If the shorthanded Ravens had any comeback magic left against Cincinnati, their chance came after they’d cut the deficit to 24-14 with Devonta Freeman’s 2-yard touchdown with 1:38 to play before halftime.
Despite the Bengals scoring on each of their first four possessions, a stop on third-and-16 from the Cincinnati 45 with 1:12 remaining would have given Baltimore the ball back with two timeouts remaining to try to make it a one-score game. And with emergency 35-year-old quarterback Josh Johnson having already thrown for 149 yards and a touchdown and the Ravens set to receive the kickoff to open the third quarter, a chance to score on back-to-back possessions was the kind of swing needed to have any reasonable chance to avoid a fourth straight loss.
Such fleeting optimism crumbled, however, as Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow heaved a deep ball to wide receiver Tee Higgins with cornerback Kevon Seymour and safety Brandon Stephens converging in tight double coverage. Higgins high-pointed the ball for a spectacular 52-yard grab, leading to Cincinnati’s fifth straight score just a few plays later.
Tee Higgins makes a spectacular catch with two defenders around him! #RuleTheJungle
: #BALvsCIN on CBS
: NFL app pic.twitter.com/tEfmNEp7D5— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
The game was all but over from there as Burrow threw for 525 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-21 rout that resembled a glorified 7-on-7 drill for the Bengals, who didn’t punt once all day to complete their regular-season sweep over the Ravens. A Baltimore defense already decimated by injuries and COVID-19 absences lost top cornerback Anthony Averett to a rib injury in the first quarter and slot corner Tavon Young in the fourth quarter, leaving behind a cornerback trio — Kevon Seymour, Daryl Worley, and Robert Jackson — that wasn’t even in the organization in Week 1. Jackson and Worley weren’t in Owings Mills until after Thanksgiving.
Head coach John Harbaugh could have just borrowed a postgame expression uttered a few too many times by Orioles manager Brandon Hyde over the last few years:
“I’d like to flush this one.”
There’s really no sense dwelling on the obvious of it being the men against the boys with the Bengals averaging 8.2 yards per play and scoring on their first seven possessions — kicker Evan McPherson missed a 50-yard field goal on the eighth — against a team that promoted seven defensive players from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. But thanks to the expanded playoff field introduced last year and no shortage of mediocrity in the conference, the Ravens amazingly ended the day moving up to the seventh and final playoff spot in the AFC after the Los Angeles Chargers’ brutal defeat at Houston and Pittsburgh’s blowout loss in Kansas City.
As much as Sunday felt like it might be the end of the season, a Baltimore team in the midst of a painful December slide is still right in the thick of the playoff race. In fact, winning the final two home games against the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh would give the 8-7 Ravens an 89%-or-better chance to make the playoffs, depending on which source you use. Of course, much of that will depend on how quickly the 10 players currently on the reserve-COVID-19 list as well as the handful of other hurt individuals not already on injured reserve might return.
“I feel we’ll get a number of guys back hopefully,” said Harbaugh when asked about the Ravens’ COVID-19 list after Sunday’s loss. “We expect to. That would help us tremendously.”
Help would be an understatement.
The list of absences due to injuries or positive tests is still headlined by starting quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has now missed close to three full games with a right ankle injury. That Baltimore didn’t even have Jackson make the trip to Cincinnati after backup Tyler Huntley tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday morning makes you wonder if the 2019 NFL MVP will even be ready to play against the Rams next Sunday. Based on the timing of others returning from the COVID-19 list, Huntley’s status would also appear dicey, which could lead to Johnson making another start. While the understudies have played well in his absence and Jackson had struggled for several weeks prior to his injury, the upside he brings is what the Ravens sorely lack on both sides of the ball 15 games into this exhausting season.
You can only utter “next man up” so many times before it loses all meaning.
Will Averett become the latest starting cornerback to miss time? Will the likely returns of Chris Westry and Jimmy Smith from the COVID-19 list provide the secondary a needed lift against one of the NFL’s better offenses next Sunday? The returns of Justin Houston and Justin Madubuike from the COVID-19 list would certainly help the defensive front, but six-time Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell looking more like himself after being hampered by a hamstring injury these last couple weeks is a must.
Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard has now missed three straight contests with a knee injury while Pro Bowl return specialist Devin Duvernay missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury.
None of that even accounts for the list of Pro Bowl players and key contributors lost for the rest of the season weeks and months ago.
The Ravens have fought like hell, but they’ve looked like a team running on fumes for weeks and may just have nothing left, going 3-6 since the last time they looked like a championship-caliber team with a 5-1 record back in mid-October. But they remain in the thick of the race, regardless of how ugly Sunday’s loss looked.
A team praised for its resiliency all season will have a final chance to get off the mat and earn the chance to roll the dice in January.
“This is the point where we’re like, ‘Alright, are you ready to go home for the offseason or give yourself an extra opportunity to play more games?'” safety Chuck Clark said. “I think — as a team, as an individual — this is where we’ve really got to lock in. You look at the offseason, that’s six-plus months compared to these next two weeks to lock in and find a way to just get a win both weeks and extend our season.”
