Baltimore bounced; Buffalo in
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Ravens were ousted from the playoff hunt in stunning fashion Sunday when Andy Dalton threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd with 44 seconds, giving the Cincinnati Bengals a 31-27 victory.
Needing a victory to advance to the postseason, Baltimore (9-7) rallied from a 14-point deficit to take its first lead with 8:48 left. But Dalton put together a magnificent 90-yard drive in the closing minutes before hitting Boyd over the middle on a fourth-and-12 play.
Boyd avoided a tackle by Maurice Canady and raced to the end zone to give Cincinnati (7-9) the victory in what might have been its final game under Coach Marvin Lewis.
“To battle our way back the way we did, and then not to be able to finish and win the game is about as tough as it can be,” Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh said.
The Ravens’ loss gave the Buffalo Bills the final AFC playoff spot. The Bills snapped the longest current non-playoff drought in North American pro sports with a 22-16 victory at Miami and Cincinnati’s victory at Baltimore. The Bills hadn’t made the postseason since 1999.
Buffalo’s anxiety was compounded by the loss of 1,000yard rusher LeSean McCoy with a right ankle injury. He was carted off the field in the third quarter.
“The locker room is electric, man,” said Buffalo guard Richie Incognito, who finished a season above .500 for the first time in his 11-year career. “We have been working so hard for this. So much has been said about it. And now the monkey is off our back. We’re in the postseason, and we’ve got new life.”
Buffalo (9-7) will next travel to Jacksonville for a wildcard game.
After getting off to a horrid start, the Ravens appeared in position to end their two-year hiatus from the postseason. Plenty of players stepped up in their time of need: Chris Moore had a pivotal kickoff return, Alex Collins (Arkansas Razorbacks) delivered a huge fourth-down touchdown run
and quarterback Joe Flacco bounced back from a horrible 4-for-18 start.
Flacco’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace made it 27-24, but all of that was rendered meaningless after Dalton put an appropriate finish on a game filled with huge plays.
Dalton also threw two touchdown passes to Tyler Kroft.
The Ravens were down 17-3 late in the first half when Moore rambled 87 yards with a kickoff before being stopped near the left sideline with eight seconds left. He finished what he started on the next play, catching a 6-yard touchdown pass.
Baltimore trailed by only 17-10 at the break despite a 268-61 deficit in yardage and 16-2 disparity in first downs.
The Ravens took that momentum into the third quarter, moving deftly downfield before Moore juggled a pass that ended up in the hands of Cincinnati’s Darqueze Dennard, who sprinted down the left sideline 89 yards for a touchdown.
Trailing again by two touchdowns, Baltimore faced a fourth-and-3 from the Cincinnati 17. Collins took a pitch designed to go around left end, reversed his field and ran around a block by Flacco to get into the right corner of the end zone.
That set the stage for a tense fourth quarter in a game Cincinnati dominated at the outset.
The Bengals moved 78 yards on eight plays following the opening kickoff and took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Kroft. That represented more points than Cincinnati scored in the first game between the teams, a 20-0 Baltimore victory in the season opener.