luckadjusted
NFL Week 9 · 2026

Week 13 2025 · November 27, 2025

Bengals at Ravens, Week 13 2025: who deserved to win?

The Bengals beat the Ravens 32–14, and the replays lean their way: with the same day's form, they win 7 of 10.

An off day for the Ravens: they played far below what the matchup promised. In a fresh game against the Bengals they would win 65% of the time; with this day’s form, 33%. The numbers

Before kickoff the Ravens were 70% favorites. The biggest swing (Q2, 2:00 left): Offensive Pass Interference on the Ravens (Zay Flowers), 10 yards, wiping out the play, worth 20 points of win probability to the Bengals.

Final

Cincinnati Bengals 32
Baltimore Ravens 14

November 27, 2025 · M&T Bank Stadium · Closing line: Ravens −7

Luck index +33 Bengals lucky · −33 Ravens

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Bengals win 7, Ravens win 3.

  1. 1 CIN 32 BAL 6
  2. 2 CIN 28 BAL 10
  3. 3 CIN 26 BAL 13
  4. 4 CIN 39 BAL 30
  5. 5 CIN 33 BAL 27
  6. 6 CIN 23 BAL 20
  7. 7 CIN 23 BAL 21
  8. 8 CIN 19 BAL 21
  9. 9 CIN 20 BAL 28
  10. 10 CIN 19 BAL 37

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

An off day for the Ravens

They played far below what the matchup promised. In a fresh game against the Bengals they would win 65% of the time; with this day’s form, 33%.

32 points apart for the Ravens: the gap is how differently this game went from what the two teams usually are.

UnitThis gameUsual levelBetter or worse than usual
Bengals offenseEPA per play gained +0.09 +0.12 worse by 0.04
Bengals defenseEPA per play allowed +0.20 +0.20 worse by 0.00
Ravens offenseEPA per play gained +0.20 +0.18 better by 0.02
Ravens defenseEPA per play allowed +0.09 +0.08 worse by 0.01

EPA (expected points added) per play on competitive snaps, turnovers left out because they are valued as luck. Usual level: the team’s earlier games this season plus half of last season, pulled toward the league average. One team’s defense and the other team’s offense are the same snaps, so one game can’t fully say whose day it was; it shows how far this one was from both teams’ norms.

How 4,000 replays ended

Bengals win 67% of them, Ravens 33%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Bengals by 18.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Bengals by 17+18.4%
Bengals by 9–1620.0%
Bengals by 1–826.3%
Level after regulation2.1%
Ravens by 1–817.3%
Ravens by 9–1610.1%
Ravens by 17+5.7%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +14.8 points to the Bengals: the final margin was Bengals by 18, without the luck Bengals by 3.2. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • E. McPherson, 31 yds made · 95% expected
  • E. McPherson, 42 yds made · 82% expected
  • E. McPherson, 24 yds made · 98% expected
  • E. McPherson, 33 yds made · 94% expected
  • E. McPherson, 52 yds made · 63% expected
  • E. McPherson, 41 yds made · 84% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

Penalties: Bengals 6 for 35 yards, Ravens 7 for 53 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count half toward luck; pre-snap fouls, which repeat, don’t count. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 12:21 Defensive Holding on the Ravens, 5 yards +3% CIN +0.8 pts
Q1 1:45 False Start on the Ravens (Trenton Simpson), 1 yard · pre-snap 0% CIN +0.3 pts
Q1 0:17 False Start on the Bengals, 5 yards · pre-snap +3% BAL +0.7 pts
Q2 8:22 Offensive Holding on the Bengals (Noah Fant), 10 yards +4% BAL +1.0 pts
Q2 4:31 False Start on the Bengals, 5 yards · pre-snap +2% BAL +0.6 pts
Q2 2:00 Offensive Pass Interference on the Ravens (Zay Flowers), 10 yards, wiping out the play +20% CIN +4.8 pts
Q2 1:15 False Start on the Bengals, 5 yards · pre-snap +2% BAL +0.3 pts
Q3 9:51 Defensive Pass Interference on the Ravens (T.J. Tampa), 17 yards +5% CIN +2.5 pts
Q3 0:15 Offensive Holding on the Ravens, 10 yards, wiping out the play +5% CIN +1.4 pts
Q4 8:43 Defensive Holding on the Bengals (Jalen Davis), 5 yards 0% CIN +1.0 pts
Q4 8:05 False Start on the Ravens, 5 yards · pre-snap +1% CIN +0.8 pts
Q4 5:41 Encroachment on the Ravens (Dre'Mont Jones), 5 yards · pre-snap 0% CIN +0.5 pts
Q4 2:43 Delay of Game on the Bengals, 5 yards · pre-snap 0% BAL +0.5 pts

Bengals penalties, every game · Ravens penalties, every game · All teams, 2025

When it happened

Ravens’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 74%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Ravens were ahead in it, below while the Bengals were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 3:36 The Ravens fumbled and the Bengals recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +9% CIN BAL: Punt
2 Q1 2:35 The Bengals were stopped on 4th & 23rd & 4th downs · 55% expected +14% BAL CIN: Field goal
3 Q2 15:00 The Bengals converted 3rd & 113rd & 4th downs · 27% expected +10% CIN CIN: Field goal
4 Q2 13:06 The Bengals converted 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 76% expected +6% CIN CIN: Field goal
5 Q2 4:10 The Bengals converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 29% expected +7% CIN CIN: Field goal
6 Q2 2:00 Offensive Pass Interference on the Ravens (Zay Flowers), 10 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls · 4 flags in 2422 snaps before, position avg 1 per 403 +20% CIN CIN: Punt
7 Q2 0:36 The Ravens fumbled and the Bengals recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +9% CIN BAL: End of half
8 Q3 0:20 The Bengals converted 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 31% expected +6% CIN CIN: Touchdown

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Tavius Robinson (BAL LB), out (IR) · 0.2 pts
  • Tee Higgins (CIN WR), out · 1.1 pts
  • Trey Hendrickson (CIN DE), out · 0.5 pts
  • Cam Taylor-Britt (CIN CB), out (IR) · 0.4 pts
  • Shemar Stewart (CIN DE), out (IR) · 0.2 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Bengals 60% · Ravens 40%

Final margin
Bengals by 18
Luck in points
14.8 for the Bengals
Luck-adjusted margin
Bengals by 3.2
Replay with same day's form
Bengals 67% · Ravens 33% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

None by default: our tests measured no carryover after a lucky break. Slide it up to count a break for more than its own swing. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 13 2025 games · Bengals · Ravens

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