That was a lot closer than it really should have been. The Bengals kept their Super Bowl hopes alive as they beat their archfoe Baltimore Ravens 24-17 in a harrowing, nail-biting game that came down to the final play.
Again, another divisional playoff game that was far closer than it should have been on paper. I guess that just shows you can’t predict these types of games.
By all accounts, the Ravens should have been blown out by a Bengals team that not only beat them to the top spot in the division even though they played a game less, but also had an infinitely better quarterback under center. And, even though the game was close, that actually kind of was the reason why the Ravens lost.
Not having Lamar Jackson was the key difference in this game as the Ravens offense looked like a shell of its former self without the former league MVP under center, despite backup QB Tyler Huntley’s good performance. Huntley’s 17/26 completions for 226 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT were great stats in such a high-pressure game by usual standards, but his mistakes in the big moments cost the Ravens a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round.
First, there was the Akeem Davis-Gaither (4 tackles, 1 PD, 1 INT) interception in the first quarter that directly led to the Bengals first TD, then obviously there was the goal line fumble that led to Sam Hubbard’s (4 tackles, 1 QB hit, 1 FR, 1 DEF TD) NFL record-long 98-yard TD return, and finally there was the two huddles with under 1 minute to go in the game that cost them precious seconds.
Sure, there were some good parts to the Ravens offense last night, such as the running game with J.K. Dobbins (13 CAR, 62 yards), Tyler Huntley (9 CAR, 54 yards), and Gus Edwards (12 CAR, 39 yards), but in the end there were too many mental mistakes to overcome. And you can’t win football games that way.
As for the Bengals, Joe Burrow was his usual cool, calm, collected self as he had 23/32 completions for 209 yards and 1 TD, while his ungodly connection to Ja’Marr Chase was fully charged as the receiver led all his counterparts with 9 REC for 84 yards and 1 TD.
The Ravens defense, led by Kyle Hamilton (9 tackles), Roquan Smith (8 tackles), Marcus Peters (4 tackles, 1 PD), Marlon Humphrey (6 tackles), and Jason Pierre-Paul (1 tackle, 0.5 sacks, 1 QB hit), was great in getting in the Bengals skill players’ faces and they kept their team in the game, but they just couldn’t do so for the full 60 minutes. And even though that really shouldn’t have been expected of them, that was unfortunately the only way the Ravens were going to come out of Cincinatti with a win.
As for the final play, that was also a breakdown of what the Ravens had drawn up. Hubbard and Trey Hendrickson blitzed past the Ravens lineman and got right in Huntley’s face on 4th and 20, forcing him to just chuck up the ball into the endzone.
And, funnily enough, the Ravens nearly scored from that play as the ball bounced off 3-4 Bengals defenders’ hands and just fell out of the reach of Ravens WR James Proche’s grasp, ensuing the Bengals faced off against the Bills in a highly anticipated rematch/redo of the Week 17 Damar Hamlin-incident game.
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