OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked whether he second-guessed his decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal on the opening drive instead of kicking the field goal.

"Absolutely not," he said.

Wide receiver Kamar Aiken dropped a pass at the 1-yard line, which meant the Ravens came away from an 18-play drive without any points. But Harbaugh believes his decision was the right one because of what followed.

After giving the ball back to the Bengals, the Ravens forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at midfield. The Ravens then moved into field-goal range and got a 45-yard kick from Justin Tucker.

"Part of that strategy is you have them backed up, so worst-case scenario if you have some confidence in your defense, you’re going to get the ball back with a real good chance to recoup that field goal, and that’s what we did," Harbaugh said. "So, it doesn’t matter if you kick it from the 9-yard line or the 39-yard line -- it’s still three points. We didn’t come out of that any worse for the wear. We didn’t lose any points on that. We would’ve rather had the four points for the touchdown, absolutely. That’s why I went for it. I wasn’t really too good with settling for the three; didn’t want to settle for the three. We ended up settling for the three.”

Through eight weeks, the Ravens have gone for it 11 times on fourth down, which is more than any team in the NFL. The Ravens' conversion rate (45.5 percent) ranks 16th in the league.

The Ravens are now 0-for-2 this season on fourth down inside the 5-yard line.