Baltimore vs. Cincinnati
Ravens Fall to Bengals in Wild Card Playoff Matchup After Record Long Fumble Return for TD
The football world outside of Baltimore wasn’t expecting much from the Ravens and backup quarterback Tyler Huntley in their AFC Wild Card playoff matchup with the AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals.
But the Ravens kept pace with the Bengals far more than they did in a one-sided Week 18 contest seven days ago and were poised to take the lead early in the fourth quarter.
In a 17-17 game, Huntley tried to jump over the pile and reach the ball past the goal line on a 3rd and goal from the 1-yard line. Before the ball could get there, however, linebacker Logan Wilson knocked the ball loose and right into the hands of lineman Sam Hubbard. He took off 98 yards the other way with Mark Andrews giving chase but missing him just before the goal line.
That huge swing made it 24-17, and the Ravens just missed a Hail Mary as time expired to fall by seven points in a game that they outgained the Bengals’ high-powered offense 364-234 in yards.
While it was of course a crushing defeat, head coach John Harbaugh was proud of the way his players competed, coming into the game as over a touchdown underdog.
“Tyler Huntley coming in and playing the way he played coming off the shoulder and the wrist injuries and fighting his way back onto the field and just giving it everything he had and that kind of a performance,” Harbaugh said. “Mark Andrews, coming up and just making play after play in the passing game. [The] offensive line, the way they blocked. J.K. [Dobbins] and Gus [Edwards], the way they ran. Then to the defense, I thought our defense was just all over the field and played great football. So, the key is we didn't win the game; we're disappointed in that, but I've got nothing but admiration for our guys.”
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While there were plenty of positives to take from the game, it will always be remembered for a play that could’ve led to a 24-17 Ravens lead and instead saw the score flip to the Bengals taking the lead by that margin.
Huntley (17-of-29 for 226 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) played just as well as Joe Burrow (23-of-32 for 209 yards, 1 TD), but in the end, he will try to learn a lesson from the one play that didn’t go as planned.
"It's going to be hard, because we've got [the] offseason now. I'm going to be thinking about that the whole offseason – just how one play, they won the game,” Huntley said. “It's going to be hard, but I think that's going to motivate me to grind hard, work hard and be ready for next year."
The Ravens led 10-9 at halftime and ended the third quarter tied at 17 before the fateful play. Mark Andrews had five catches for 73 yards to lead the team in both categories. Demarcus Robinson and J.K. Dobbins had touchdown receptions, and Dobbins, Huntley, and Gus Edwards combined for 155 yards on the ground.
“I feel like we controlled this game from start to finish, and it just didn't turn our way,” Andrews said following the game. “We know the type of team that we have, the type of guys that we have, and that's tough, but I'm proud of the guys, proud of the way we fought, and I'm proud of the way the offense battled. This was probably one of our better games."
It was the second year in a row that a promising start to the season ended with Jackson on the sidelines. In 2021, Baltimore went 0-5 down the stretch without Jackson after an 8-4 start. This year, the team was also 8-4 after Jackson got hurt in a Week 13 game vs. Denver. After beating Pittsburgh the following week, Baltimore dropped three of its final four regular season games before Sunday’s playoff loss. In nearly seven full games without Jackson, Baltimore failed to score more than 17 points in a game.
GAME RECAP
Upon winning the coin toss and electing to receive, Cincinnati drove right to the doorstep of the red zone before the Ravens defense stood tall, keeping the Bengals to just a 39-yard field goal by Evan McPherson to open the scoring at 3-0. Huntley’s first drive ended in an interception that gave Cincy the ball at midfield. Burrow completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to JaMarr Chase on the first play of the second quarter to make it 9-0 after McPherson missed the extra-point attempt.
With momentum firmly on the side of the Bengals, Huntley was able to cool things off with an 18-play drive that took 10 minutes off the game clock. It ended with a 2-yard touchdown toss from Huntley to Dobbins to cut the Bengals’ lead to 9-7.
Kyle Hamilton then forced a fumble on a hit to Hayden Hurst and recovered it himself to put the Ravens back in business. They ended up with a Justin Tucker field goal to take a 10-9 lead at the half.
After opening the second half with a three-and-out, Cincinnati moved down the field efficiently and capped the drive with a Burrow keeper to make it 17-10 Bengals.
It only took three passes, however, for the Ravens to equalize. After a 27-yard completion to Dobbins and a 13-yard gain by Edwards, Huntley connected with Robinson, who put a slick move on cornerback Eli Apple to score and tie the game at 17.
The next Ravens possession ended with the Hubbard 98-yard touchdown, which was the longest fumble return in NFL playoff history. The defense stood up and forced the Bengals to punt on their following two possessions.
That led to the Ravens’ final possession, which started at midfield and got as close as the Bengals’ 17-yard-line before a holding penalty on Kevin Zeitler stalled the momentum with time running out.
The holding penalty set Baltimore back and had one more shot from midfield. Huntley’s Hail Mary did bounce off the pile, but the ball just bounced off the fingertips of James Proche II to fall incomplete and end the game.