Bengals can’t complete comeback, fall 23-17 to Ravens

The Bengals scored a touchdown early in the game, but were unable to do anything else in the game against the Ravens, ending in a 23-17 loss for Cincinnati.

Lamar Jackson produced nearly 400 yards on his own, but the defense still kept the Ravens to only 23 points. The Bengals’ offense, on the other hand, only produced 10 points on 250 yards.

The Bengals got the lead only 12 seconds into the game, thanks to a kick return for a touchdown from Brandon Wilson. Randy Bullock’s extra point went through the uprights, and the Bengals were up 7-0 out of the gate.

The Ravens weren’t far behind, though, as Lamar Jackson gashed the defense on the ground. After a 36-yard run, Jackson finished the job with a 21-yard run and dove into the end zone. With only 11:28 left in the first quarter, the Ravens quickly tied the score 7-7 after the extra point.

On their own first possession, the Bengals went three-and-out, so the Ravens got another shot at the Bengals’ defense. Jackson four for five with 54 yards on the drive and got the ball to he one-yard line. From there, Mark Ingram plowed the ball into the end zone from there, and the Ravens quickly took the lead, 14-7 with 4:01 minutes left in the opening quarter after Justin Tucker’s extra point.

The Ravens tried to score one more touchdown before the quarter came to an end, and came close. Jackson threw a 39-yard pass to Mark Andrews in the closing moments. They didn’t get into the end zone, though, and Tucker made a 40-yard field goal. With that score, Tucker became the fastest kicker in NFL history to reach 1,000 career points.

The Bengals finally showed some offense thanks to some great catches from Auden Tate and a screen to Joe Mixon. But once the Bengals got to the red zone, Dalton’s pass was tipped and intercepted by Marlon Humphrey, who returned it to the Ravens 22-yard line with 2:18 left until halftime.

Seconds later, Jackson completed a pass to Andrews, who looked like he would get a first down. But when he tried to hurdle Brandon Wilson, he coughed up the football and Nick Vigil grabbed it out of the air. Tate logged another two receptions for 29 yards to get the ball to the five-yard line. The Bengals couldn’t score due to aggressive coverage on Alex Erickson, but Randy Bullock converted a field goal from 22 yards out, so the Bengals cut the deficit to 17-10 with 36 seconds left before the two teams went to the locker rooms.

The Bengals were very lucky to only be down by seven at the intermission, considering that the Ravens already had 135 rushing yards. They also had 168 yards of passing offense, compared to the Bengals 140 yards of total offense. If not for Wilson’s opening kick return, the score would have reflected the blowout that was actually happening.

No much happened for the first ten minutes of the second half, but towards the end of the third quarter the Bengals defense started to give way. The defense started to put pressure on Jackson, so they forced another Tucker field goal. The 49-yard field goal was good, and the Ravens were now leading 20-10 as the third quarter came to a close.

From there, the Ravens did what they do best and ran the clock down. Between Jackson, Ingram, and Hill, the Ravens ran the ball for 74 yards and milked almost ten minutes off the clock, which ended up being the longest drive in the NFL in 2019. The 18-play drive resulted in a Tucker field goal from 21-yards out to put the game away at 23-10 with 3:46 to go.

Dalton and the offense made a final push, and aided by penalties the Bengals made it all the way to the five-yard line. Andy Dalton ran the ball from the five, and scored the Bengals first offensive touchdown with 1:28 left in the game. With the extra point, the Bengals were now only trailing 23-17.

Bullock attempted an onside kick, but failed to kick it the required 10 yards. This gave the ball back to the Ravens, and they proceeded to officially run out the clock.

The Bengals dropped to 0-6 on the season, continuing Zac Taylor’s losing streak. The Bengals are heading back to Paul Brown Stadium on October 20th to face Gardner Minshew and the Jaguars.