With their offensive line overwhelmed with six Eagles sacks in the first three quarters and quarterback Andy Dalton suffering through one of his worst games as a pro Thursday night, the Bengals defense and special teams rescued Cincinnati from the abyss of postseason disaster with four turnovers in a span of seven minutes that gave the Bengals a 34-13 win over the Eagles.
Which is why it’s nice to have a top 10 defense. It pitched another good one in holding the Eagles to 42 yards rushing and made two huge stops in the first half to force field goals from the 3 and 1 when Philly could have easily taken a 21-10 lead at the half instead of 13-10.
At 8-6, the Bengals are a half-game ahead of the Steelers for the second wild card with Pittsburgh heading to Dallas on Sunday while the Bengals enjoy their third day of the three-day weekend before heading to Pittsburgh for the Dec. 23 game that merely means everything.
Trailing 13-10 late in the third quarter, the Bengals playoff hopes were wilting fast as they tried to stop a nine-game losing streak on prime time here at Lincoln Financial Field.
The man of the hour turned out to be cornerback Leon Hall with 5:58 left in the third quarter. Rookie quarterback Nick Foles hung up a bomb down the left sideline that was short for wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. Hall stopped, caught it, and took it 44 yards the other way to put it at the Eagles 40.
As it did all night, the Bengals offense then had to overcome itself. This time it was a first-down hold on right tackle Dennis Roland, in the game for Andre Smith getting his helmet fixed.
But the Bengals got it back with running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, in the process of ripping off his fourth 100-yard game in five outings, going to the right perimeter for 16 yards. Later in the drive wide receiver A.J. Green made a leaping catch to convert a third-and-nine. Then the Bengals had to overcome a delay of game when Dalton ran past the pass rush on first-and-goal from the 11, made a nifty move to the left on linebacker Mychal Kendricks at the 5, and put the Bengals up for good at 17-13 with 1:05 left in the third quarter with his 11-yard touchdown run.
Then on Philadelphia’s second snap after the score, rookie running back Bryce Brown fumbled as defensive tackle Pat Sims finished him off and defensive end Wallace Gilberry picked it up for a 25-yard fumble return for Cincinnati’s first defensive TD of the season and first since last Oct. 30 in Seattle that made it 24-13 with 21 seconds left.
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