The Baltimore Ravens narrowly escaped another shootout with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night. The 35-34 win was decided after Cincinnati’s failed two-point conversion with under a minute to play in the fourth quarter.
Like many prime-time games this season, though, “Thursday Night Football” wasn’t complete without an officiating controversy.
On the Bengals’ attempted game-winning conversion, Clete Blakeman’s crew appeared to miss multiple hands to the face penalties by the Ravens — particularly one against Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow as he released the pass that sailed over the hands of tight end Tanner Hudson to seal the game.
Afterward, football analyst and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III took to X to share his immediate reaction, in which he called for the league to make a change to its rules.
Cincinnati Bengals TE Tanner Hudson (87) during a two-point attempt against the Baltimore Ravens. Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images
“The Cincinnati Bengals should have had another opportunity to convert on that extra point,” Griffin wrote. “Two clear penalties were missed and the hit to the face could have easily been called a foul if replay review was a rule.
“CHANGE THE RULE FOR CLEAR AND OBVIOUS MISSED PENALTIES IN THE LAST 2 MINS OF THE GAME so we can have games end without these obvious missed calls.”
Griffin, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2012, spent his final three NFL seasons playing for the Ravens as a backup to Lamar Jackson, most recently in 2020.
Despite the polarizing ending, the game proved to be an equally entertaining encore to the teams’ 41-38 overtime battle in Week 5. Burrow and Jackson combined for 757 total yards and eight touchdowns on Thursday, while Ja’Marr Chase paced all skill players with 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns.
Nearly half (34) of the game’s 69 points were scored in the fourth quarter.
