Cincinnati Bengals Defender Fumbles Away Touchdown Celebrating Too Early

JUST CROSS THE GOAL LINE BEFORE YOU CELEBRATE! It’s a simple message, one that every football coach has addressed at some point in their career. 

Yet, every year, a couple of players inevitably break that rule and throw away a sure touchdown. 

On Sunday, that player was Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Jordan Battle, who picked up a Tennessee Titans fumble and appeared on his way to a 61-yard scoop-and-score touchdown for the much-maligned Bengals defense. 

Alas, Battle made the curious decision to switch the ball from his left hand to his right hand at the one-yard line, presumably to start his celebration, and … that did not work out. 

This should have been the second consecutive Titans drive to end with a Bengals defensive score, as quarterback Will Levis gifted Cincinnati a pick-6 on the previous drive. 

That interception, the third thrown by Levis in the game, led to Titans head coach Brian Callahan sending Levis to the bench in favor of Mason Rudolph. 

After all, Rudolph couldn’t be any worse than Levis, who struggled against the Bengals defense. The BENGALS DEFENSE! 

Arguably no unit has been worse this season than Cincinnati’s defense, but Will Levis found a way to make them look good. Impressive, honestly. 

Still, the Bengals defense also found a way to look like the Bengals defense by coughing away a guaranteed six points by having a defensive back literally drop the ball and then knock it out of the endzone. 

Cincinnati Bengals defender Jordan Battle was one-yard from a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans before inexplicably fumbling the ball out of the endzone.

(Getty Images)

But Cincinnati actually responded to the mishap by intercepting Rudolph on the ensuing Titans’ possession, the sixth turnover forced by the Bengals in the game. 

Tennessee started the game with back-to-back offensive touchdowns (though one of them was due to a Joe Burrow turnover in his own territory). 

Check out their drive results after that second touchdown, though: fumble, interception, interception, end of half, punt, interception (pick-6), fumble, interception. 

Yikes. 

And it’s not like Cincinnati played clean football, either. They turned it over four times themselves, the most combined turnovers by two NFL teams (10) in a game since 2007. 

It’s not often that a team wins the turnover battle despite giving the ball away four times, but why is it not surprising that the game involved the Bengals and Titans?