Sam Hubbard scored on a 98-yard fumble return, the longest in postseason history, and Joe Burrow accounted for two touchdowns as the Cincinnati Bengals registered a 24-17 victory over the visiting Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night in the AFC wild-card round.
Logan Wilson had 10 tackles and forced the fumble on the game-changing play and Ja’Marr Chase had nine receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown for third-seeded Cincinnati. Burrow passed for 209 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another score for the Bengals, who won their eighth straight game and will visit the Buffalo Bills in next weekend’s divisional round.
Tyler Huntley passed for 226 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for sixth-seeded Baltimore. Huntley started in place of Lamar Jackson (knee), who missed his sixth consecutive game.
Huntley was involved in the big play that changed the momentum early in the fourth quarter.
The score was tied and the Ravens had third-and-goal from the Cincinnati 1-yard line when Huntley kept the ball and tried to lunge it over the goal line. But Wilson leaped and knocked the ball out of Huntley’s hands and right to Hubbard, who raced 98 yards to give the Bengals a 24-17 lead with 11:39 remaining in the contest.
Baltimore’s final drive was plagued by shaky time management and the last play came on fourth-and-20 from the Cincinnati 27. Huntley’s last-ditch throw into the end zone was deflected and the Ravens’ James Proche II was unable to grab it.
J.K. Dobbins and Demarcus Robinson caught touchdown passes for the Ravens.
Burrow scored on a 1-yard keeper and then threw a two-point conversion pass to Tee Higgins to give Cincinnati a 17-10 advantage with 5:02 left in the third quarter.
Baltimore knotted the score less than three minutes later as Huntley teamed up with Robinson on a 41-yard touchdown pass.
Baltimore possessed the ball for 12:34 of the second quarter while scoring 10 points to take a 10-9 halftime lead.
The Bengals received a 39-yard field goal from Evan McPherson in the opening quarter and Burrow’s 7-yard scoring pass to Chase on the opening play of the second quarter. McPherson missed the extra point, leaving Cincinnati up by nine.
The Ravens followed up the Bengals’ touchdown with a 17-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 10:03. Huntley tossed a 2-yard scoring pass to Dobbins in which the latter dove and barely got the ball to the goal line before his knee hit the turf.
Justin Tucker booted a 22-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give Baltimore the halftime advantage.
Cincinnati left tackle Jonah Williams exited in the second quarter with a left knee injury.
–Field Level Media