Owings Mills, Mo. – Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale was furious when the Cincinnati Bengals kicked a late field goal to avoid a 27-3 win over Baltimore.
With Cincinnati trailing 27-0, Bengals coach Zack Taylor opted to kick a 38-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the game. ESPN According to statistics and data, this is the fifth time since the 1970 merger that the team has kicked a last-minute goal to avoid a shutout.
Asked his reaction when the Bengals kicked off the field goal, Martindale said on Thursday, “He knew what it was because he was quiet when I crossed it into the field. There are even some who take it as a win. We’ll see. “We’ll have plenty to talk about when we play them next time.”
The next meeting between the Ravens and the Bengals is in Week 17 in Cincinnati. Baltimore was in the second of its first shutout in two years.
There have been only two other instances in the last 10 years when a team has scored a last-minute goal to avoid a shutout while trailing by more than 50 points.
In 1970, Bengals coach Paul Brown chose to score a field goal in the final minute of a 38-3 defeat against the Detroit Lions. In 2006, Buchanan coach John Gruden decided to kick the field goal with no time left in the 20-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was more diplomatic when addressing the Bengals ’meaningless field goal. He said the defense would have loved a shutdown, but it wouldn’t have been a “factor” if Baltimore had stopped Cincinnati in one of the fourth-1 situations on the final drive.
“I think you have to look at it that way,” Harboff said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
.
