Riley Patterson’s missed extra point off the upright sealed a 31-24 win for Cincinnati, and yeah, it handed those -6.5 spread bettors an improbable cover. Talk about a brutal bad beat for anyone backing the Dolphins +6.5! That kick changed everything for a lot of people watching that game.
Bengals Looked Like They Were Cruising to an Easy Cover
The Cincinnati Bengals rolled into South Beach in Week 5 trying to snap a two-game skid against the totally winless Miami Dolphins. Most books had the Bengals as seven-point favorites, some at 6.5. Honestly, for most of the game, a Bengals cover felt like a lock. Joe Burrow threw three passing touchdowns, giving the Bengals a 14-point lead by halftime. That lead just kept growing, hitting 18 points in the fourth quarter after Ja’Marr Chase snagged a 45-yard touchdown. Things were looking smooth for Cincy and their backers.
The Dolphins’ Late Surge and the Kick Heard ‘Round the Betting World
But then Malik Willis and the Dolphins decided to make things interesting. Willis tossed a touchdown pass to Kevin Coleman Jr., and then a successful two-point conversion to Greg Dulcich trimmed Cincinnati’s lead to 10 points with only seven minutes left in the fourth. Cincinnati punted, and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen then stripped Willis deep in Dolphins territory, recovering it at Miami’s 10-yard line. You’d think the game was in the bag, right?
Nope. The Dolphins’ defense actually held the Bengals to a 26-yard field goal, bumping Cincinnati’s lead back to 13. Willis wasn’t done, though. He marched his offense 61 yards down the field, punching in a one-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to just seven points with less than a minute on the clock.
Here’s where it got wild: a two-point conversion wouldn’t matter for the Dolphins, so they trotted out Riley Patterson for the extra point to make it a six-point game, hoping for an onside kick shot. And Patterson *doinked* it! Right off the left upright! Bengals -6.5 bettors just got saved by a fluky, missed extra point.
0-5 Misery Continues for Miami
The Dolphins couldn’t recover the ensuing onside kick, and the Bengals just took two kneel-downs to lock up that 31-24 victory. What a wild ride for the -6.5 bettors! Those who took +7 at least pushed their bets, but man, for everyone else, that last-second PAT miss was brutal.
Cincinnati, now 3-2, is off to their best five-game start since their Super Bowl run back in 2021. Meanwhile, the Dolphins just became the fifth team since 1950 to not hold a lead in any of their first five games. They’re still winless at 0-5. That’s rough, man. You’ve gotta wonder where they go from here after a start like that.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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