The Bengals let a 10-point lead get away from them in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Ravens, but they wound up with a golden opportunity to win the game in overtime.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson wasn’t ready for a shotgun snap and the Bengals recovered the ball on the Ravens’ 38-yard-line. They moved the ball three yards in three plays before calling on Evan McPherson for a 53-yard field goal. The snap was imperfect, however, and McPherson missed the kick, which gave the ball back to the Ravens and they won the game after a long Derrick Henry run.
After the loss, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said the team should have tried harder to make a first down and Tee Higgins shared a similar sentiment.
“Personally, I think we should have gone a little bit more aggressive in the first and second downs just to try to get Evan in better field goal range,” Higgins said, via Ben Baby of ESPN.com. “You know he makes those from that deep. I’m not putting it on him at all, you know what I’m saying. So it’s a team effort, we lost as a team, but we could have did a better job at putting him in better field goal range to make it an easier kick.”
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the team stayed conservative because they were in McPherson’s range and didn’t want to risk a penalty or negative play that would push them back. The bad snap made that approach look bad and the 1-4 Bengals don’t have much margin for error left in their bid to make it to the postseason.