Happy homecomings for QB Cooper Rush, rookie K Tyler Loop in Ravens' 31-13 win over Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Cooper Rush threw a touchdown pass and a pick-6 in his return to AT&T Stadium, and rookie Tyler Loop kicked five field goals as the Baltimore Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys 31-13 in a preseason game on Saturday night.

D’Ernest Johnson ran for a 2-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for the Ravens (2-0).

Loop, who played for Lovejoy High in the North Texas town of Lucas before starring at Arizona, connected from 53, 52, 42, 36 and 29 yards while missing from 50. Coach John Harbaugh told reporters afterward that Loop would be the Ravens' kicker to start the regular season.

The sixth-round draft pick replaces Justin Tucker, who was released in the offseason after he was accused of inappropriate behavior by massage therapists.

“He’s earned it,” Harbaugh said of Loop. “I just appreciate the fact he wants to make ’em all.”

“Got to still earn it every day,” said Loop, who said he had about 30 relatives and friends in attendance.

Cornerback Andrew Booth picked off Rush and returned it 40 yards for a TD, and Brandon Aubrey kicked field goals of 47 and 36 yards for the Cowboys (0-2).

Rush, who spent the previous seven seasons as Dak Prescott’s Dallas backup before signing as a free agent with Baltimore, flipped a 1-yard TD pass while backpedaling to Keith Kirkwood on a fourth-down play early in the second quarter. Rush played the first half, going 20 of 30 for 198 yards with two interceptions.

“Cooper coming back, playing against his old team, and winning and playing great football,” Harbaugh said. “He’s been playing like this all camp.”

Rush beating the Cowboys appeared to be more significant to Harbaugh than to Rush, who said it didn’t mean more than wins against other teams.

“No, but it was cool just to be back,” said Rush, who started eight games last season when Prescott was sidelined with a torn hamstring but was held out of the season finale, costing him a $250,000 bonus because he fell just short of playing 55% of the season’s offensive snaps. “It was cool to be back, see a lot of old teammates.”

Rush’s first pick was a throw behind receiver LaJohntay Wester. Booth grabbed it and raced down the left sideline, avoiding tacklers during the final 10 yards.

Joe Milton, looking to assume Rush’s role with the Cowboys this season, was 9 of 18 for 122 yards and one interception while playing 3 1/2 quarters. He connected with Jonathan Mingo for 49 yards to set up Aubrey’s first field goal.

Milton was intercepted immediately after a pick by Dallas’ Kemon Hall that deflected off the hands of running back Rasheen Ali. Milton’s heave from midfield into the end zone was picked off by safety Reuben Lowrey.

“It was not an easy catch,” Harbaugh said of Lowrey’s pick.

Neither Prescott nor Ravens starting quarterback Lamar Jackson was in uniform. Prescott received a few seconds of screen time on the stadium’s enormous videoboard, urging the fans to make noise before the fourth-down Baltimore play that resulted in Rush’s TD pass.

The Ravens outgained the Cowboys 273 yards to 31 in building an 18-7 halftime lead. They ran 50 plays to the Cowboys’ 19 during the first half and totaled 16 first-half first downs to the Cowboys’ two.

Keyon Martin gave the Ravens a 2-0 lead by sacking Milton in the end zone on the Cowboys’ third offensive play on third-and-13 from the 3-yard line.

Right guard Tyler Booker, Dallas’ first-round draft choice, made his preseason debut. He started and played into the third quarter.

Mingo, who led Dallas in receiving yards with the one 49-yard catch, left in the third quarter with a knee injury but walked into the locker room after the game.

First-year Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer sought a better start after last week’s first quarter against the Los Angeles Rams resulted in six offensive plays gaining 1 yard. Dallas’ first-half possessions Saturday resulted in two punts, an interception, a turnover on downs and a safety.

The Cowboys’ leading rusher was Miles Sanders with 15 yards.

“We’re not pushing the panic button,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re pushing the work button.”

Milton was 2 for 8 for 14 yards and the interception during the first half.

“It wasn’t just Joe,” Schottenheimer said. “We didn’t get in a rhythm.”

Third-stringer Will Grier was 1 for 5 for 33 yards.

As for naming a No. 2 to Prescott, Schottenheimer said, “I feel like I don’t have to decide anything today.”

Ravens: At Washington next Saturday.

Cowboys: Host Atlanta on Friday.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Dallas Cowboys' Luke Schoonmaker (86), Dak Prescott (4) and Jake Ferguson (87) watch play against the Baltimore Ravens in the first half of a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Andrew Booth intercepts a Baltimore Ravens pass and returns it for a touchdown in the half of a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard Rodriguez)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton III is sacked for a safety as Baltimore Ravens' Mike Green, Aeneas Peebles and C.J. Ravenell (91) look on in the first half of a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Baltimore Ravens place kicker Tyler Loop (33) kicks a field goal in the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Cooper Rush (15) throws a pass under pressure from the Dallas Cowboys defense in the first half of a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.

The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)