7-9 Record a Booming Success

Boomer Esiason left the field Sunday feeling good about his amazing five weeks and unsure whether he’ll try for an encore.

Esiason threw two touchdown passes, the second a 77-yard play to Darnay Scott in the closing minutes that gave the Cincinnati Bengals a 16-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

The Bengals (7-9) won four of five after Esiason replaced Jeff Blake and energized a moribund offense. Esiason, 36, completed 107 of 170 passes (63%) for 1,357 yards and 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions in his five starts.

The Bengals scored at least 30 points in each of Esiason’s first four starts, a franchise first.

Can he do anything like this next season? Does he want to come back and try? Will he wind up in the broadcast booth instead?

Esiason said he hasn’t begun to weigh all the factors. All he wanted to do was enjoy the moment.

“I was just thinking how great it was to have an opportunity to play and just how special it is to play,” Esiason said.

The Ravens (6-9-1) also left the field unsure about who they’ll go with at quarterback next season--Vinny Testaverde or Eric Zeier.

Zeier was sacked seven times Sunday and was generally erratic, yet gave Baltimore a chance at the end.

His 12-yard touchdown pass play to Eric Green cut the Bengal lead to 16-14 with 1:51 to play, but the Ravens botched the on-side kick. The first one went out of bounds and the second was grabbed in the air by a sprinting Priest Holmes, who ran it deep into Bengal territory.

The officials ruled Priest caught the ball before it went 10 yards, giving Cincinnati possession.

Zeier completed 28 of 41 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns.