The Baltimore Ravens erased a 14-point third quarter deficit, scoring touchdowns on four straight drives, while stopping a late two-point attempt to defeat their AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals, 35-34 on Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium.
Playing for the first time since their Week 5 matchup, which the Ravens won 41-38 in overtime, in the highest-scoring game of the season, both offenses were again the spotlight of the game.
Two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson finished with 290 passing yards and four touchdowns in the game. Coming off a perfect passer rating in last week’s 41-10 victory over the Denver Broncos, Jackson again showed why he’s a frontrunner for a third MVP.
Despite blowing a 21-7 lead in the third quarter, the Bengals offense kept pace with the Ravens.
Cincinnati had a chance to tie or take the lead after Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase on a five-yard touchdown, with 38 seconds left in the game. However, the Bengals unsuccessfully elected to go for a two-point conversion, with Burrow’s pass sailing over Tanner Hudson.
Controversy ensued after the referees missed two potential penalty calls on the two-point attempt. Burrow was hit on the facemask by a Ravens defender, and there was a potential defensive holding, but the officials did not call a penalty.
“We’ve got to find a way to close out these games,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said after the game. “We had an opportunity, we went down there, went for two and it just didn’t work out for us.”
Burrow finished with 428 passing yards, and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Chase had a monster night, hauling in 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns in the loss as the Bengals fell to 4-6 on the season.
With his stat line, Chase became the first player in NFL history to record multiple games of 250-plus receiving yards, and at least two touchdowns in a career.
“It’s just two great football teams going at it on Thursday night and every time we play Baltimore it’s a hard fight,” Chase said after the game. “It’s always a dogfight with Baltimore. Game is always close to the end so we just got to learn how to put it away”
With the Bengals coming off a decisive victory over the Las Vegas Raiders last week, in which Burrow passed for five touchdowns, Cincinnati’s offense didn’t miss a beat.
Chase’s second touchdown of the night, a 67-yard catch-and-score gave the Bengals a 21-7 advantage in the third quarter. His touchdown was the 11th of his career of 60-or-more yards, surpassing Isaac Curtis for the most in franchise history.
Just as the game seemed to be slipping away from Baltimore, the Ravens defense got a much-needed turnover. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey ripped the ball out of running back Chase Brown’s hands and the defense recovered it in Cincinnati’s 31-yard line.
On the next possession, Baltimore’s two-headed monster of Jackson and Derrick Henry conjured up some magic to cut the Ravens deficit.
On a 2nd & 9 play at the Bengals 11-yard line, Jackson was forced out of the pocket and scrambled back over 20-yards behind the line of scrimmage before sprinting to his right, tip-toeing the sidelines and outrunning the three Bengals defenders to turn a broken play into a 10-yard yard gain.
Henry punched the ball in on the next play, for the one-yard touchdown to make it a 21-14 score with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Baltimore tallied another touchdown on their next possession, as Jackson connected with Tylan Wallace on a short pass, which he took 84-yards to the house. However, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker missed the extra point attempt, so Baltimore still trailed 21-20.
Carrying all the momentum, the Ravens offense continued to roll, notching their third touchdown in as many possessions, when Jackson found an open Mark Andrews for the 18-yard score. Jackson would convert the two-point conversion, to put the Ravens ahead 28-21.
Cincinnati wasted no time to even things up, as Burrow again connected with Chase, who flew past the two safeties for the 70-yard touchdown with 5:37 left in the game.
The Ravens didn’t let up. Jackson orchestrated one last scoring drive, throwing a floating pass to Rashod Bateman for the five-yard touchdown to put Baltimore ahead 35-28 with 1:49 remaining the fourth.
Bateman had high praise for Jackson after the game telling the Prime broadcast, “He’s a leader. He’s been doing it week in and week out. Every. Single. Game. … Lamar is Lamar and I think that’s all I can say about Lamar.”
Thursday night’s game was the 59th meeting between the division rivals, which the Ravens lead the head-to-head 32-27.