The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Buffalo Bills by the final score of 23-20 in Week 4 of the 2022 season, blowing a 17-point lead in the process. It’s the team’s second gut-wrenching loss of the year, as they blew a 21-point lead against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2.
One of the most controversial decisions of the contest was when Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh went for it on fourth down on the Buffalo two-yard line in a tie game with just over four minutes left in the contest. The try failed, and the Bills drove down the field to kick the game-winning field goal. When asked about the decision, Harbaugh explained his thought process, saying that he believed it gave them the best chance to win the game.
Coach Harbaugh on the decision to not kick a FG: pic.twitter.com/Rkapy4Ve5H
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 2, 2022
“Right. Well, I felt like it gave us the best chance to win the game because seven [points], the worst that happens is if they go down the field and score – and I think we’ll get them stopped – but if they go down the field and score a touchdown, the worst thing that can happen is you’re in overtime. But you kick a field goal there, now it’s not a three-down game anymore, it’s a four-down game. You’re putting them out there, you’re putting your defense at a disadvantage because they’ve got four downs to convert all the way down the field and a chance to again score seven, and then you lose the game on a touchdown. So, then the worst thing … The other thing you think you’re going to get the ball at the two-yard line, so I’m very confident in the defense’s ability to stop them down there with the ball on the two-yard line, so we have them backed up if we didn’t get it. It didn’t turn out that way, unfortunately, and we lost the game. So, hindsight, you could take the points, but if you look at it analytically, understand why we did it.”