The Bengals began their season with a home loss against Baltimore, but it took a last minute big play to finish them off.
Defense dominated the first half, and the Bengals' defense held up surprisingly well, giving them a 10-6 halftime lead. It could have been more if Carson Plamer hadn't thrown a costly interception with less than one minute to go in the half after the Bengals had driven to the Ravens' 5 yard line.
The second half was a different story. Although the Ravens offense continued to struggle to establish much of a running game or convert on third down, they did exploit the Bengals' achilles heel - the long pass. Two strikes by Joe Flacco of 55 and 65 yards were enough to put the Ravens ahead, 16-13, with under 2 minutes to go.
Still, the Bengals had a chance to win or at least tie the game, as Carson Palmer led them down to the Ravens 20 yard line with just under 30 seconds to go with one timeout left. But then disaster struck - Palmer was sacked for the fourth time, Chris McAllister picked up the loose ball and ran it back for a 79 yard TD.
Although this sealed a heart-breaking loss, coach Marvin Lewis should be able to draw some consolation from the fact that the defense was solid for most of the day (especially Domata Peko, who recorded 2 sacks, was in Flacco's face all day and eventually knocked him out of the game) - if only the defensive backs could learn how to defend against the deep ball! On the offensive side of the ball, the line held up well against the Ravens' feared front seven, giving Cedric Benson (20 carries for 71 yards) some decent room to run, and protecting Carson Palmer well for most of the day - except when it counted the most...
