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Trailing by three points with 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Ravens had the ball at the Steelers' 31-yard line and were facing a fourth and two.
Head coach John Harbaugh had two options - send Billy Cundiff out for a 48-yard field goal attempt into a stiff wind, or try and convert the fourth down and either drive for the go-ahead touchdown or give Cundiff an easier field goal try.
We all know what happened.
Harbaugh went with the latter option, keeping his offense on the field in hopes of moving the chains.
The decision backfired when Joe Flacco's pass for tight end Ed Dickson fell incomplete, but Harbaugh wasn't second-guessing his decision after the game.
"It was just a tough wind up there," Harbaugh said. "It was really outside our range, as we designated going in. We felt like we had a better chance to get the first down than we had to get that field goal."
Harbaugh bristled when questioned by a reporter about whether the kick was within Cundiff's range.
"Were you down there on the field? Did you see the wind down there?" Harbaugh said. "Did you see the way the ball was tracking with the field goals in pregame? It was a tough kick. I'm pretty good at that. I've been doing that for a long time, and I understand what those guys can do and what they can't do. It was a very low percentage kick."
Cundiff's leg strength this season can't be questioned. His long field goal on the season is 49 yards, and he has been crushing kickoffs all year. That was the case tonight as well, as he had touchbacks on all three kickoffs, including one in the direction that the final field goal would have been heading.
But, Cundiff didn't disagree with Harbaugh's decision to leave him on the sidelines and go for it on fourth down.
"In the NFL, when you're looking at a 50-yard field goal, the percentages drop below 50 percent on a good day," Cundiff said. "In the fourth quarter, I felt the wind pick up, and we had established roughly a 45[-yard field goal as the limit]. Right around there. I don't think I made any in pregame [from 48]. I know their guy didn't make any pregame. So, we had said the 27 to make it a 45-yard field goal.
"We felt like, hey, if you put me out there, I can make this field goal. And ultimately, that's what he always wants from me. What can I tell him I can legitimately make? And that field goal, the probability was probably greater of getting a first down than me actually making that kick."
If the kick had come earlier in the game when the wind wasn't so strong, Cundiff said things might have been different. But when the conditions shifted, the Ravens' kicker said the decision was made easy.
"For me, I felt like the wind picked up," Cundiff said. "I'm watching trash blowing around on the sideline, so I feel like it picked up in the fourth quarter."
For his part, Flacco said he wasn't surprised that the Ravens opted to go for it on fourth down, and put the blame on himself for not hitting Dickson on the fourth down throw..
"You're going into the wind," Flacco said. "Billy does have a good leg, but it was fourth and a couple yards. We had the guy open, and just didn't execute the play."
