CINCINNATI — Baltimore Ravens tight end and Iowa State alum Charlie Kolar had himself a day on Sunday as the Ravens won in an overtime shootout over the AFC North rival Bengals, 41-38 .
With an efficient stat line of three receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown, what stood out on the field was a 55-yard catch and run that finished just short of the end zone in the third quarter.
"I started myself in Fantasy [Football] so I'm playing well," he joked to teammates after catching quarterback Lamar Jackson's long ball.
However, what Kolar had to say about the play after the game far outshined the performance.
"Its beautiful. They get so focused on Mark [Andrews] and Isaiah [Likely] that they forgot about the fat white guy running down he seam," he said. "I was so open I didn't know what to do."
The No. 3 tight end on the team's depth chart unfortunately didn't score on that drive, but he said he believed it started a chain reaction among the Ravens' TE room.
"I got yelled at for not scoring again. I gotta fix that. But I think it was a little chain reaction because I didn't score, so Isaiah [Likely] could score. But then Mark [Andrews] paid me a favor and got tackled at the two [yard line], so I could score. So I think beautiful day."
Later in the game that would become a barnburner, Kolar would get his 2-yard touchdown to bring the Ravens back within one score of the Bengals with just over nine minutes left in regulation.
The Ravens improved to an AFC North leading 3-2 as the Bengals fell to 1-4, last in the division.
Following the game, Pro Football Focus ranked Kolar as the most efficient Raven on offense with a rating of 91.4 which outshined TE1 Mark Andrews' 83.1.
As a Cyclone, many will remember he led all Big 12 tight ends in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns in both 2020 and 2021 as he played an integral part of the offense catching passes from current San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Brock Purdy.
Kolar would break both Cyclone tight end catches and receiving yards season records in 2021 and his 62 receptions that season also come in as the 10th-best season total overall in school history.
The Ravens, known to be a team that loves the tight end position, would take him in Round 4 of the 2022 NFL Draft with the 128th overall pick.