Not many people were giving the Baltimore Ravens much of a chance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday night’s Wild Card battle between the two AFC North foes.
Surprisingly, the Ravens were in it from start to finish… And you could even argue that they very well should have won that game, if not for a couple of bad miscues.
Most notably among them all was Tyler Huntley’s fumble on 3rd & Goal from the Bengals’ one-yard line. The score was 17-17 at the time, and there was less than 12 minutes remaining in regulation. If the Ravens punch it in from there, they have a touchdown lead in the fourth quarter on the road…
Instead, Tyler Huntley tried reaching over the pile from a couple yards out, and he was stripped of the ball, which landed in the hands of Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard. And the Cincinnati native took it back 98 yards for the touchdown and a 24-17 lead—which is how the game would finish.
Immediately after this game-changing play, everyone couldn’t help but question the play-calling (along with the execution). Huntley was too far out to try and reach over the line of scrimmage and score. On a third down, it’s just not the right time or place for that type of play…
Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but the more logical play-call in that situation would have been a J.K. Dobbins run. The second-year back has proven how effective he can be when handed the ball at the goal line. If they give him the ball, you’d have to think there’s a good chance we’d be talking about a Ravens upset win this morning.
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One man who seems to agree is Dobbins himself. After the game, he was asked for his thoughts on the play. Via ESPN:
“He should have never been in that situation,” Dobbins said of Huntley. “I don’t get a single carry. I didn’t get a single carry. He should never have been in that situation. I believe I would have put it in the end zone, again.”
Dobbins has every right to be upset. After punching in a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter, he didn’t get another red zone touch all game. That included the game-changing, fourth-quarter series that resulted in Hubbard’s 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
The Ravens ran three plays from inside the Bengals’ 3-yard line in that series, and they didn’t give it to Dobbins once.
Dobbins went on to say, “I’m a guy who feels like I should be on the field all the time. It’s the playoffs. Why am I not out there?”
As for the answer to that question, John Harbaugh was asked about Dobbins’ usage (or lack thereof) during that critical series.
“We felt like we had a good call. It was a push-sneak play. It wasn’t executed just the correct way,” the Ravens head coach told reporters. “We felt like that was the best call; we just didn’t execute it right.”
I’m sure J.K. Dobbins would wholeheartedly disagree.
