JUSTIN TUCKER IS A GOD AND THE RAVENS WIN A HUGE ONE OVER THE BENGALS!!!!

JT FOR THE W!!!!!! NOBODY BETTER!!!!

Man, what a heart attack of a football game. Another game that felt like it belonged to the Ravens looked like it was going to get away from them. The Ravens were up 10-0 and in complete control when Lamar threw a pick that he rarely throws. He's thrown his fair share of picks, but they're usually off his back foot under pressure or he fails to see a linebacker in short coverage and throws a dart right to the wrong guy. This was one where he had a clean pocket and an open guy and just straight up airmailed him.

From there the Bengals went down the field and scored a tuddy to get themselves right back in the game.

Next time Lamar gets the ball, he had a man downfield for 6 not once, but twice on the same set of downs and airmailed them too. Just a stunning chain of events that could have staked the Ravens to better control of this game. Next thing we knew the game was tied at the half.

It was really anybody's game in the 2nd half. We gained control on a 58 yard BOMB by JT, a kick that most coaches are terrified to try in a tie game in the middle of the 3rd. That's just the JT effect. 

Where this game really became a cardiac episode was when the Ravens were up 13-10 with about 9 minutes to go and a 4th and 1 inside the Bengals 5. That's such a surefire "go for it" situation, yet the Ravens have had a ton of those types of moments over the last dozen games or so and the football gods have spat in their face. Harbs faced so much heat last week for going for it in the rain against Buffalo and it backfired. This one was a no brainer to go for it in my eyes and he took the easy way out. It almost came back to bite him after the Bengals went down the field and took the lead on.... an extra point that just about killed me.

Luckily, we have Lamar Jackson and Justin Tucker. It's such a weapon to know you've just got Lamar's legs in that type of scenario. You try to preserve him and not open him up to too many hits throughout a game, but there's a time and place to just fully unleash Lamar and that's what we did on that last drive. Lamar was getting yards EASY against a Bengals defense that was expecting a typical 2-minute offense. Big kudos to Greg Roman and the staff for not pigeon-holing themselves into the idea that they had to throw their way down the field there. We used Andrews early on and Lamar took it the rest of the way down to Tucker range.

The rest is history. That JT kick was so freaking pure. Could not have been more right down the middle. Not sure why anyone would expect anything different.

Huge win to give us control of the AFC North and earn back some revenge against our top contender. We're gonna look back at this one as a turning point in our season. It feels like it's been forever since we edged out a close one. Heartbreak after heartbreak had me forgetting what this feels like. It feels fucking AWESOME. I even got to delete my "The Baltimore Ravens Are Going To Be The Death Of Me" blog draft that I had started after that XP flew over the upright.

Off to Jersey to face a feisty Giants team. Wink awaits. LFG!!!!!