Bengals HC Zac Taylor's 'sickening' immediate reaction to painful loss to Ravens
The Cincinnati Bengals sought to avenge an agonizing Week 5 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens , but they will leave M&T Bank Stadium with another dagger in their heart. An ill-fated two-point conversion attempt and two controversial no-calls solidified the 35-34 Thursday Night Football loss.
Cincy is now 4-6 and falls further out of the playoff picture. The team continues to show tremendous offensive efficiency, but the defense is forcing Burrow and company to carry a massive burden on a regular basis. That combination of lethal firepower and insufficient resistance has resulted in crushing defeats to their divisional rival.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is going to have a rough night of sleep after falling just short of a potentially momentum-changing victory.
"We expected to come here and win," he said in the postgame press conference, per The Enquirer's Charlie Goldsmith. "It's sickening this has happened twice to us. That's what it is."
Bengals see another W slip through their grasp
After Burrow tossed a brilliant touchdown to the history-making Ja'Marr Chase with 38 seconds left in regulation, Taylor elected to go for the win. On Cincinnati's final play, tight end Mike Gesicki was seemingly subjected to defensive holding and Burrow incurred a late hit in the facemask. No flags were thrown, marking another prime-time showdown that concluded in contentious fashion.
Of course, the Bengals did have chances to leave the Ravens in the dust. A Chase Brown fumble on Cincy's own 31-yard line and the defense's inability to tackle Tylan Wallace on a an inexplicable 84-yard touchdown enabled Baltimore to roar back in the second half and erase a 14-point deficit. Taylor must stress awareness in the next team meeting.
Beyond the questionable officiating and defensive sloppiness, what might make this loss most crushing to Bengals fans is that it comes on a night in which their star quarterback-wide receiver duo exhibited outstanding rapport. Burrow threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns (no interceptions), and Chase amassed 11 catches for a staggering 264 yards and three touchdowns. Those monstrous numbers are not supposed to be posted against the Ravens' defense.
The loss of safety Kyle Hamilton , who sprained his ankle in the first half, obviously had an impact, but Cincinnati deserves copious praise for how it dismantled Baltimore's secondary. Though, any adulation that comes in a loss is going to feel bittersweet, if not unsatisfactory. Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Zac Taylor all know this and must move forward with the same hunger they displayed in this Week 10 game.
Because if they don't, the Bengals' perplexing campaign will finish in ultimate devastation. They have 10 days to digest this unpalatable outcome and put everything together next Sunday versus the Los Angeles Chargers.
