The Baltimore Ravens made some curious decisions late in Sunday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
They got the ball back with a little over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter but showed a lack of urgency after each play took place.
For example, after the two-minute warning, the Ravens got a first down after Tyler Huntley hit J.K. Dobbins for an 11-yard gain and didn’t run another play until there were 34 seconds left on the clock.
Many pundits slammed Harbaugh for his clock management since the Ravens weren’t going fast but according to Harbaugh himself, that was by design.
“We wanted to score without giving the ball back,” Harbaugh said, via ProFootballTalk. “We think we’re going to be in the red zone. We think it’s going to be just a certain number of plays and it’s going to work right down to the end of the game. Rather than maybe you score with 30-35 seconds, and you give them a chance to go kick a field goal at the end.”
This does make sense until you look at how the Ravens had to do a hail mary with their final play of the game. It came from more than 25 yards out instead of just a few yards out.
Harbaugh will now look to move forward heading into the offseason as the Ravens have a lot of questions.