The margin for error shrinks in the postseason, and for the Ravens, it came down to about 12 agonizing inches.
That’s how close the Ravens were from taking the lead in the fourth quarter of their wild-card round playoff game at Cincinnati before the ball, the lead, the season, essentially was ripped away.
Facing third-and-goal from the Bengals’ 1-yard line, quarterback Tyler Huntley leaped and tried to extend the ball across the goal line. But inches short, the exposed ball was bumped from Huntley’s hands and landed in the arms of Bengals defensive lineman Sam Hubbard, who raced 98 yards the other way for a shocking touchdown that proved to be the game-winning score as the Bengals outlasted the Ravens, 24-17, on Jan. 15.
The Ravens had a chance to tie the game on their last possession, but Huntley’s pass into the end zone on the game’s final play landed incomplete, with receiver James Proche getting his fingers on the deflected pass.
Playing their sixth straight game without quarterback Lamar Jackson (knee) — and facing the AFC North champion Bengals for the second week in a row — the Ravens gamely battled after falling behind 9-0, but that will be of little comfort after another early playoff exit. The Ravens have won just one playoff game since the 2014 season.
Huntley threw an interception on his second pass but recovered to throw a pair of touchdown passes — marking the first time in seven games the Ravens scored multiple touchdowns in the same game. Huntley finished 17-for-29 for 226 yards, and he ran nine times for 54 yards, but the 1 yard he didn’t get is the one that changed the game.
The Ravens battled to a 10-9 halftime lead with the formula that figured to be their best hope without Jackson: Mount sustained drives on the ground that keep Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on the sideline, and create turnovers when he does get on the field.
The Ravens scored their first points when J.K. Dobbins stretched to the goal line for a 2-yard receiving touchdown, capping a 17-play, 75-yard drive that lasted more than 10 minutes in the second quarter.
They quickly got the ball back after Kyle Hamilton forced and recovered a fumble with a tremendous hit on Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst, and that set up a 22-yard field goal by Justin Tucker. On that drive, Huntley fielded an errant snap that bounced 10 yards behind him, and he not only escaped a huge loss, but he scrambled and found tight end Josh Oliver for a gain of 19.
Huntley’s biggest pass, though, came in the third quarter, when he hit Demarcus Robinson with a 41-yard touchdown after Bengals cornerback Eli Apple was torched by a double-move and a pump-fake by Huntley. That score tied the game at 17, and after a quick three-and-out forced by the defense, the Ravens had all the momentum as the fourth quarter began.
Huntley found an open Mark Andrews (five catches, 73 yards) for 25 yards, and then Huntley kept the ball himself on a 35-yard run to the Bengals’ 2-yard line. But as has been the case throughout the second half of the season for this team, the goal line proved elusive.
On first down, Huntley’s pass in the left flat for Patrick Ricard fell incomplete. Gus Edwards then powered forward on second down to the 1-yard line. On third-and-goal, Huntley kept and leaped for the goal line, and everything changed.
Logan Wilson knocked the ball loose from Huntley’s hands, and it landed in the arms of Hubbard, who went 98 yards the other way. It marked the second huge defensive touchdown against the Ravens past two playoff games; in a loss at Buffalo in the 2020 postseason, Bills cornerback Taron Johnson intercepted Jackson and returned it 101 yards for a score.
Harbaugh said Huntley was supposed to stay low on that play and try to “burrow” into the end zone with blockers shoving him from behind.
“We just didn’t execute it right,” he said.
Huntley said he saw “everybody was packed in. … I just tried to make a play.”
Here ae five quick impressions of the season-ending loss, the third in a row for the Ravens:
1. The Ravens’ complacency on their final drive was befuddling.
To their credit, the Ravens rebounded admirably after the stunning 98-yard fumble return left them trailing 24-17 in the fourth quarter. The game easily could have gotten away from them at that point emotionally, and they refused to let that happen.
The defense got what amounted to three three-and-outs in a row, with one of them coming after a roughing-the-kicker penalty wiped out a punt and gave the Bengals a new set of downs.
After those three stops, the Ravens took over in Bengals territory on the final drive of the game and Took. Their. Sweet. Time. The Ravens huddled up twice in the final two minutes, probably costing at least 25 to 30 seconds as they tried to operate their offense in a four-down, must-score-a-touchdown environment.
The most notable came after J.K. Dobbins caught an 11-yard pass for a first down at the Bengals’ 17-yard line. According to the official play-by-play, about 30 seconds — or nearly half of the remaining game time — elapsed between that play and the next, a first-down incompletion with 34 seconds left.
With timeouts in the bank, the Ravens tried a run to Justice Hill on second down, but a holding penalty by Kevin Zeitler backed up the Ravens 10 yards, and by then time and space were both of the essence. Two plays later, facing fourth-and-20, Huntley’s end-zone heave fell incomplete — though not before James Proche got his fingertips on the deflected ball.
After the game, head coach John Harbaugh explained that the Ravens hoped to use as much time as they could before scoring so the Bengals would not get the ball back in time for a potential game-winning field goal. But his logic has a big flaw: It assumes an efficiency in the red zone by his team that simply hasn’t been there for the past couple of months.
The Ravens had fallen to No. 30 in red-zone offense, and before this game, they had not scored more than one touchdown in a game in six weeks. Nothing this offense had shown in the past two months suggested they had the luxury of timing when they scored. The immediate goal should have been to score, and then worry about the rest later.
