At some point early in the third quarter of Thursday night's great game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, I began to believe that it just wasn't the Ravens' night. The game resembled many other Baltimore losses from the last couple years: bad defensive play, a lethargic offense, a bunch of unforced penalties. On top of that, star safety Kyle Hamilton went out with an ankle sprain and Lamar Jackson was stretching his apparently ailing throwing hand on the sidelines. It was 21-7 in the Bengals' favor at the time, and it seemed like things were only going to get worse.
But good teams make their own luck, and a fumble by the Bengals in Ravens territory set up a touchdown drive with yet another "Lamar Jackson does something amazing against Cincinnati" play, and also kick-started an onslaught in which the Ravens scored on every drive for the rest of the game. If not for some busted coverages from their highly bustable defense, the Ravens might have pulled away with the game the same way the Bengals threatened to at the beginning. But this is the AFC North, where things get wonky and close no matter what.
This leads us to the Bengals' final drive. Down 35-28, Joe Burrow marches down the field, scores, and then head coach Zac Taylor calls for two. They've decided they're going to win or lose it in regulation right now. They don't get it. The play certainly could've been called for a facemask or defensive holding, but the whistles were silent. The game ends, 35-34. The Ravens win and continue the good vibes of a team with Super Bowl aspirations, while the Bengals lose and continue the bad vibes of a team that's capable but not quite good enough. Of course, the question at the end of the game is: Should Taylor have gone for two?
Football is very much a dad sport. It always has been. And like your dad, football loves its routines and does not enjoy having to change. Football likes its green Salvation Army cardigan. Football likes the big armchair at the end of the living room. Football likes its beer after work. And it better be its brand, the brand football has been drinking since it was a boy. No matter how many analytics sons or scientific-advancement daughters come to tell it different, football likes the old ways.
The old ways would say that, in the situation they found themselves in after that last touchdown, the Bengals should've taken the PAT and played for overtime. But going for two in a game-winning situation like that is always right, and all great teams know that. Harbaugh, who frustrates me with his conservatism at times, understands that more than anybody. If Isaiah Likely's toe had been an inch more inside in that game against the Chiefs, he'd have gone for two and the win. You have one of the big-time quarterbacks in all of the league—of course you go for two. People only question you when you don't get it, and that's not a good enough reason not to do the right thing. The Bengals did the right thing by going for two on Thursday, but got unlucky because, even for all of Burrow's heroics, they're a bad team with an underwhelming coach who, outside of this decision, left a lot to be desired in both games against the Ravens this season.
Another thing I believe in is not calling bailout penalties in game-winning situations. It's football. Not everything can or should be called. The Bengals put the chips on the table and lost. That's what sports are, whether you play it safe or not. And you might as well play it dangerous—dangerous and right.
