Bengals pull out wild one over Ravens

BENGALS 28 RAVENS 24

BALTIMORE — Thrust into a familiar scenario, the Bengals performed as they had in the past.

So did the Ravens, who find themselves in a position they’ve never been in before.

Andy Dalton threw a 7yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green with 2:10 left, and the Bengals’ 2824 victory Sunday left the Ravens winless after three games for the first time in franchise history.

The Bengals (30) blew a 140 lead and twice trailed in the fourth quarter before Dalton brought them back by repeatedly picking apart the porous Baltimore pass defense.

Dalton went 20 of 32 for 383 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target was Green, who finished with 10 catches for a careerhigh 227 yards and two scores.

Coming back against the Ravens is nothing new for the Bengals, who rallied in the fourth quarter last season in both of their wins over Baltimore (03).

“Stay the course, ran our offense,” Green said. “It’s not our first rodeo. We’ve been down, last year, in the same situation. We didn’t flinch, man.”

Cincinnati has won four in a row in this AFC North rivalry for the first time. Five of the past six games have been decided by seven points or fewer.

The Ravens blew a fourthquarter lead last week in Oakland after coming up short in the closing minutes at Denver. In their home opener, nothing changed.

“We’ve had three chances in a row and we haven’t gotten it done,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “We’ve got to find a way to finish.”

The Ravens lost despite getting 362 yards passing from Joe Flacco, who twice connected with Steve Smith for touchdowns. Smith had 13 catches for 186 yards, but it wasn’t enough to offset a miserable performance by the defense.

Baltimore was the only existing NFL team never to start 03. Before this season, it had been a decade since the Ravens began with two straight defeats.