Late in the third quarter of Sunday night’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens, the visiting Bengals had a chance to take the lead. Cincinnati faced a 1st and goal at the Ravens’ 2-yard line, trailing 13-10. It was a tremendous opportunity for the Bengals to take control of the game.
The situation led head coach Zac Taylor to dig deep into the Bengals’ bag of tricks. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, the search came up short.
Following an incompletion on first down, Taylor dialed up Cincinnati’s version of the “Philly Special.” Not only was the play covered well by the Ravens, with quarterback Joe Burrow covered as he released into the end zone, but Marcus Peters blew up the play, getting to wide receiver Tyler Boyd for a sack:
This is a tremendous read from Peters, who diagnoses the play and then explodes into the backfield, getting to Boyd before the receiver can make a throw downfield, or simply throw the football away. The sack pushed the Bengals back 12 yards, and touched off a huge celebration both in the stands, and on the field from Peters himself:
The Bengals gained those 12 yards back on third down, as Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase over the middle for a 12-yard gain, setting the Bengals up with a fourth-down decision from the 2-yard line. With the Bengals trailing by three, Taylor kept his offense on the field.
And called for a shovel pass to wide receiver Stanley Morgan.
The Ravens sniffed it out for the stop:
Baltimore took over on downs, and put together a 15-play, 91-yard drive that ended with a Justin Tucker field goal to extend their lead to 16-10. While the Bengals responded with a touchdown drive of their own to take a 17-16 lead with two minutes remaining, Baltimore answered with another Tucker field goal on the last play of the game for the 19-17 final score.
While hindsight might make the decision from Taylor to leave his offense on the field look like a poor choice, a touchdown in that situation was probably a better result for Cincinnati, in terms of increasing their win probability:
Certainly, the three points the Bengals could have added with a field goal loomed large later in the game. Had Cincinnati enjoyed a 20-16 lead prior to Baltimore’s final drive, then the Ravens would have been forced to play for a touchdown, leaving Tucker — the game’s best kicker — a spectator.
Instead, the slim lead opened the door, and Tucker slammed it shut.
But at the moment, the decision to go for the touchdown on fourth down was backed up by the numbers.
The playcalls, however, were not.
The decision to dial up a trick play, and then a shovel pass, on two critical snaps is probably the bigger question that Taylor needs to address. After 15 plays and 71 yards, the Bengals came away empty-handed, setting the stage for the heroics in the final minutes.
But it did not need to be that way.
After the game, Taylor addressed the media, and discussed the playcalling at the end. He mentioned that running against the Baltimore front was “tough” and mentioned a sack on a “speciality” play. But he stated that he felt “comfortable” with the package going into that series of plays:
With respect to the shovel pass on fourth down, Taylor outlined that something the coaches saw on tape led them to that playcall:
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said what the team saw on tape led to the shovel pass on the failed fourth-down attempt.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) October 10, 2022
As was pointed out during his session with the media, perhaps Taylor learned something from how that series ended, given the playcalling on Cincinnati’s next drive. After the Bengals got into the red zone, they faced a 1st and goal from the Baltimore 5-yard line. They ran Joe Mixon to the left edge for four yards.
On the next play, Burrow barreled in on the quarterback sneak from a yard out for the touchdown.
So perhaps Taylor did learn something.
Bengals fans now hope that gained knowledge did not arrive too late in their season.
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