On Thursday Night which opens the tenth day the Ravens come back from two touchdowns to win 35-34
Cincinnati throws away games as if they were waste paper, Baltimore thanks and discards the second gift in two seasonal matches with the Bengals, thus winning the Thursday Night which opens the tenth NFL day. As in Ohio, Coach Taylor’s team also regained the lead by two touchdowns in Maryland, now as then due to turnovers, fantasized missed tackles and Candid Camera strategic choices by the coach. The Ravens can’t wait for anything else: Lamar Jackson (4 touchdown throws), Derrick Henry and Coach Harbaugh take advantage of the situation to win 35-34. And thus rise to a 7-3 record, in the running to win the AFC North, in the wake of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bengals beyond good and evil: so much talent, so much waste. The record (4-6) photographs them for what they are: beautiful and impossible. Thus wasting the best years of Joe Burrow, who threw for 428 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Ja’Marr Chase, 11 catches, 264 yards, 3 touchdowns, is a mortal football sin.
the comeback
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Like last time, on the occasion of the first direct comparison, Cincinnati makes and undoes. It dominates, then suddenly collapses, defeated by its own ghosts before by its adversaries. So, let’s recap: 21-7 Bengals with 13′ to play in the 3rd quarter after the 67-yard try on the Burrow-Chase axis. The third score of the guests after those of Chase Brown on the run and the blocking tight end Tanner Hudson. One might think that this time, after the “first leg”, the Bengals have learned their lesson. In Cincinnati they lost by 14 points twice in the 4th period and then were unable to score even 3 points after a Jackson fumble in overtime. But no, really not. Brown fumbles, recovered by Roquan Smith. As usual, Henry punishes, scoring in the end zone in all 10 games played so far. Run from a comfortable yard this time. Then a short pass from Jackson turns into Tylan Wallace’s 84-yard touchdown: three missed tackles by the Bangals defense which redefines the concept of embarrassing. Cincinnati still leads 21-20 because the usually infallible Justin Tucker misses the additional point. On the following drive, with two yards to gain, the Bengals on third and fourth down throw twice long and twice incomplete, thus handing the ball back to their opponents. Mah. Jackson takes advantage of the assist and feeds Mark Andrews for 28-21. In fact, with Lamar’s run, the Ravens also perfect the two-point conversion. Burrow doesn’t give up: he invents for Chase’s 70-yard sprint. But Lamar doesn’t stay behind: he triggers Rashod Bateman from 5 yards for the new extension with 1’49” to play. But Burrow isn’t done enchanting: he catches Chase again in the end zone with 38″ left. The extra seems obvious. It only seems like it, though.
the game of the match
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Because Coach Taylor still has a hand in it: try the 2-point conversion. Bold move, motivated by the fact of playing away and against a great attack, but which turns out to be wrong. As an execution and above all, that counts, as a result. First of all, the chosen target is surprising: Hudson, who is unable to make the oval his own, has terrible hands: he specializes in blocking, not in receiving. An evident foul on Burrow then weighs on the result: he is hit in the face, on the face protection, on the development of the throw. The referees ignore what happened. The Ravens win, miraculously beaten twice this season by the Bengals. In Baltimore they don’t get picky: that’s fine. Winning counts, the rest is just background noise.
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