Good Will Huntley: Utah's Tyler Huntley Gave Everything He Had In A Losing Effort
Huntley led the Baltimore Ravens on three scoring drives and had his team within inches of two other TDs in a 24-17 loss at Cincy in the NFL Wildcard Game.
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Good Will Huntley: Utah's Tyler Huntley Gave Everything He Had In A Losing Effort.
Huntley led the Baltimore Ravens on two scoring drives and had his team within inches of two other scores in a 24-17 loss at Cincy in the NFL Wildcard Game.
First off, the thing that I said might happen did!
I talked about Huntley being a GTD [Game-Time Decision] during my special NFL Wildcard Weekend Preview Podcast, here:
[Thanks for all of the downloads. Means a lot.] Anyway, Huntley’s first-ever playoff start did not begin the way Utes fans wanted.
On his first drive: Huntley was watching in vain [and probably disgust] after he rolled to his right and looked for his tight end Mark Matthews—only to locate the waiting arms of a Cincinnati defender who jumped the Ravens TE’s out-and-in route and made the interception.
On the second series: however, the Utah quarterback would make plays as he rolled right and fired a brown leather dart into running back JK Dobbins for a 3-yard TD pass and cut Cincy's lead to 9-7.
In one case on this insanely long 10-minute drive, the Bengals were so frustrated after chasing Huntley around the field that he was ragdolled out of bounds! Amazingly, no penalty was called—but this game was at Paycom Stadium in Cincinnati.
On the third series: after his Ravens pounced like hungry lions on the bouncing leather oblong ball that was forced loose from one of the Bengals, it looked like disaster was about to strike.
The snap to Huntley whistled over his head on the next play. But the former Ute grabbed the ball off the turf on one hop and sprinted to his right.
Running for: his life once again from black Cincy jerseys trying in vain to wring the freaking neck of Huntley, the Ute QB found an open receiver as he was rolling right.
The brown leather bullet collapsed into the purple-and-black numbers 8-and-4 of Josh Oliver for a first down. Once Oliver had wriggled free from two Cincinnati defenders, he was past the line to gain for a first down.
That led to a field goal and it gave the Ravens their first lead of the game at 10-9.
The second half didn’t start out well for Huntley, either—though this entire game was so Raven.
Down 17-10 but sure as heck not out, Huntley looked like he was gonna be sac—but no! He escaped the clutches of those evil Cincinnati and flipped a pass out to Dobbins, who ran for *checks notes* the longest play of the entire game up to that point.
On the fifth drive: the Ravens were at the Cincy 41 after that 26-yard Dobbins catch-and-run. Huntley cocked back and hurtled a gotdanged rocket to a Ravens receiver for a 41-yard touchdown, and it was tied, 17-17.
Breaking News: since that pick in the first quarter Huntley was at 12-of-16 for 154 yards passing, and 2 TD. He had been sacked zero times. He was a pain in the Bengals butt 145,867 times.
Have You Ever: tried catching a live chicken with your bare hands inside a pen? It’s dang near impossible! Have you ev—why is Night Court back on TV? Have you traveled back into some alternate universe where it’s 1989? No, because the last QB to be this slippery was Michael Vick! Have you lost yo dang mind? I’m beginning to wonder, NBC.
On the sixth drive: Huntley and his Ravens were one yard short. So of course on 3rd-and-1 the former Ute threw the ball up for grabs cause Ravens coach John Harbaugh is a tricky guy! In this case, the Ravens tight end caught the ball inside Cincinnati territory even though the Bengals were growling.
Huntley didn’t care one bit! He faked the pitch right, ran left and found a crease, sprinting into daylight for 35 yards. Two plays later at the Cincy 1 Huntley reached his hands over the goal li—and was blocked! Relive the madness, below.
On the seventh day: I mean, drive, Cincy said let there be light in the jungle and sacked Huntley for the first time in the game.
Finally: With two minutes left in the game, Huntley ran for his life [for the 800th time to the right side], and tossed a fluttering gift of a pass to his receiver. It was a half-yard shy of the line to gain, but Huntley followed his lead blocker into the hole on the next play as the Ravens clung to life. It was as close as the Ravens would get though as the former Ute’s miracle heave with no time left missed James Proche II’s fingertips by inches.
Huntley threw for 226 yards on 17 pass completions and ran for 54 more yards in his first playoff game. As a free agent, we’ll have to see if it was his last in a Ravens jersey, but it was nevertheless filled with memories.
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