Thursday night’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens was certainly not an officiating masterclass.
The Bengals lost their Week 10 matchup to the Ravens by the nailbiter final score of 35-34. After blowing a 21-7 lead in the second half thanks to four Baltimore touchdowns, Cincinnati got the ball back with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the Ravens leading 35-28.
The officiating troubles began for the Bengals when the referees missed a very clear penalty on Baltimore defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who grabbed the facesmask of Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow on a 2nd-and-10 from the Bengals’ 30-yard line.
Refs miss Burrow getting hit in the facemask. #CINvsBAL pic.twitter.com/A2fTFIzF7Y
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) November 8, 2024
Instead of an extra 15 yards and a fresh set of downs, the Bengals instead just got 3rd-and-10. But they would persevere and eventually pick up the first down two plays later on a 4th-and-10.
Ultimately, the drive would culminate with a touchdown pass from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase with a mere 38 seconds remaining to make the score 35-34. But the referee woes resurfaced when the Bengals decided to go for a two-point conversion instead of kicking the PAT and playing for overtime.
On Cincinnati’s two-point attempt, Burrow fired an incompletion to tight end Tanner Hudson. But a closer look at the sequence showed that the refs missed two more penalties against the Ravens on just the one play.
First of all, Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki was held by Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson on the other side of the play, which should have drawn a flag for defensive holding.
Ravens defenders with a lot of contact to the Bengals receivers on the 2 point conversion attempt. No flags on the play. #CINvsBAL pic.twitter.com/QCQLrfxZdG
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) November 8, 2024
There was also a much more obvious miss at around the exact same moment when Burrow got hit late in the head and neck area by Baltimore defensive tackle Travis Jones after throwing the pass. That should have been a roughing the passer penalty … but it also went uncalled by the refs.
The refs missed an OBVIOUS Roughing The Passer call on the Bengals 2-point attempt…pic.twitter.com/gNvoX2JDcm
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) November 8, 2024
Had either penalty on the two-point attempt been called, the Bengals would have gotten another chance to convert at half the distance to the goal (here, the one-yard line). That would’ve opened up the playbook for another pass or even for a run play. Meanwhile, the missed facemask call back at their own 30-yard line, even if the Bengals ultimately overcame it, cost them yardage, energy, momentum, and time on the clock.
It all probably evened out in the end since the first half saw the Ravens fall victim to some dubious calls. But we can all likely agree on one thing — that the referees really screwed up Thursday’s game from start to finish.
