ARLINGTON, Texas– What a wild game this turned out to be. For three quarters, the Cowboys seemed no match for the Ravens, who built up a 22-point lead.

But the Cowboys rallied, with big plays, an onside kick and improved defense, but it wasn’t enough in the end, as the Ravens won 28-25.

Let’s take a look at seven moves that could have made the difference in this match.

Opening the game – Let’s just do the toss. Not only did the Cowboys win the toss and elect to take the “freakin” ball, according to captain Israel Mukuamu, but they did nothing with it. Taking the ball should have generated an early charge for the Cowboys to take a lead. But it led to a run, and the Ravens marched down the field and scored with ease. To make matters worse, the Ravens did the same thing late in the third quarter, scoring on the first possession of the third quarter.

Tyler Smith’s holding call – The Cowboys had a little momentum heading into the second quarter with a first down at the Ravens’ 9-yard line. But on first-and-goal, Tyler Smith was flagged for holding in the pocket, pushing the ball back to the 19. Always a tough battle to score, the Cowboys did at least get a pass to CeeDee Lamb, but he was stripped of the ball and the Ravens recovered it at the 9. Without the holding call, it’s likely four-down territory to try and cut into the Ravens’ 14-3 lead.

Prescott misses Elliott in the flat – For the second straight game, Dak Prescott missed running back Ezekiel Elliott for a pass to the right sideline. On third-and-7 at the Cowboys’ 34-yard line just before halftime, Prescott threw a throw to Elliott, who couldn’t turn his body to make the catch. That forced the Cowboys to punt to the Ravens, who took the drive to their own 12 and covered 88 yards in eight plays — never on third down — to score and make it 21-3.

Compensation of fines undermines PI – Trailing 21-3 just before halftime, the Cowboys were looking for a field goal. But Prescott went to the endzone for Lamb, who was tackled twice and then tackled for a pass-interference penalty. However, a holding call on Tyler Guyton back by the quarterback negated the PI call as compensatory penalties. Instead of the Cowboys potentially having the ball inside the Ravens’ 5 with six seconds left, they were left for a 51-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey. Down 21-6 at halftime, it could have been 21-10 without that penalty.

Jackson breaks loose for 16 – By this point, the game was nearly out of control. The Ravens started the third quarter on a drive and the Cowboys desperately needed a stop. They got a holding call on Baltimore that pushed the Ravens back to first-and-20 at the Dallas 42, but a 16-yard run by Lamar Jackson got them back in business. That allowed the Ravens to run on second down and Derrick Henry broke a 26-yard touchdown for a 28-6 lead.

Two point decision? – It’s easy to dwell on the past, but when the Cowboys scored their first touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 28-12, Mike McCarthy opted to go for a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 14. At the time, it seemed like an innocent decision. But after the incomplete throw to the end zone, the Cowboys went for the onside kick and recovered it. The offense promptly drove back up the field and scored, then went for two to cut the game to eight points. Another missed try kept the score at 10 points, 28-18. If the Cowboys had simply kicked the extra points, they would have been down 28-20 when they got the ball back, assuming the Ravens had played their offensive possession the same way. Again, it’s easy to doubt it now, but one can’t help but wonder what that scenario would have looked like.

Grabbing flowers with the lateral line – The Cowboys forced a third-and-long and actually let Jackson throw the ball up in the air. But his pass to Zay Flowers was reeled in for a first-down grab with 2:28 to play. If the Cowboys had made that stop, they would have gotten the ball back before the two-minute warning, with a timeout. They would have been in not only a good position to get within field goal range for Aubrey, but maybe even better than that.