For greater than three quarters in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals, backup quarterback Tyler Huntley gave life to the goals of many Ravens followers hoping for an prolonged keep within the AFC playoffs.
Then in a matter of seconds, the reverie was remorse.
With the Ravens 1 yard away from the tip zone and poised to interrupt a 17-17 tie with both a landing or a discipline aim, Huntley tried to leap over a pile of teammates and Bengals defenders into the tip zone. But earlier than he may cross the aim line, linebacker Logan Wilson dislodged the ball from Huntley’s palms, and defensive finish Sam Hubbard scooped up the free ball on the 2 and returned it 98 yards for what would show to be the game-clinching rating in a 24-17 loss for the Ravens on Sunday evening at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.
How in another way the end result may need been if Huntley had scored the landing and even held onto the ball for kicker Justin Tucker to transform a simple discipline aim try won’t ever be identified. After the sport, Huntley tried to rationalize his determination.
“I saw everybody packed in and just tried to go over the top,” mentioned Huntley, who made the primary postseason begin of his profession. “I thought I cleared the line. They just made a play and happened to take it all the way back.”
Coach John Harbaugh mentioned he had no points with the play, which he described as a push-sneak play. But he famous that Huntley was presupposed to burrow his means behind the offensive line as a substitute of going excessive.
“He’s got to go low on that,” Harbaugh mentioned. “That’s the way the play’s designed. That was to get it. If you take it off the line of scrimmage, there’s a chance you might score, but there’s a chance they get you in the backfield, and now it’s hard to get it on fourth down. To get it there from inside the 1 [yard-line], we felt like that was the best call. We just didn’t execute it right.”
Huntley didn’t dispute Harbaugh’s clarification.
“I just tried to make a play,” he mentioned.
Hubbard credited Wilson with punching the ball free from Huntley’s grasp.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” he instructed NBC in a postgame interview. “I was just worried about getting hawked down. I was just glad I made it to the end zone without getting tracked.”
Hubbard’s landing was the one rating of the fourth quarter for both workforce — a sign of simply how evenly matched the AFC rivals have been Sunday evening. But afterward, Huntley’s teammates banded collectively to assist him.
“He played his heart out,” mentioned tight finish Mark Andrews, who had workforce highs in each catches (5) and receiving yards (73). “I think anybody that watches this game is going to look at Tyler Huntley and say, ‘Wow, this guy is playing hard and playing good ball.’ Hats off to him, and he’s just going to continue to learn and get better. I love that guy.”
Added inside linebacker Roquan Smith: “It is what it is. I know he wishes a lot of different things, but we’re not going to dwell on it. I know he’s going to bust his tail this offseason and do whatever he can to be the best version of himself come next year.”
Still, even Harbaugh acknowledged the importance of Huntley’s fumble and Hubbard’s landing.
“Obviously, the biggest play is the quarterback sneak,” he mentioned. “That’s the play that turns the game. That’s a 10-point swing, maybe a 14-point swing if we go for it and get it, at least a seven-point swing. It is what it is.”
Huntley made his fourth begin within the final 5 video games for normal starter Lamar Jackson because the latter continued to be sidelined by a sprained posterior collateral ligament in his left knee suffered in opposition to the Denver Broncos on Dec. 4. Huntley sat out the workforce’s regular-season finale in opposition to the identical Bengals — a 27-16 victory for the two-time reigning AFC North champions — due to tendinitis in his proper throwing shoulder and points together with his proper wrist, however practiced absolutely on Friday.
Huntley mentioned he talked to Jackson, who inspired him earlier than the sport however didn’t make the journey to Cincinnati.
“He just told me to go do my thing,” Huntley mentioned. “I wish he would have been able to come to the game, but,” earlier than trailing off.
Before the game-changing error, Huntley had loved what had in any other case been a strong efficiency. He had handed for 179 yards and two touchdowns — a 2-yard checkdown to working again J.Okay. Dobbins within the second quarter and a 41-yard slant-and-go to extensive receiver Demarcus Robinson within the third.
Huntley accomplished 17 of 29 passes for 226 yards, the 2 scores and one interception. He additionally carried the ball 9 instances for 54 yards. He performed nicely sufficient to quiet a pregame idea that undrafted rookie Anthony Brown would possibly get just a few snaps Sunday evening.
But as encouraging as these numbers have been, when Huntley and the offense had an opportunity to tie the rating on their ultimate sequence of the sport, Huntley’s Hail Mary cross on fourth-and-20 from Cincinnati’s 27 to a crowd of Ravens receivers and Bengals defenders in the long run zone was tipped by cornerback Mike Hilton and glanced off the fingertips of extensive receiver James Proche II behind the tip zone.
“I was hoping somebody came down with it, but it just didn’t happen,” Huntley mentioned.
With no time remaining, Cincinnati cemented its AFC divisional matchup on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at 3 p.m. For Huntley and the Ravens, the offseason beckons.
Huntley admitted that the gaffe would possibly hang-out him for some time.
“I’m going to be thinking about that the whole offseason, just one play,” he mentioned. “They won the game, and it’s going to be hard, but that’s going to motivate me to grind hard, work hard, and be ready for next year.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com