The Baltimore Ravens’ 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Championship game will most likely be blamed on kicker Billy Cundiff. After all, he did miss a 32-yard field goal – a chip shot for mot NFL kickers – with 11 seconds left that would have sent the game into overtime.
Others might so as far as saying Lee Evans was responsible. He did catch the game-winning touchdown, or so it appeared, with fewer than 30 seconds left before Patriots’ safety Sterling Moore was able to throw a hand on the ball and knock it free.
But the real blame shouldn’t solely fall there. In fact, it shouldn’t even somewhat fall there. Head coach John Harbaugh made enough mistakes in the final 3:12 to shoulder the blame game for an entire offseason.
With 3:12 to go, facing a 3rd and 3 from the New England 30 yard line, the Ravens tried a draw play that lost three yards. First of all, the play call in that situation was terrible. Draw plays usually don’t get two yards, let alone three. Instead of sending out his Pro Bowl kicker to attempt what would have been a 50-yard field goal, Harbaugh instead sends the offense back out onto the field before burning a timeout.
Surely he would send is offense out there again after the timeout, would he?
Yep.
Flacco and the offense went for it on fourth down, threw it away and gave the Patriots the ball and a three-point lead with 2:46 to go.
Then Harbaugh elects to use his timeout to stop the clock after the two-minute warning, costing his team another four seconds. Big deal? Maybe not. But with the two-minute warning coming either way, why not save the time?
It gets better.
After Baltimore stopped New England and got the ball back, Flacco calmly took his team down the field and inside the Patriots’ 20 yard-line. His 3rd and 1 pass from the New England 15 fell incomplete, setting up a 4th and 1 with 15 seconds left. So what should Baltimore do here? Kick the field goal right?
Apparently that choice wasn’t so obvious.
It took the Ravens 26 seconds before the field goal unit got onto the field (Cundiff could be seen sprinting on with 14 left on the play clock). By the time he got set in his kicking stance, the clock was down to three. The whole play was rushed. Cundiff never settled in, and the result was obvious. A 32-yard shank.
The Ravens had a timeout they could have used, but Harbaugh elected not to. Even an intentional delay of game just to get new play clock would have been okay. But instead, Harbaugh froze. He panicked. Or maybe he just zoned out. Who knows.
In any event, the Ravens lost, and I for one, am not blaming anyone who had a helmet on.
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