The Cincinnati Bengals weren’t going to give Lamar Jackson a chance to beat them in overtime.
After Ja’Marr Chase scored his third touchdown of the game with 38 seconds left in a monster night for him and Joe Burrow, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor didn’t hesitate to call for the 2-point conversion. Jackson was great Thursday night, as he has been all season. The Bengals would take their chance on one play from the 2-yard line instead of whatever would happen in overtime.
It was probably the right decision, but it didn’t work.
Burrow threw incomplete to Tanner Hudson on the two-point attempt and the Ravens held on for a thrilling 35-34 win. That’s two tough losses for the Bengals against the Ravens this season, paired with a 41-38 overtime loss in Week 5.
Burrow was great, Chase was unstoppable, but the Bengals couldn’t close the door on a much-needed win in Baltimore. Burrow was a small step behind Jackson, who threw four touchdowns, including a go-ahead goal, with less than two minutes left, and the Bengals weren’t good enough to outlast the Ravens. That could cost them a playoff spot.
Burrow had 428 yards and three touchdowns, Chase had 264 yards and three touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough. The Bengals are 4-6 on the season after a tough loss in which they led by 14 points in the second half. They can’t blame Burrow or the offense for that. The Ravens have simply been better.
They did everything against the Ravens this season but won.
Big plays in the 2nd half
The first time the Bengals and Ravens met, they combined to score 79 points in arguably the NFL’s best game this season. There was a low-scoring first half on Thursday evening. As it turned out, the offenses only needed a short time to warm up. If the first meeting between the Bengals and Ravens this NFL season wasn’t the game of the year, perhaps Thursday night will take that honor.
Late in the first half the game was tied at 7-7. After an interception was overturned because Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens failed to stay in bounds, Burrow hit Tanner Hudson for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 30 seconds left before halftime.
The second half then turned into a fantastic attacking spectacle, just like the first meeting between the teams.
Chase made a huge play with his acceleration early in the third quarter. He caught a pass from Burrow, turned upfield and flew past the Ravens’ secondary. Baltimore seemed shocked by his explosion. That 67-yard score gave the Bengals a 21-7 lead. It looked like Cincinnati was on its way to a big win, but the Bengals made a big mistake by letting the Ravens back into the game.
Chase Brown had the ball taken out of his hands and the Ravens recovered the fumble. Jackson made the kind of play only he can make as he continued to back away until he was past the 30-yard line, eventually getting around the defense and running the tightrope down the sideline all the way to the 1. That set up a Derrick Henry. landing. Suddenly the Ravens were back in the game, trailing 21-14.
It was a heavyweight fight after that, with each offense packing huge punches.
The game remained tied until late in the 4th
The Bengals defense let it down and it cost them a long touchdown. After a short pass to Tylan Wallace, a fourth-year receiver who had never scored a touchdown from scrimmage in his career, the Bengals defense apparently thought he was out of bounds and let go a bit. Wallace kept running and went all the way down the sideline for an 84-yard score. Justin Tucker surprisingly missed the extra point, but the Ravens had cut Cincinnati’s lead to 21-20.
Cincinnati then had an odd sequence, with Burrow throwing deep on third and second and again on fourth, falling incomplete both times. Cincinnati wishes it had those two decisions back. The Bengals went from having control of the game to seemingly having no idea how to bring it back in. The Ravens then went on a long drive and Mark Andrews caught an 18-yard touchdown on a third-and-9. The two-point conversion gave Baltimore a 28-21 lead. The Bengals had the ball and a 14-point lead, and just over fifteen minutes later they trailed with 5:50 to go.
Burrow knew what he had to do. He threw deep to Chase, who torched the Ravens secondary for a 70-yard touchdown. Chase had 238 yards at that point and the game was tied again.
But the Bengals needed a stop and that’s not easy against Jackson and the Ravens. On all the big plays in the second half, the Ravens’ go-ahead was a series of short gains that set the chains in motion. On third and goal, Jackson completed a touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman for a 5-yard touchdown and a 35-28 lead with 1:49 to go.
Burrow had one more shot, albeit without timeouts. The Bengals converted a fourth-and-10, with Andrei Iosivas barely reaching the first down line. A facemask penalty gave the Bengals an additional 15 yards. Chase caught a long pass and the Ravens were called for roughing the passer on the play. That put the Bengals at the Ravens’ 12-yard line. The Bengals scored on Chase’s touchdown and went for the 2-point conversion, but didn’t get it. The broadcast showed there may have been two missed calls by the Ravens, a defensive hold and a possible passer penalty. Neither was called and the Ravens went on to win.
Cincinnati had a great shot to beat the Ravens, but couldn’t win either game. They could rue both losses over a long offseason.
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