarius Webb (right knee) and Jimmy Smith (lower leg strain), along with middle linebacker Ray Lewis (right triceps tear).
Webb could have an ACL tear, coach John Harbaugh said.
Lewis will undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of his injury. A Fox Sports report said Lewis may be done for the season.
“They threw a lot of haymakers at us,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys stepped up at the end and found a way to win the game.”
After Dez Bryant scored on a 4-yard pass from Tony Romo with 32 seconds left to make it 31-29, the 2-point conversion pass zipped through the arms of the diving Bryant in the front left corner of the end zone.
Dallas recovered the onside kick, but Dan Bailey was wide left on a 51-yard field goal try with :06 remaining.
“I felt we fought really hard and well through a lot of different adversities in all three phases,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “[The Ravens] have been awfully good for a while. This team’s been awfully good in this place for a while. We gave them everything they could handle.”
Ray Rice scored two touchdowns and Joe Flacco threw for a score to help the Ravens secure their fourth consecutive victory and enhance their grip on first place in the AFC North. Baltimore’s home winning streak is the longest current run in the NFL.
Jones’ return tied the mark set by Ellis Hobbs of New England in 2007 and tied in 2011 by Randall Cobb of Green Bay.
“To set the National Football League record for a kickoff return, in what was the difference in the game, is pretty special,” Harbaugh said.
After Jones’ touchdown, the Cowboys launched an 80-yard march that ate up more than eight minutes. Romo connected with Bryant for 13 yards on a third-and-11 before throwing a 7-yard touchdown pass to Bryant to make it 24-20.
Dallas followed with two strong defensive series, and a short punt by Baltimore preceded a 21-yard drive to a field goal by Bailey.
The Cowboys rallied, but could not complete the comeback.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to finish the game and we have to win the game,” Garrett said. “We didn’t do that.”