The Ravens and Bengals traded offensive punches in an epic battle at Paycor Stadium that featured a historic performance by Derrick Henry, a highlight-reel performance by two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, and needed extra time to decide the winner.
The Ravens survived a fumble in overtime by quarterback Lamar Jackson that set up a potential game-winning field goal by Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson, who inexplicably squandered the opportunity because of a botched snap. Derrick Henry then ran for 51 yards and set up a game-winning 23-yard field goal by Justin Tucker for a stunning 41-38 victory.
“I had all the confidence in the world,” Jackson said. “I know who [Justin Tucker] is. I wasn’t worried about what happened earlier in the season, because if you pay attention to the whole unit, it was all of us – we all had mistakes [we] made in the first few games and stuff like that, so it’s the NFL. Sometimes the ‘G.O.A.T.’ may miss, but he came back, and when we needed him, he conquered.”
The Ravens have won three straight games and sent the Bengals to 1-4 on the season.
After Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Jackson marched their teams up and down the field in a thrilling second half, Marlon Humphrey made a play the Ravens needed with an interception with just over two minutes remaining. After missing three kicks to start the season, Tucker converted a 56-yard field goal with 1:45 left that sent the game into overtime.
The Ravens were driving in overtime but Jackson could not handle a snap by Tyler Linderbaum and the Bengals recovered the ball on the Ravens’ 38. Cincinnati was content to run three short plays for McPherson, who had converted nine of 10 field-goal attempts this season.
“The whole second half, we were like, ‘D [defense], just get us one stop, baby,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “Get us one stop.’ They got us our stop, and we have the greatest kicker [Justin Tucker] in the game to put it in and tie it up. [The fumble in overtime] can’t happen. We can’t be putting the ball on the ground and putting ourselves in that situation. That’s on me just being better at clock management and giving it a better snap. At the end of the day, I’m happy it happened, and we’re going to learn from it. We got the win. [This] is just a resilient group.”
Henry had the biggest run of the game and became the fifth player in NFL history with at least 10,000 yards rushing and 100 scrimmage touchdowns in his first 125 games. He also became the first Ravens player to record at least one rushing touchdown in each of the first five games of a season.
Henry finished with 92 yards on 15 carries.
“With this win, it’s big,” Henry said. “What transpired today, it puts us up two [wins over the Bengals] in the division, so we definitely needed this one. This was as important to us as it was for them, but [I’m] just glad we got the victory. With everything that happened, that just shows you the resiliency of this group and of this team, and we’re going to keep on fighting until the end.”
Jackson was sensational in consistently avoiding tackles and making big plays downfield. He was 26-for-42 for 348 yards with four touchdowns.
Burrow was also outstanding and picked the Ravens’ secondary apart. He was 30-for-39 for 392 yards with five touchdowns and a costly interception.
“I think you just have win your one-on-one matchups,” Ravens inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. “I think that’s all across the board. There are 11 players out there, and when those opportunities come, we have to win our matchup, but it’s a lot easier cleaning up after a ‘dub,’ as opposed to losing.”
He threw a 41-yard pass to Ja’Marr chase to the Baltimore 2 on the first drive of the third quarter. After Cincinnati was penalized for delay of game, Burrow threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins and the Bengals led, 24-14.
The Ravens responded when Jackson threw a 55-yard pass to third-string tight Charlie Kolar. Jackson then threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely and the Ravens trailed 24-21 with 6:38 left in the third quarter.
However, the Ravens’ defenders could not stop Burrow, who quickly released the ball and consistently picked up chunks of yards. Burrow threw a 4-yard touchdown to Chase Brown to boost the lead to 31-21 with 14:19 left in the game.
The Ravens’ offense did its part and pulled the team to three points when Jackson threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kolar.
That didn’t faze the Bengals. On the first play of the next drive, Burrow found Chase again for a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown to boost the lead to 38-28 with 8:54 remaining.
Jackson then had a highlight-reel play when he avoided a sack by Sam Hubbard, pushing him away with a stiff arm ,and threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Likely with 5:24 left. It’s a play that defined his brilliance on this day.
Higgins and Chase ran roughshod over the Ravens’ cornerback and safeties. Higgins had nine catches for 83 yards with two touchdowns. Chase had 10 receptions for 193 yards with two touchdowns.
Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers also had a huge game with seven catches for 111 yards. Likely finished with two touchdown receptions.
Henry earned his 10oth touchdown on the Ravens’ first drive on a 1-yard plunge. The Bengals’ offense got into sync on their second drive and tied the game, 7-7, on an 11-yard pass from Burrow to Higgins, who beat Humphrey.
Andrews bounces back: Ravens tight end Mark Andrews had his best game. He caught four of five targets for 55 yards.
Offensive line update: With left guard Andrew Vorhees out for a second straight game with a knee injury, the Ravens used the same offensive line as last week — left tackle Ronnie Stanley, left guard Patrick Mekari, center Tyler Linderbaum, right guard Daniel Faalele, and right tackle Roger Rosengarten, who left in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Josh Jones saw his first action at right tackle before Rosengarten returned.
Inactives: The Ravens’ inactive players were wide receiver Devontez Walker, wide receive/returner Deonte Harty (knee), center Nick Samac, outside linebacker Adisa Isaac, safety Beau Brade and Vorhees (knee).