2. A healthy J.K. Dobbins is one of this team’s best weapons.
Running back J.K. Dobbins said earlier this week that he wanted to put the team “on my back” for the playoff run, and it looked as if he was ready to do it. Dobbins showed great field awareness as he lunged for the goal line on a 2-yard catch for the Ravens’ first touchdown, and he showed patience and vision as he waited for holes to reveal themselves en route to 62 yards on 13 carries.
He also somehow turned a near sack into a good gain as he caught a pass from Tyler Huntley and tiptoed up the right sideline. In short, the ball is usually moving the right direction when it’s in his hands.
Dobbins, though, was a curious absence near the goal line on the pivotal series that ended with the fumble return touchdown. To be sure, the 240-pound battering ram Gus Edwards, who finished with 39 yards on 12 carries, is always a good option when only a yard is needed, and he was essentially the trail back on Huntley’s sneak, designed to help push his quarterback into the end zone.
But ever since he returned from his procedure to clean up scar tissue earlier this season, Dobbins has increasingly looked like the guy who was on his way to being the Ravens’ No. 1 back before a torn ACL in preseason last year.
Dobbins is, without doubt, one of the team’s top playmakers, and he will tell you he should have the ball in his hands more often. It’s hard to disagree.
3. The Bengals’ wide receiver group should be a model for the Ravens.
The Ravens’ woes at wide receiver this year have been well documented. General manager Eric DeCosta traded away Marquise Brown during the draft and failed to adequately replace him, counting on Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay and a nondescript group of incumbents including Tylan Wallace and James Proche to elevate to key roles.
The Ravens eschewed any receivers in the draft, or in the premium days of free agency, and ended up signing Las Vegas castoff Demarcus Robinson, Arizona castoff Andy Isabella and Green Bay castoff Sammy Watkins to plug into some semblance of a passing game.
The group performed about as could be expected, and Ravens wide receivers proved to be among the least productive in the league.
Across the field tonight, DeCosta and the Ravens saw what a true NFL receiving corps looks like. Ja’Marr Chase is elite, and Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd are steady compliments who would have been far and away the most impressive receivers on the field for the Ravens.
The Ravens cornerbacks played 10 yards off Chase, respecting his ability to burn them deep, but that left him wide open on out routes. Chase finished with nine catches — six in the first 16 minutes — for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Chase was a No. 5 overall pick out of LSU, and the Ravens, to their credit, are rarely if ever going to be selecting players that high. But Higgins and Ravens killer Boyd were second-round picks, and all three showed the Ravens exactly what they are missing.
They are big, physical receivers who create separation, make contested catches and move the chains. That’s precisely what the Ravens receivers don’t do enough. Compared to the Ravens receivers, it looks as if they are playing a different sport.
4. Kyle Hamilton is trending up as his rookie year ends.
First-round draft picks always face a lot of scrutiny, and Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens’ first pick in the 2022 draft, was excoriated early in the year for the defensive breakdowns that were at the heart of early-season losses to Miami and Buffalo.
Throughout the past month or so, though, Hamilton has been a star for the Ravens’ defense, and he delivered one of the game’s biggest plays when he hammered Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst with a thunderous hit, knocking the ball loose and recovering it to set up a Ravens field goal before halftime.
Hamilton was drafted to be a starting safety, but he never quite wrestled that job away from Chuck Clark, who wasn’t about to give it up without a fight (at least after his trade request never materialized).
Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald praised Hamilton’s versatility and said they would work to get him in the best position to succeed, and for the past month, that has been as a slot defender and blitzer off the edge. His combination of speed and length has thrived in this specific rivalry, too; last week, he picked up and body-slammed Bengals receiver Ja’ Marr Chase, eliciting praise from his Ravens teammates.
Yes, there was a learning curve for Hamilton, and the rookie owned his mistakes, but the Ravens have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about Hamilton for 2023 and beyond.
5. The postseason questions begin now.
Back in August, quarterback Lamar Jackson and general manager Eric DeCosta both said they were going to put contract negotiations on the shelf until after the season. Well, the loss to the Bengals means it is officially “after the season” now, and Jackson’s contract status immediately becomes the dominant storyline for this team — and the league — until something is resolved.
Jackson’s absence over the past six weeks — and speculation about whether his contract status played any role — has only complicated the process.
Jackson’s contract is up and he is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March. If the two sides don’t work out an extension, the Ravens are expected to apply the franchise tag to Jackson next month, which would tie up a major amount of cap space but would also give them time to work out a long-term deal, or look to trade him, if that ultimately becomes the goal.
Thus far, the Ravens have reiterated their message that they expect Jackson to be the Ravens franchise quarterback for a long time.
The Ravens have other questions as well that will inform their offseason strategy. Does head coach John Harbaugh still believe embattled offensive coordinator Greg Roman is the right man for the job?
It’s clear they cannot go into the 2023 season with this group of wide receivers and expect any significant jump in production. Even if Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay return at 100 percent, upgrading the position would seem to be an immediate priority.
Cornerback Marcus Peters is a free agent, and if the Ravens let him walk, they need to find at least another cornerback or two, as depth again proved to be a problem this year. The team also must decide whether to try to keep starting guard Ben Powers, an unrestricted free agent, or let him test the market and promote from within, as is often their desire.
Still, it all starts with Jackson and his future. The Ravens didn’t want to be arriving at the offseason quite so soon, but here they are, and it could be tumultuous.
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