By now you may have seen what happened: The Ravens beat the Browns on Monday Night Football by blocking their game-winning field goal attempt and returning it a loooong way for a touchdown on the other end of the field.
The Ravens’ absurd kick-six perfectly capped a bizarre final 2 minutes
The final play of Ravens-Browns was only slightly less absurd than the two minutes that preceded it.
Overshadowed by the absurdity of that play, however, was the fact that the preceding two minutes were almost just as crazy. Both teams attempted to lose at various points. It took one of the most improbable occurrences in football to finally give one team the win.
Let’s pick things up with a little under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
1:47 remaining -- Austin Davis steps up and hits a wide open Travis Benjamin for a touchdown
The game began as an unappetizing quarterback battle between Matt Schaub and Josh McCown, then McCown got hurt and the Browns turned to Austin Davis instead of the demoted Johnny Manziel.
After a rough first series, Davis came through with a six-play, 71-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Travis Benjamin, who was streaking down the middle of the field. The score tied the game, 27-27.
1:28 remaining -- Ravens punt
Matt Schaub has an ugly series, misfiring twice then hitting Jeremy Butler on a 9-yard gain on which Butler had to make a nice diving grab while coming back for the ball. The Ravens faced fourth-and-1 from their own 29-yard line. They had converted on fourth-and-1 from their own 24 earlier in the game, but instead of going for it again head coach John Harbaugh tried to draw the Browns offsides.
But instead of calling one of their two timeouts as the play clock ticked to zero, the Ravens took a 5-yard delay of game penalty. A shanked punt put the Browns on their own 37-yard line.
1:06 remaining -- Browns punt
Now it was the Browns’ turn to attempt a game-winning drive. Davis was hot. They had it!
They didn’t have it. Davis took an 8-yard sack on second down, then couldn’t complete a deep pass down the right sideline to a well-covered Benjamin.
:55 remaining -- Matt Schaub throws a terrible interception
Ravens ball on their own 38-yard line. The Ravens have one timeout left. They don’t have to go far to get in field goal range. Schaub’s got thi--
Oh for heaven’s sake, Matt Schaub.
:50 remaining -- Browns gain six yards on first down
The Browns were in great position. They were past midfield with two timeouts needing only a field goal to win. Things got off to a decent start -- Davis hit Brian Hartline for a 6-yard gain on first down. But no time to dawdle, the clock is ticking guys!
:40 remaining -- Browns don’t call timeout
:35 remaining -- Browns don’t call timeout
:30 remaining -- Browns don’t call timeout
:25 remaining -- Browns don’t call timeout
:20 remaining -- Browns don’t call timeout
:18 remaining -- Davis scrambles for 7 yards and slides in-bounds
The Browns let roughly 30 second tick off before calling timeout with just eight second remaining in the game. It was a good thing Davis gained yardage and that the Browns had at least one timeout so that the game didn’t end when Davis slid instead of going out of bounds.
But Travis Coons’ 51-yard field goal attempt could have been much shorter if the Browns had given themselves more time to get farther up the field. In the end, this was their fate:
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