Record-breaking Ravens ace Jones swoops to stun Cowboys

As the kick-off was dropping into Jacoby Jones’ hands deep in his end zone, every Baltimore Ravens fan in the stadium and Dallas Cowboy on the pitch expected him to take a knee.

But Jones had an inkling that would take him into the record books.

“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 kick-off return, and the Ravens held off the Dallas Cowboys 31-29 on Sunday for their 14th straight regular-season home win.

Never mind that the Cowboys had amassed 481 yards against a crippled Baltimore defence and held the ball for more than 40 minutes. Never mind Dallas totalled 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 ahead 24-13 in the third quarter and Dallas never got even against a defence that lost cornerbacks Lardarius Webb (knee) and Jimmy Smith (leg strain), along with middle linebacker Ray Lewis (triceps). “They threw a lot of haymakers at us,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said.

After Dez Bryant scored on a four-yard pass from Tony Romo with 32 seconds left to make it 31-29, the two-point conversion pass zipped through a diving Bryant’s arms in the end zone. Dallas recovered the onside kick, but Dan Bailey missed a 51-yard field goal with six seconds remaining.

Meanwhile, Jason Hanson kicked a 45-yard field goal in overtime and the Detroit Lions rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to pip the Philadelphia Eagles 26-23.

Washington Redskin sensation Robert Griffin III ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns, including a 76-yard scamper with two minutes and 43 seconds to play as they snapped an eight-game home losing streak against the Minnesota Vikings, 38-26.

There was more bad news for the New England Patriots when they fell 24-23 to the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson found Sidney Rice behind the secondary for a 46-yard touchdown with just over a minute remaining as Seattle rallied for 14 points in the final seven and a half minutes.

Matt Bryant kicked his second game-winning field goal in three weeks, a 55-yarder with one second remaining, as the Atlanta Falcons beat the Oakland Raiders 23-20.

The New York Giants squashed the San Francisco 49ers 26-3. In a one-sided game Antrel Rolle intercepted two passes by Alex Smith and Prince Amukamara picked off another for New York in a rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.

Josh Freeman threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns and Ronde Barber scored on a 78-yard interception return as Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Kansas City Chiefs 38-10.

Rookie Brandon Weeden threw two touchdown passes as Cleveland Browns snapped an 11-game losing streak that dated to last season against the Cincinnati Bengals 34-24.

Tim Tebow made a few big plays but Shonn Greene ran for a career-high 161 yards and three touchdowns as the New York Jets 35 hammered the Indianapolis Colts 9. Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdown passes but Miami Dolphins withstood a late St Louis Rams comeback, 17-14.