The Carson Palmer Reunion bash Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium against the Raiders had a couple of different entrances and exits before 56,503 that saw Palmer get lit up by a day-long Bengals pass rush to go along with a bizarre fourth-quarter brawl that saw three players ejected.
Racing to a 24-0 halftime lead, the Bengals withstood a horrendous third quarter and rebounded to step over their former franchise quarterback to go to 6-5 on the season with a 34-10 victory that pulled them even with the 6-5 Steelers.
While holding the Raiders to 83 yards in the first half, the Bengals rolled up 289 yards and then suffered a mystifying paralysis. They started the second half with four straight three-and-outs and ended up with just minus-four yards in the third quarter while the Raiders cut the lead to 24-10 with 2:21 left in the quarter when Palmer barely beat a blitz by safety Reggie Nelson to find wide receiver Denarius Moore beating cornerback Leon Hall down the middle for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
But the game changed again on the first snap of the fourth quarter as the Bengals kept their game-long heat on Palmer. SAM linebacker Manny Lawson logged the fourth and last sack of the day and forced a fumble that turned into middle linebacker Rey Maualuga’s first fumble recovery of the season at the Raiders 46.
Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis did the rest. In the first half he ripped off the longest run of his career, a 48-yarder. This time, running behind left tackle Andrew Whitworth and left guard Clint Boling, he got his second on a 39-yarder that took him inside the Oakland 1.
The Bengals couldn’t punch it in, but Mike Nugent’s 20-yard field goal with 12:29 left in the game made it 27-10 and it was just getting interesting.
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