Unsung heroes from the Ravens’ Week 3 win over the Cowboys

The Ravens received impressive performances from several unheralded players in their first win of the 2024 season.

In Week 3, the Baltimore Ravens finally notched their first win of the season in which they held on late to beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-25 on the road. It kept the Ravens from falling into a gapping 0-3 hole to open the year, improved their record to 1-2 and only has them two games back in the AFC North standings behind the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers.

In a game where they were slightly favored to win, the Ravens looked like they would run away with it at one point before the Cowboys mounted a furious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. However, they secured the victory thanks to some underrated yet impactful performances from a handful of well-known starters and several of their less-heralded players making plays on both sides of the ball.

This article highlights the players whose performances flew under the radar but were still clutch — the unsung heroes.

---

Offensive line

Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

Following an offseason of doubt and skepticism that flowed into weeks of harsh but fair criticism for their poor performance as a collective although the right side shouldered and deserved most of the blame, the Ravens revamped blocking unit had its best game of the season in Week 3. They dominated a talented Cowboys front that is bookended by a pair of multi-time Pro Bowl edge rushers—Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence—to the tune of 456 yards of total offense including a season-high 274 rushing with an average of 6.1 yards per attempt and didn’t give up a single sack for the first time this season.

One player who drew the most ire from fans and national media pundits was third-year pro Daniel Faalele who is in his first year as a full-time starter at right guard after being a career tackle before this year’s training camp when the team decided to experiment with him playing along the interior. The 2022 fourth-rounder showed tremendous improvement and growth in every aspect of his game from picking up stunts in pass protection to getting on his horse on pulls in the run game.

“[Daniel Faalale]’s a young player. He’s growing,” head coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “He just had a little more sense of understanding of what it was going to take. He wasn’t playing tentative – maybe he played a little tentative maybe early on, if you want to dig into psychology – but he played with more aggressiveness. He came off the ball; he moved people; he knocked people off the ball; he was up on linebackers; he cut people off. He knocked down blocks down across; he knocked tackles across the center sometimes. Some things that made those runs really go – he was a big part of that along with the other guys. That was good, and yet, there were other things that he didn’t do as well, and he knows that he can keep getting better at. Again, Daniel came a long way in that game.”

FB Patrick Ricard

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

The four-time Pro Bowler is effectively a sixth offensive lineman for the Ravens whenever he is on the field and was deployed as such early and often in this game. Ricard played a season-high 32 offensive snaps which was 51 percent of the team’s total and he did a great job helping open up holes and creases for Derrick Henry to hit on his big day including on his first touchdown.

TE Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely

While the Ravens’ top two tight ends combined for just one catch for four yards on two targets, they still managed to have a profound impact on the outcome of this game with how well they blocked in the run game on the perimeter. Andrews was great on the end of the line and Likely was tremendous coming across the formation as a lead blocker on many of Lamar Jackson’s runs including on his nine-yard touchdown for the first points of the game.

“The perimeter blocking was OK the first two weeks, [but] it was outstanding in [yesterday’s] gam,” Harbaugh said. “Mark Andrews might have had three [or] four pancakes. Isaiah Likely – he was out there reaching guys.”

DT Michael Pierce

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Most of the talk of how dominant the interior of the Ravens defensive line has centered around 2023 Pro Bowler Nnamdi Madubuike and third-year pro Travis Jones who is off to a great start to his breakout campaign. However, Pierce has been just as integral to the Ravens’ ability to stuff the run and collapse the pocket from up the middle and proved it against the Cowboys once again. He recorded a pair of tackles including a solo, a quarterback hit and a pass deflection that was nearly a forced fumble after he hit the arm of Dak Prescott as he was throwing the ball. Pierce finished as the Ravens highest graded interior defensive lineman according to PFF with an overall of 73.6.

DB Ar’Darius Washington

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

The fourth-year pro saw a huge uptick in his playing time on defense in this game with a season-high 34 snaps and made the most of them by making some very impactful plays. He made a pair of solo tackles and two pass breakups that included a one-on-one rep against Ceedee Lamb and another on a two-point conversion attempt. While he gave up a late touchdown to his former college teammate KaVontae Turpin after slipping in the back of the end zone, he also nearly had an interception on a fourth and long underthrow early in the fourth quarter but was yanked to the ground by Brandon Cooks who was called for offensive pass interference on top of the play resulting in a turn over on downs.

P Jordan Stout

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

After his final punt of the Ravens’ Week 2 game helped set up the Las Vegas Raiders to complete their stunning comeback because he shanked it, the third-year pro didn’t waste any time bouncing back with a stellar performance in a vindicating win over the Cowboys. Three of his four punts landed or were downed inside the Dallas 20-yard line and twice inside the 10. His first attempt was his longest and he backed the Cowboys all the way back to their seven-yard line where they would have a swift three-and-out and nearly gave up a safety.