Baltimore vs. Cincinatti
Ravens Snap 3-Game Losing Streak With Overtime Win over Cincinnati Despite Bengals’ Hail Mary to Force OT
All that was standing in the way of Baltimore snapping its three-game losing streak and improving to 4-5 instead of a season-crushing 3-6 was stopping Cincinnati on one more play, as they sat 51 yards away from the end zone in a 17-10 game.
Andy Dalton, however, heaved the ball up toward the end zone for the customary Hail Mary play, but the Bengals’ prayers were answered when Ravens defender James Ihedigbo popped the ball up into the air after it bounced off some helmets in a scrum. When the ball landed, it dropped right into the arms of A.J. Green for the tying score, capping a second-half comeback that saw Cincy down 17-0 at halftime.
Fortunately for Baltimore, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis chose to kick the extra point and force overtime, giving the defending Super Bowl champions a chance to respond in the extra session.
And respond they did—after stopping Cincinnati on a 4th and 2 from the Baltimore 33-yard line, the Ravens got into Justin Tucker’s range, and he booted a 46-yard game-winning field goal to snap the three-game losing streak in a 20-17 victory to get to within one game of the Bengals (6-4) in the loss column in the AFC North.
“[Allowing the Hail Mary] is disappointing, but you don’t get disheartened. You still have a chance to win the game,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after the game. “I’m proud of the fact that our guys looked at it that way. It’s not something you have to go walking up and down the bench to make the point of. The guys already know it. We’ve got leadership across the board, and they understood that.”
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Even though he made the gaffe on the Hail Mary, it was an otherwise spectacular game for Ihedigbo, as he led the team with nine total tackles and intercepted Dalton twice for the first picks of his career. Lardarius Webb also had an interception, and Elvis Dumervil recorded three sacks.
“He’s been fighting his whole career for an opportunity like this, and he’s making the most of it,” Harbaugh said about Ihedigbo.
After losing the last three games by a combined 11 points, the Ravens started out strong with a touchdown from Joe Flacco to Dallas Clark just five minutes into the game, and the score was 17-0 in favor of the Ravens with 6:30 remaining before halftime.
Those were the last points, however, until Tucker kicked the game winner more than 40 minutes of game time later. Flacco was 20-of-36 for 140 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions on the day, and the Ravens were held to under 200 yards of total offense.
“It was one of those ones where you go afterwards, ‘Phew, I’m glad we won this one,’” Flacco said in his postgame interview session with the media. “I thought our defense played really well today and gave us some chances to score point and kept them out of the end zone, got turnovers. We've got to look at this and try to catapult ourselves the rest of the way.”
Torrey Smith was the leading receiver with 46 yards and a touchdown. In the running game, Ray Rice had 18 carries for 30 yards and six catches for 26 yards, and Bernard Pierce ran eight times for 31 yards.
While the Ravens will likely need bigger numbers on offense if they want to be defending their championship in January, Rice said that coming away with a win here was a necessary first step.
"Sometimes you have to win by any means necessary," Rice said. "Winning heals a lot. Now we've got to get on a roll to get back where we want to be."
Baltimore also took advantage of a missed field goal by Mike Nugent and several Cincinnati penalties in the first half. In fact, the Bengals had more penalty yards (114) than total offense (102) in the first half.
Baltimore improved to 3-1 on the season at home and is 9-1 in the last 10 November home games at M&T Bank Stadium, dating back to 2008.
GAME RECAP
Baltimore received the opening kickoff but went 3-and-out. On Cincinnati’s first possession, the Ravens defense came up big by stopping Andy Dalton on 4th and 1 from midfield. Flacco went deep to Jacoby Jones on the very next play; it was incomplete, but Reggie Nelson was flagged for defensive pass interference, putting the ball at the Bengals’ 5-yard line. Three plays later, Flacco found Clark from a yard out to give the Ravens a 7-0 lead.
After forcing the Bengals to punt on their next possession, the Ravens used a couple of passes and a personal foul call against Cincinnati to get into field-goal range, and Tucker connected from 36 yards out to make it 10-0 Baltimore.
Nugent missed a 42-yard attempt to keep the score at 10-0. Midway through the second quarter, Ihedigbo picked off a Dalton pass and returned it to the 26-yard-line of the Bengals, and a personal foul on Mohamed Sanu brought the ball to the 11-yard line. After a Rice run for four yards, Flacco found Torrey Smith from four yards out to put the Ravens ahead 17-0, and it would stay that way into the second half.
Nugent kicked a short field goal on Cincinnati’s first drive of the half for the only points in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, Dalton connected with Giovani Bernard for an 18-yard score, cutting the lead to 17-10.
It stayed that way until the Hail Mary to force overtime, and then the Ravens got the big fourth-down stop in the extra session, leading to Tucker’s game-winning kick.
UP NEXT
The Ravens will look to get back to the .500 mark for the first time since Week 6 when they head to Chicago to play the Bears, who are 5-4 after losing at home today to Detroit, 21-19.