It all made perfect sense for the Bengals to ride their defense into next week’s playoff game as coordinator Mike Zimmer’s sixth-ranked unit pitched another masterpiece against a host of backups in a 23-17 victory over the Ravens at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium that capped Cincinnati’s 7-1 run in the second half of the season.
Looking at a Wild Card rematch in Houston after the Colts beat the Texans in Indianapolis, the Bengals finished 10-6 for the second time in four years when Bengals left end Carlos Dunlap tipped a pass from Ravens backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor to himself and raced the remaining 14 yards for his second NFL touchdown with 6:06 left to give the Bengals a 23-14 lead, before 61,565.
It was all over when wide receiver Ryan Whalen covered an onside kick with 1:20 left.
Dunlap, who had Cincinnati’s 50th sack of the year earlier in a game the Bengals set the team’s single-season sack record, was part of a patchwork defense of first- and second-teamers that worked the second half. His touchdown gave the Bengals a third straight game with a score.
With both benches looking like a Pro Bowl, the Bengals sat quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green at halftime and subbed liberally on defense as they posted their second fourth-quarter victory of the season.
Bengals backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski launched a 44-yard bomb down the left sideline that wide receiver Brandon Tate hauled in at the Ravens 21 to set up Josh Brown’s third field goal of the game, a 38-yarder that gave the Bengals a 16-14 lead with 7:16 left in the game. It also put Brown over the 1,000-point mark in his career and completed a nice circle for Gradkowski. In his first Bengals game in the 2011 opener, he rescued Dalton’s debut with a 41-yard touchdown pass to Green for another fourth-quarter comeback.
Taylor, who played all but the first two series in place of Joe Flacco, gave the Ravens a 14-13 lead with 12:50 left in the game when no one went near him on a play-action bootleg that he veered wide to the left for a one-yard touchdown run. The big play in the drive was a pass interference penalty on a third-down incompletion called on backup cornerback Nate Clements covering wide receiver Jacoby Jones.
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