Ravens top Bengals to earn first-place tie in AFC North

The Ravens (5-5) need a victory to remain in first place in the lackluster AFC North. (Giving up two points doesn’t matter with so little time left.) It figured Koch would try to kill as much time as possible, take a safety and, if there was still time on the clock as there probably would be, make a free kick that would end the game once the Bengals were stopped.

Believe it or not, that is totally legal since the game can end on an offensive penalty, unlike a defensive one.

The Baltimore Ravens ended Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals in peculiar fashion.

“For him to play so well is satisfying for him, I’m sure”, coach John Harbaugh said, “but it’s really satisfying for me and everyone else”. Joe Flacco threw for 269 yards while completing 23 of 35 passes. After connecting from 52, 57, 54 and 36 yards, Tucker is 27 for 27 and has made all 15 of his conversion attempts. The Panthers can win only if quarterback Cam Newton plays the best game of his disappointing season. The Ravens kicker’s remarkable season continued with four field goals, sending the Bengals’ playoff hopes spiralling out of control. The rest of the first half was the Tucker show, as the home team went into intermission leading 16-3. The rest of the Ravens, meanwhile, turned the play into a holding exhibition.

Cincinnati got another scare when fellow running back Jeremy Hill injured his left ankle early in the game against the Ravens. After a couple of missed pass interference penalties against Baltimore as Cincinnati was driving, John Harbuagh’s Ravens chose to tap the National Football League rule book to seal a last-second win.

Baltimore could get another boost with the return of linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who has not played since October 9 against the Redskins because of a foot injury. Baltimore has scored 19 touchdowns against 27 field goals, a balance it would like to see reversed. Derek Carr, despite dislocating a finger on his throwing hand, hit Clive Walford with the tying TD, then set up Sebastian Janikowski for the winning field goal with 1:46 to play. His pass was tipped by Carlos Dunlap and intercepted by Rey Maualuga, who returned it to the Ravens’ 19. They did lose a fumble when Dalton had a shotgun snap go off his chest in the first half and all of those errors are a good shorthand for how things went on offense for Cincinnati most of the day.

Nugent has missed four conversions – including one after the Bengals’ only touchdown against the Ravens – and five field goals this season. They began last season 8-0 and ran away with the title in arguably the most physically demanding division in the NFL.

“If they have to drag me off, that’s fine”, Tucker said. That is the Raven way. “I think it was a great play by him”.

Instead, the Ravens held the entire defense – on goal.