Last week against Buffalo, the Baltimore Ravens did the right thing analytically, and lost. Sunday night, against Cincinnati, they did the wrong thing, and were close to losing again.
It helps that the Ravens have the most accurate placekicker in NFL history on the sideline.
How good? With Justin Tucker’s 73rd consecutive successful fourth-quarter field goal, Baltimore edged the Bengals, 19-17, at M&T Bank Stadium.
The dramatic win sent Baltimore to bed leading the AFC North with a 3-2 record.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, with 9:46 left on the clock, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, up three, at 13-10, with fourth-and-inches from the Cincinnati 3, again was faced with the analytical data decision sent down from high above the playing field.
Last week, Harbaugh, in a tie game in the fourth quarter, decided to go for it, and a fourth-down pass from Lamar Jackson went incomplete, and Buffalo drove the field to set up a game-winning field goal on the game’s final play.
Harbaugh, Sunday night, elected to leave the offense on the field to try to draw the Bengals offside, and when that didn’t work and Baltimore had to take a delay-of-game penalty, he turned it over to Tucker, who booted the 25-yard FG to make it 16-10 Baltimore with 9:45 remaining.
Cincinnati marched down the field methodically on the next series to score on a Joe Burrow 1-yard TD run that gave the Bengals the lead at 17-16 with 1:59 left, but the Ravens still had all three timeouts and basically two minutes of game clock to work with.
Baltimore answered with a game-winning drive of their own, thanks to some remarkable scrambling from Jackson, who passed for 174 yards and a TD and added 58 yards on the ground, and got a 43-yard field goal from Tucker with no time left.
As the ball went through the uprights, you could feel the sigh of relief throughout M&T Bank Stadium, from fans and players, at the end of a five-game home losing streak dating back to last season.
This was not one of Jackson’s best games. He missed open receivers on two potential touchdown throws, overthrowing them each time. Looking indecisive at times, Jackson made the plays when it mattered most. His dazzling 19-yard run on the final drive set up the game-winning field goal.
For Baltimore, it’s never easy this season. Seemingly, the Ravens play up or down to their opponent. Tonight, the defense stepped up and held Burrow and the Bengals to a mere 291 total yards, but couldn’t get a fourth quarter stop.
Tonight was a bit different, the Ravens got the opportunity to use their biggest weapons – Jackson and Tucker – on the final drive, and neither disappointed.
The defense showed improvement overall, and the offense will throttle if Jackson is upright, behind center.
It was a huge win on a day when every other AFC North team lost.
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