The Baltimore Ravens were more than a touchdown underdog on Sunday night on the road against the Bengals, in large part due to the absence of Lamar Jackson. In his place was Tyler Huntley, who for more than three quarters played a spectacular game and had the Ravens tied going to the fourth quarter with the football.
After orchestrating a gorgeous drive, including a long run to get them down inside the 5, the Ravens tried a QB sneak to finish it off from the 1. Huntley tried to pull off what Trevor Lawrence did in Jacksonville’s comeback over the Chargers, reaching over the line for the goal line and a touchdown. Unfortunately, Huntley is not 6’6 like Lawrence and his effort to go over the top got stoned by the Bengals, with Logan Wilson punching the ball out where it bounced right into the hands of Sam Hubbard, and the big fella rumbled 98 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
Sam Hubbard takes the fumble 98 yards for the TD ‼️
📺: #BALvsCIN on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/hNJJJGqxGF pic.twitter.com/PoVImXrfpz— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2023
What a play by Logan Wilson to force the fumble 👏 @ljw21
📺: #BALvsCIN on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/hNJJJGqxGF pic.twitter.com/YYeDOrkjzO— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2023
Mark Andrews made quite an effort to try and prevent Hubbard from getting all the way to the end zone, but just couldn’t get there. Cris Collinsworth made the point on the broadcast that if Huntley is going to go over the top, the Ravens can’t all be pushing from behind leaving no one there for that scenario — it’s possible going up and over wasn’t planned and was just a decision Huntley made.
In a game where Cincinnati’s offense found itself stuck in the mud for the second and third quarters, the defense came up with the play of the game and Hubbard stamps his name in the NFL record books with the longest fumble return in NFL Playoffs history (among other records).
Sam Hubbard re-wrote the NFL record book with one play. That 98-yard score was:
• Longest fumble return TD in NFL playoff history
• Longest TD in Bengals playoff history
• Longest go-ahead TD in 4th quarter in playoff history
• T-4th-longest defensive TD in playoff history— John Breech (@johnbreech) January 16, 2023